Santo Tomas Internment Camp
Santo Tomás Internment Camp [STIC] was the largest of several camps in the Philippines in which the Japanese interned enemy civilians, mostly Americans, in World War II. The campus of the University of Santo Tomás in Manila was utilized for the camp which housed more than 4,000 internees from January 1942 until February 1945.
Over a period of several days, the Japanese occupiers of Manila collected all enemy aliens in Manila and transported them to the University of Santo Tomás, a fenced compound 50 acres (22 ha) in size. Thousands of people, mostly Americans and British, staked out living and sleeping quarters for themselves and their families in the buildings of the University. The Japanese mostly let the foreigners fend for themselves except for appointing room monitors and ordering a 7:30 p.m. roll call every night.
![](https://pacificparatrooper.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/santotomas1-e1517339974902.jpg?w=290&h=300)
American flag draped over balcony of building as American and Filipino civilians cheer their release from the Japanese prison camp at Santo Tomas University folllowing Allied liberation of the city. Manila, Luzon, Philippines. February 05, 1945
The Japanese selected a business executive named Earl Carroll as head of the internee government and he selected five, later nine, men he knew to serve as an executive committee. They appointed a British missionary who had lived in Japan, Ernest Stanley, as interpreter. Santo Tomás quickly became a “miniature city.’ The internees created several committees to manage affairs, including a police force, set up a hospital with the abundant medical personnel available, and began providing morning and evening meals to more than 1,000 internees who did not have food.
![](https://pacificparatrooper.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/santotomas2-e1517340090860.jpg?w=300&h=197)
Carl Mydans. Freed American and Filipino prisoners outside main entrance of Santo Tomas University which was used as a Japanese prison camp before Allied liberation forces entered the city. Manila, Luzon, Philippines. February 05, 1945
Santo Tomás became increasingly crowded as internees from outlying camps and islands were transferred into the camp. With the population in Santo Tomás approaching 5,000, the Japanese on May 9, 1943 announced that 800 men would be transferred to a new camp, Los Banos, 37 miles (68 km) distant, the then campus of the University of the Philippines College of Agriculture, now part of University of the Philippines Los Baños. On May 14, the 800 men were loaded on trains and left Santo Tomás. In succeeding months, other enemy aliens were transferred to Los Baños including a large number of missionaries and clergymen who were previously allowed to remain outside the internment camps provided they pledged not to engage in politics.
![](https://pacificparatrooper.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/santotomas31.jpg?w=300&h=209)
Carl Mydans. Emaciated father feeding Army rations to his son after he and his family were freed from a Japanese prison camp following the Allied liberation of the city. Manila, Luzon, Philippines. February 05, 1945
The American force that liberated the internees at Santo Tomas was small and the Japanese still had soldiers near the compound. Fighting went on for several days. The internees received food and medical treatment but were not allowed to leave Santo Tomas. Registration of them for return to their countries of origin began. On February 7, General Douglas MacArthur visited the compound, an event that was accompanied by Japanese shelling. That night and again on February 10, 28 people in the compound were killed in the artillery barrage, including 16 internees.
![](https://pacificparatrooper.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/santotomas4.jpg?w=296&h=300)
Carl Mydans. Two emaciated American civilians, Lee Rogers (L) & John C. Todd, sit outside gym which had been used as a Japanese prison camp following their release by Allied forces liberating the city. Manila, Luzon, Philippines, February 05, 1945
The evacuation of the internees began on February 11. Sixty-four U.S army nurses interned in Santo Tomas were the first to leave that day and board airplanes for the United States. Flights and ships to the United States for most internees began on February 22. Although food became adequate with the arrival of American soldiers, life continued to be difficult. The lingering effects of near-starvation for so many months saw 48 people die in the camp in February, the highest death total for any month. Most internees could not leave the camp because of a lack of housing in Manila.
Click on images to enlarge.
