Local Veterans of the Battle of the Phillipines Remembered

          The following are excerpts from an article I wrote for the November issue of VIA Times Newsmagazine, a monthly Philippine and Asian American news and gossip ("tsismis") publication. 

                           

 

                            Remembering on November 11, Veterans’ (Armistice) Day 

            It has been my November tradition to write about the local veterans who served in the Philippines in World War II who died during the past year.  For me “local” means Green Bay, Wisconsin.  Every year it amazes me how many men this relatively tiny area of the U.S. sent to the Philippines during that war, what they were part of there, and the quiet lives to which they returned.  I present them here in the order in which they died since November 11, 2013.

            This year one of the youngest of these ten veterans died at 87.  He was George Kornowske.  He served in the US Army from 1944-1946, in the Philippines.  Returning home, George was vintage Wisconsin.  He “loved his family, hunting, fishing, gardening and the many dogs he had throughout his lifetime.  He was an avid reader.”

             Claude William Johnson gets this brief note on his war experience.  He “proudly served

Aboard the USS Rocky Mount during WW II.”  The writer of the obituary, and this is typical, lets it go there.  He or she might have added that the USS Rocky Mount participated in the largest naval battle in history, Leyte Gulf in October of 1944.  It followed this landing with a second major operation, Lingayan Gulf in Northwerstern Luzon (January, 1945).  Finally, it participated in the Mindanao landings (April-May, 1945).  Claude thus encountered all three major geographic areas of the Philippines, Luzon, Mindanao, and the Visayas.

            A veteran of somewhat longer war service, Jerome (Jerry) Fostner was a member of the US Army Air Corps.  Jerry made his way with the attack forces from New Guinea to the Philippines.  His youngest child became a Norbertine priest and is a Vice President at my college, St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin.

            My first and perhaps finest dentist when I first came to De Pere (1968) and for some years thereafter was Dr. Sterr.  He actually served during the war in the China-Burma-India Campaign, but his experiences drew him later to the Philippines.  In 1981 he spent six weeks volunteering as a dentist in an Indochinese refugee camp on Palawan, the Philippines.

            Another Navy man’s service, that of Siegmund Kennth, is simply stated as, “He served in the US Navy on the USS Bolivar.”  The Bolivar participated in the Leyte and Lingayan Gulf landings as well as the Iwo Jima landing.  “Siegmund loved polka music, to play Sheepshead (a game played only in Northeastern Wisconsin), and spending time with his family.”  Pure Green Bay.

            John A. Bennie died peacefully on October 26, 2014.  He brings our memorial list to a close.  John joined the US Marines immediately after high school in 1942 and saw extensive action throughout the Southwest Pacific, including the “invasion of the Philippines.”  He became a long-time volunteer at a local hospital, “having over 2,000 hours of service.”

            Contact Bob Boyer at Robert.boyer@snc.edu or< www.anamericaninmanila.com>.  Also there is a link for VIA Times Newsmagazine on this web site. 

Accentuating the Positive [News], Not Always Easy

                                        Accentuating the Positive, or Trying

            While sitting outside a café recently with a cup of tea and the newspaper, I accidentally dropped one section of the paper.  An elderly gentleman passing by reached down, picked it up, and handed it to me.  Before I could say thank you, he said, “any good news in that?”

            I actually make a practice of looking for good-news stories when reading the local and national papers.  Nonetheless I had to tell the gentleman, “not yet.”  Readers of this column may remember my 2014 New Year’s Resolution about “accentuating the positive,” as the old World War Two song advised.  This can be a tall order at times, and right now is one of those times.

            Here is what has happened in recent days.  I received an email from Beng, a close friend in Manila, telling me about the destructiveness of typhoon Glenda (Rammasun).  I read about the shooting down of the Malaysian Flight (MH 17) over Ukraine and the loss of all 298 passengers and crew, including three Filipinos.  Just this past Monday, July 28, I read that terrorists on the island of Sulu murdered twenty-one villagers.  Two of the wounded have now also died.  That is a lot to digest and still come up with positives, but I decided to see if I could find any.