Photography and information from: “Return To The Philippines World War II” by Rafael Steinberg; Prison Photography.org; Philippine Internment; Trinity College Digital Repository;
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Myriam (Wescott) Alley – Tacoma, WA; US Army WAC, WWII
Charles Edeal – Sumner, NE; civilian, WWII, Africa & CBI, B-25 aircraft mechanic
Campbell Henderson – Cairns, NZ; RNZ Air Force, WWII, PTO, Radar Unit 53, Cape Astrolabe, Malaita
Rick Jolly – Hong Kong/London, ENG; Royal Navy, Falklands War, surgeon
Robert Kozul – Fairmont, WV; US Army, 11th Airborne Division
Donald LeSuer – Jay, ME; US Army, WWII, PTO, SSgt., 911 Signal Corps
Martin Newman – brn: London, ENG/Canberra, AUS; RA Air Force, Wing Commander
Angelo Rolando – Rocky Hill, CT; US Army, WWII, Pfc, Purple Heart
Robert Tulk – Tiffin, OH; US Navy, WWII & Korea
Addison Mort Walker – Kansas City, MO; US Army, WWII, ETO /cartoonist
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Posted on February 1, 2018, in Uncategorized, WWII and tagged 1940's, Army, History, Luzon, Military, Military History, Pacific War, Philippines, Santo Tomas, WW2, WWII. Bookmark the permalink. 145 Comments.
I assume that there was a food shortage all over the Philippines? It was just much worse in the camps.
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Exactly. The Japanese were short in their own country and had to supplement by taking Filipino food and of course they would feed their troops before the prisoners.
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Man, I never knew anything about this prison camp. I had 2 friends both ministers who were interned somewhere near or in the Manilla are but never knew for sure where I still don’t
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As civilians, they were either in Santo Thomas, Los Banos or both – they transferred so many. There were quite a few nuns at Los Banos. (a topic which will be following in a number of posts.) Do you remember their names?
[if you wish to keep them private, just say so in your reply and only you and I will see it, then I’ll delete it]
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Thanks GP.
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Wanted to beblog, but cannot with new system
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Support says something about reblogging from the Reader page, but I’m on the Reader quite a bit and I don’t see how.
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It is amazing how casually human beings inflict pain on others.
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Could the politicians that cause it ever be able to complete it? I’ve often wondered? The last I heard, 88% of Congress never served (and that was about 4 years ago).
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Thanks for following my UTLOT blog; you are very kind.
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It is always an education, visiting your site, GP. Thank you for keeping the history alive.
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My pleasure, especially for friends like yourself, Rick and the entire correspondent clan.
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Reblogged this on KCJones.
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Thank you, Penny. Deserving men – all of them!
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It’s just unfathomable. You wonder how anybody could such things and not realize their ideology is evil.
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They never expected that many prisoners to begin with, hence the Bataan March and food rationing to the extreme. The guards had been trained to completely fear their superiors, so they did whatever they thought would please them too.
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Reblogged this on Practically Historical.
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Thank you for helping me to keeping this history alive.
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So often, civilian casualties are overlooked when counting the cost of war. Their suffering goes unrecorded until photographs,or written accounts record precise moments and the anguish is captured for posterity. We owe these people their moment in history; they can have no better historian than you.Thank you for your brilliant posts.
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Thank you very much for that. I simple hope in some way my posts here help keep this history in the memories of all.
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One wonders how they could survive, it must have been just courage and a determination to live.
I see these emaciated people and wonder; ‘would I have been able to survive this?’
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I can understand that, Beari. Like we’re always saying, war brings out the best and worst in people – this brought out the strongest and most determined.
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I learned something new. I probably should have known it, but until I read this post I hadn’t realized that American civilians were interred during WWII.
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No surprise, Sheryl. For some reason, Santo Tomas and Los Banos rescues were down-played. I can not explain it other than the camps in the ETO got the newspaper headlines.
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There really are two sides to that camp. On the one hand, there are the horrors. On the other, there is the determination of the prisoners to organize and do what they could to maintain a kind of civil order and survive.
The brief mention of children being on both sides of the conflict brought memories of the Liberian civil war, where many of the soldiers were children. The atrocities they committed were as great as those committed by adults; the same is true in certain other radical groups around the world today. Starving children is a horror, but twisting children into hate-filled warriors is no less a horror. It’s hard to read such stories, but it’s important.
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So agreed, Linda. In SE Asia it happened as well – horrible.
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Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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Thank you for helping to keep this history alive.
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Hoe die uitgemergelde mannen konden overleven is me een raadsel.Het lijken wel skeletten
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I know what you mean. These two did, but many others did not.
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The Japanese were very brutal to prisoners.
I got to see the results of that brutality I had a neighbor in Florida that survived The Bataan Death March.
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Was he able to get over it?
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If ,USA and Japan did not fight directly, we will now praise each other on this internet.
I’m Regrettable.
But, I like Americans from when i was a kid.
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And I have liked the Japanese. We have no reason to dislike each other. We can not hold the children of past generations responsible for their ancestors.
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Reblogged this on Give Me Liberty and commented:
Lest We Forget.
The Japanese were very brutal to prisoners
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You also need to remember that the guards were afraid of their own superiors and the supplies were wearing mighty thin for the enemy troops too. They had received far more prisoners than they ever expected. But agreed, some were very cruel.
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Absolutely fascinating. I knew a bit about Changi, in Singapore, because my uncle was there. But not this.
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Just as the US and Canada interned Japanese, Italian and Germans – the Japanese thought it prudent to do the same. Heck one of them could be a spy (like Chick Parsons from the previous post). This was no where near as bad as Changi or Sandakan, in fact the children were always fed first – Out of 4,255 prisoners, 466 died in captivity, three were killed while attempting to escape on February 15 , 1942.
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Very heartbreaking post gp, the story alone of 4.000 internees creates sad images, the pictures, especially the little boy being fed by his father, tells the story of that camp in its entirety.
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Out of 4,255 prisoners, 466 died in captivity, three were killed while attempting to escape on February 15 , 1942, but one made a successful breakout in early January, 1945. I’m sure much of this was due to disease, at least the children were always fed first.
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Thanks for the added info gp, must be more about the story of this Camp, so many questions that still must be carried in living minds today, cheers.
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There is a lot more, but I have women and children reading here. I’m always hoping to instill curiosity in people so that they do their own research.
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Fair enough mate, cheers from Australia.
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Hope you’re enjoying your summer. My winter has been nice and cool – love it.
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44 degrees, would write more but can’t stand up to reach the computer anymore, legs meltinggggg
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Hope you had a good sleep! If you’re talking 44 degrees C, your entire body should be melting – stay cool!!
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Got it now gp, we are definitely getting temperatures above 35 and going into the 40’s some days, our aircon is running non stop, next month is the start of our bush fire season, happens every year.
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I imagine it would at in that heat!
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I don’t believe this, I submitted it 3 times and each time I go to look, I can’t find it. I submitted by way of my Kindle app – does that make a difference?
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Can’t see anything mate
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I know. I’m getting pretty peeved/ How can it continue to say Thank You for your review?
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Just having to stay there after the camp was freed must have made survivors very unhappy.
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I’m sure, but at least there were no more enemy guards and food was on its way. And, where could the go, the war was still going on.
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Very true !!!! 😀
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I don’t know how you can still classify yourself as a human being when Messrs Rogers & Todd are the result of what you have, or rather, have not done.
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The Japanese were running out of supplies for their own troops, so it was obvious that the prisoners would suffer. The enemy never expected quite as many POW’s as they received. Yes, atrocities did occur, as we know, war brings out the best and the worse, and the Japanese Private was as fearful of his superior as he was of war – that didn’t help.
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I did mean to add, the children were always fed first and out of 4,255 prisoners, 466 died in captivity, three were killed while attempting to escape on February 15 , 1942, but one made a successful breakout in early January, 1945. It sure could have been worse.