            I didn’t have to look far to see some definite positives related to Typhoon Glenda.  Beng’s initial email about it already gave a hint or two of hope.  “Not much rain, thank you,” she said, “but a lot of destroyed homes, and uprooted trees.”  When I read further about Glenda in the Philippine Inquirer on line, the report indicated that this was the strongest typhoon of this season in the Manila area.  It caused much property destruction and left several thousand without their homes.  At the same time, the article noted the following: “Haunted by Super Typhoon Yolanda, which killed thousands, the residents of towns and villages in Glenda’s path cooperated with authorities and were saved from death and injury.”  That was good to hear.

            While checking on Glenda, I came across some related good news.  In announcing the forthcoming visit of Pope Francis to the Philippines (January 15-19, 2015), Philippine Cardinal Tagle clearly had Glenda in the back of his mind.  “Show him (the Pope) who we truly are, especially the resilience of the Filipinos coming from faith, coming from compassion, coming from bottomless hope.”  Later in his announcement, Tagle added, “We who experience an average of 20 to 22 typhoons a year, we can show the world what it means to be pained, to clean up, to stand again and to face another morning.”  Powerful and positive words. 

The above is the first half of the article that appeared in VIATimes Newsmagazine, Aug., 2014.  You can access the full article (and the magazine) from this site.  It sometimes takes time for the articles to appear, so be patient, again.  You may have noticed that some time has passed since the last entry.  At least I entered this post before going beyond two months.  Enjoy!

 

Typhoon Glenda

Typhoon Glenda news from a friend in Manila

 

Hi, Bob! 

I hope you are well when you get this email. Typhoon Glenda just left the Philippines yesterday (July 15) but left a trail of destruction again. Not much rain, thank you, but a lot of destroyed homes,  and uprooted trees and worse, we don't have electricity. My battery pack has a little power left so I can still text.

 

Hi,

Sorry to hear about Typhoon Glenda.  I will have to check the Philippine newspapers.  I hope you have electricity again soon.  I can't believe how lucky I was when I was teaching there (June through October, 1998) and there were no typhoons except for what the newspapers called a "half typhoon."  That was quite enough for me.

Happy Philippine-American Friendship Day

Today, the Fourth of July, 2014, is the annual Philippine-American Friendship Day in the Philippines.  I have fond memories of celebrating this day in 1998, when I was teaching for the semester at UP Diliman in Manila.  My department chair, Cora Villareal, invited me to a celebration of the day at the American Embassy.  I met the Cultural Attache at the embassy as well as the U.S. Ambassador.  The latter scolded me for not having contacted the embassy to inform them of my being in Manila for such a length of time.  The most memorable persons I met, however, were Joe Rogers and his wife Natividad Crame-Rogers.  Joe had been a young flier in the US Army Air
Force in WW II and then rose to the rank of Colonel in the Philippine Air Force after the war.  He met his wife Natividad when he co-piloted one of the first Philippine Air Lines planes (on loan to PAL from the Air Force); Natividad was one of the first PAL stewardesses.  Read more about this couple in Chapter Seven of Sundays in Manila.

Happy Friendship Day!

The Perfect Book

I met a colleague from a nearby university recently who is leading a group of students on an International Habitat For Humanity build in the Philippines.  I will share more about this wonderful undertaking when he and the students return.  In the meantime, I wanted to share his comment about my book, Sundays in Manila, a copy of which he had borrowed from a friend of mine at his university.  Here is what he said, after reading portions of the book:

"It is the perfect book for me, since it incorporates some history, some travel information, and some insights into the culture.  I especially look forward to sharing the chapter with some Filipino language words with the students.  It's always good to know a few words in the local language."

I was particularly pleased with his comment since he underlined precisely what I had hoped to do for readers.  I did, of course, tell him that many Filipinos were quite conversant in English, but not necessarily in the rural area in the Eastern Visayas where he was going.

More to come on this build.

More Frequent Entries/News Up-dates

Greetings.  I have just posted an earlier June 1 entry, prior to this one (please check the Blog Archive for June).  Two and a half months between today's two entries and the previous one (March 16) is way too long a time between entries.  I've decided that on average, one entry every two weeks, with more when events dictate, is about right, and I will aim at that.

Probably the most important event during the entry absence has been President Obama's visit to the Philippines in late April, so my entry earlier today covers a human-interest item about the visit.

If anyone had been wondering about which course--"The Hobbit" or "The Philippines,"-- was selected for me to offer at St. Norbert College next Fall, the answer is "The Hobbit" (see the March 16 entry).  But it was a close thing, and subsequently the University of Wisconsin Green Bay's Institute for Learning in Retirement asked me to do a two-hour session on "Discovering the Philippines."

The last item of note is that a group of students and one administrator from UW Green Bay will be going to the Philippines later in June for an International Habitat For Humanity build.  More on that in the next entry.

Thanks for your patience, and I look forward to hearing from you.

rhb

Raja Obama

The Philippines hosted U.S. President Barak Obama on April 28 and 29.  It was an historic occasion of a sitting American president visiting the Philippines.  I am tempted to say that some might complain that it was a long overdue visit, given the mutual history of the two countries, but I am going to emphasize the positives, and in particular the human-interest positives of Mr. Obama’s visit.  My source, as it often is for news from the Philippines, is The Philippine Star online edition.  Of the many possibilities, I have chosen the following three news stories.

1. Sikatuna.  At a special ceremony on Monday, April 28, President Benigno Aquino conferred the highest diplomatic honor of his country on President Obama, the Order of Sikatuna “with the highest rank of Raja.”  In his speech, Mr. Aquino referred to the assistance from the U.S. in the disastrous Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), to the peace-keeping initiatives of the U.S. in Southeast Asia, and to U.S. aid in “raising the defense capacities of the Philippines.”

President Obama gratefully accepted the award and spoke of “the commitment to continue to deepen the bond between our two great nations.”  Mr. Obama would, of course, have known that President Eisenhower had been the first to receive this award (1960).  The award recognizes the efforts of the recipient to strengthen the relations between the two countries.

The typical Filipino moment of the meeting came when President Aquino made the following wish for President Obama’s visit: “Though your stay here in the country may be short, I hope that it will allow you to see and experience for yourself how indeed it is more fun in the Philippines.”  The “more fun in the Philippines” is the country’s public relations mantra for tourism.  Filipino humor, as with good humor generally, often arises in the midst of solemnity.  Mr. Obama, for his part, recognized another characteristic trait of the host country in thanking it for “the extraordinary hospitality during his first visit.”

To read the other two news stories, please go to the VIA Times link on the blog home page.  Select "columnists," and my picture and the article will come up.

Two Course Descriptions:

The following are two course descriptions that I recently submitted for one-credit courses in the Master of Liberal Studies degree at St. Norbert College.  I have agreed to offer both but also to accept the program director's decision about which one to choose if only one is offered.  Just out of curiosity, I am wondering if viewers of this blog would be interested in both courses, even though only one is explicitly blog--related.  Responses can be made right here on the blog or you can email me at robert.boyer@snc.edu.   

Sundays in Manila as Travel Memoir

            Reading and discussing Sundays in Manila (Robert H. Boyer, University of the Philippines Press, 2011), will provide an example of travel writing with a focus on the Philippines.  Students will learn about the literary form of travel writing and have the opportunity of writing a short personal travel narrative.  At the same time they will become acquainted with the author’s discovery of a second homeland in the Philippines, along with his observations about the country that the U.S. defeated (1898-1902), colonized (1902-1946), fought side-by-side with (1941-1945), and has now joined with as a major ally and link to Southeast Asia.   