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Certainly didn’t want to click on and enlarge that picture of the starving soldiers. Man’s inhumanity to man always sends chills through me. So sad.
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I wouldn’t expect you to enlarge that one, Bev. You are very strong to have followed here this long! I hope you know how much I appreciate that!
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Reblogged this on John Cowgill's Literature Site.
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I appreciate all your help here, John.
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This was a very interesting post and incredibly sad. Especially the last picture.
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Pictures speak a thousand words. I held back on most of the torture and hardships, but the image showed what happened.
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These stories are hard to hear but must be continually shown so that these atrocities are never forgotten. Thank you for sharing.
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They don’t teach much history in the schools any more. I feel no one can learn from the past if they don’t remember it (or even learn it in the first place.).
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Exactly it is up to us to teach our children and grandchildren this.
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Thank you.
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I thought it sounded fairly civilized in comparison to other Japanese prisoner-of-war camps I’ve read about, G, until I saw the photo of the emaciated soldiers. –Curt
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They ran short of supplies for their own troops, so if anyone was going to suffer, it would have been the internees and POW’s.
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Got that, G.
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It’s amazing (and heartbreaking) what people can survive. Another great post GP. (Also great military humor).
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Always good to see you, MB. Wish I had more time to comment on yours and so many others more often. Let’s add a few hours into each day and maybe I could catch up!! 🙂
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Isnt that the truth?? So many great blogs out there and not enough hours in the day!
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You speak the truth!
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My father served in North Africa and Italy, some of his friends served in the Pacific, but they were all so reticent about their experiences (understandably) and I think the sentiments abroad in the late ’60s and ’70s meant that their great feats of liberation weren’t honoured as they should have been. I’m baffled as to why my generation seemed to learn so little about the course of the war in the Pacific, especially when I live in NZ!
I appreciate your posts and am grateful to learn more about the Greatest Generation, both military and civilian, and the courage and common-sense they exemplified.
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Welcome aboard, Valerie, and I hope you continue to find the posts interesting. You ask a question I can not answer. Here in the US, we also did not learn much about the Pacific except the major Marine battles. But it turns out the Pacific was a larger war, lasted longer and had more going on than any of us ever imagined. Much of the NZ data was kept in records and described as ‘Commonwealth’, but I do have some posts and parts of posts that include your fine nation. History is quickly being erased and ignored, so I’m trying to give the younger generation one more place to locate information and the older generations to remember. Thank you for stopping by.
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Those wishing to learn more about the internment by the Japanese of Americans, Aussies, and others in Luzon during WWII might want to read “God’s Arms Around Us” by William Moule and a little-known book entitled “Interrupted Lives: Four Women’s Stories of Internment During World War II in the Philippines,” edited by Lily Nova and Iven Lourie. I plan to attend the 2018 reunion (the last weekend in April in Sacramento, CA) of the Bay Area Civilian Ex-Prisoners of War (BACEPOW) and actually meet some of those very survivors and their descendants. I know the stories I’ll hear will be fascinating!
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Thank you for that information – I hope many will attend.
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Fascinating, and sad. Another great history lesson.
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Thank you for coming by to read it.
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Excellent, and informative post as usual. 🙂
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Thank you.
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Touching story, GP.
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So much went on during this war!
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I know right?
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So sad to see how thin the emancipated men were! It is a miracle how they survived. Thanks for a good read.
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Determination, discipline and probably down-right stubbornness played a part!
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True that! It must have been all that. Have a great Friday😊
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Thankx!
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Fascinating. Most of (if not all) of my knowldege on the treatment of civilians in WW2 by Japanese forces comes from Neville Shute’s “Town Called Alice”. The photo of the two male civilivans is truly shocking.
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I’m afraid I have never read “Town Called Alice” – good book? fiction or non-fiction?
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Fiction, though based on a true story. A good, easy read:)
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Thank you.
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I got the name wrong, it’s Town Like Alice”. It was writen in 1950s and its fiction. There was also a very good black and white film of the same name made in 1956. I enjoy both equally but maybe appeals to women more than men as there’s a love story at the heart of it. They all look far too well fed. There’s plenty of death though. The trailer for the film is on Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klwwFlmp4ag
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Thank you for coming back to give me more info – and leave it for others to see.
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Emma, A Town Called Alice was turned into a movie in the 50s with Peter Finch and Virginia McKenna and is still available in b &w on DVD. In the 80s it was transposed into a made for tv miniseries with Bryan Brown and Helen Morse. Longer, and follows post war life, and both are worth viewing.
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I love the 1950s film and the book. The Miniseries, I have vague memories of. Thank you
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wesiks899 said it for me
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Sad and informative. I had no idea the prisoners set up such an organized internment.
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I suppose that’s what it took to try and survive.
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More worrying evidence of Japanese atrocities during that war, and their disregard for human life. Sad to read.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Their food scarcity wasn’t just for the prisoners, as we know from other islands, Japan just didn’t have the supplies for everyone, including their own men. When they were confronted with more than twice the amount of prisoners than they expected – disaster!
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American soldiers and Philippine guerrillas also did brutality things to Japanese soldiers,too. 😀
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It was war Nasuko. Just as every country has both good and bad history.
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I new of some of the horrors but never knew families let alone children were in some camps. I cannot even put into words how terrible that was and in some ways it is probably going on in today’s world somewhere. Shudder…
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In some countries today, children are the soldiers too – how can we know who the enemy is?
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That, sadly, is true too… on both counts.
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‘fraid so…
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I agree with Wesiks899 – – horrific.
And to survive all those years, and then die right after the camp was liberated, seems particularly heartbreaking. Thank you for publishing the unvarnished reality.
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Probably the wait and expectation is what kept them going, when it was over their bodies gave up. Just speculation, but that’s how it sounds to me.
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Thanks for sharing. I studied college there and spent a few years in that same old building. I knew there’s some horrific secrets those silent massive walls have witnessed over time.
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Both good and bad history, just as any country does. Could you just imagine if those walls could talk?!!
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Until I saw that last photograph, I was thinking that this place didn’t sound so bad—no torture, self-policed, fairly autonomous. But that last photograph says it all. And then I realized that no internment camp, no prison, is a place where human beings want to live. Great post, GP!
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There were many descriptions of what all went on behind those walls, but I have some young readers here. Very few would have been able to read it through, but you were able to get a basic picture.
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Got it! 🙂
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That was informative and great.
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Thanks, I appreciate your visit.
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Reblogged this on Subli.
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Thanks, we both have become dedicated to not allowing this history to fade!!
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Excellent post. I just pulled out that book “Return to the Philippines” by Rafael Steinberg from my bookshelf and was reading “A City that Died in Battle”. What do they say? “Great minds think alike”. I’m reblogging this.
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You know what I’m building up to too, don’t you. Los Banos – of course!
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Yes. I’ll continue the nurses’ story this weekend up to their liberation from Santo Tomas. Then it’s all yours.
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Go right ahead – don’t worry about my site.
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I kept waiting for the description of prisoner executions as the Japanese were driven from the city. I’ve read that it happened at other prison camps.
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They must have had enough of that previously. Not all were monsters, despite the reputation.
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Glad to hear that…
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Reading the level of starvation even after liberation is mind boggling. Brutal. Given the size and nature of the prison camp it gives a glimpse of why perhaps there were no executions. I am guessing it was a case of maximum internment with minimum forces. Thanks for the insight GP.
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Horrific. I have no other words to describe it.
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I know what you mean, Rich.
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Reblogged this on New Mexicans in WWII and Korea.
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Thank you for sharing their story. History that is fast disappearing.
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Thank you for linking up.
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Thank you, Penny. It’s great having the reblog button back, eh?!
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