Tolkien’s The Hobbit: Ancient and Modern

            Tolkien’s The Hobbit received modest attention when it appeared in England in 1937, but it was about to ignite the enormous popularity of fantasy literature that continues today for readers of all ages.  In fact it helped to return fantasy literature to its proper place in the literary mainstream where it belongs.  It drew upon the traditional ingredients of myth, epic, medieval romance, and faery tales, what Tolkien referred to as “the cauldron of story.”  This course will locate The Hobbit in that earlier tradition and examine its subsequent influence.  In a short paper students will illustrate some of the ingredients from the “cauldron.”  

President Aquino's Picture in the New York Times: Telling

          Heading the International news section of the New York Times on Wednesday, February 5 is a great picture of President Benigno S. Aquino.  The more I looked at it, the more I saw.  It was like the pictures my fourth-grade teacher showed the class, so we could discuss them and then write a paragraph about them.

     On first view, I was impressed by the large size of the picture.  There is President Aquino at the top of the page, occupying about a quarter of the whole page.  He stands at the entrance to the "wood-paneled music room of the presidential palace," framed by heavy, formal drapes.  The drapes are swept back in regal fashion.  I can see the elegant décor of the spacious music room on the far wall: drapes, painting, two princely chairs.
   
     President Aquino wears what would appear to a Westerner as a long-sleeved white shirt worn casually over the belt rather than tucked in.  This is, however, the traditional man's formal wear, the Barong Tagalog.  It is the accepted Filipino equivalent of a three-piece dress suit and is worn at any occasion from a dinner party to a gala presidential reception.  The Barong Tagalog can be very fancy with trimmings and trappings, but Mr. Aquino's is a simple linen one that suggests an unassuming personality. 

     There is one decoration on the president's barong, a cancer ribbon.  His mother, Corazon ("Cory") Aquino died of colorectal cancer in 2009.  She had been the candidate who beat out the notorious Ferdinand Marcos who had become a veritable dictator under martial law.   Marcos tried to nullify the election, resulting in the popular uprising called the "People-Power Revolution" that supported Aquino.  Any Filipino seeing the cancer ribbon would remember.

     Mr. Aquino is looking out at the photographer and probably at Keith Bradsher, who is about to interview him for the article.  He wears glasses, is balding, and smiles.  I couldn't help but think that he was a professor welcoming his first class of the semester.

     The Large bold print above the picture proclaims, "Philippine Leader Sounds Alarm on China."  Underneath the picture is a quotation from the president's interview.  Mr. Aquino, a history buff of World War Two, compares China's take-over of islands claimed by the Philippines to Hitler's marching into Czechoslovakia.  The rest of Europe failed to respond "in an attempt to appease Hitler."  That sounds professorial but is also tough talk for both the West and China.

     Keith Bradsher is clearly writing for a reader who is new or recent to Philippine matters.  He never refers to Aquino's popular nickname (ALL Filipinos have one.) of Noynoy (His father's was Ninoy, his mother's Cory.)  Nor does he give the name of the presidential palace: Malacanan (pronounced Malacanyan) Palace.  Filipino readers might wonder if he is being overly formal, but they would greatly appreciate the positive and very presidential image presented by the article and perhaps even more so by the telling picture.

    

Secretary of State Kerry's Visit to Tacloban

     "No words can do justice to the level of destruction we've seen in this entire community. . . . This is a devastation that is unlike anything I've seen at this kind of scale."  So said Secretary of State John Kerry, as reported in the New York Times (December 19, 2013). 

     This statement and this whole one-third-page article are notable for at least two reasons.  First, the Times is continuing its coverage of Haiyan six weeks after the typhoon's record-breaking winds slammed into East Samar.  And secondly the top U.S. diplomat personally came to see what had happened for himself.  He was clearly shocked.

     The article, by Keith Bradsher, who has been reporting from Tacloban and surrouonding areas since Haiyan occurred, emphasized the continuing needs.  Kerry promised an additional $24.6 million immediately.  This amount is on top of the $62 million already supplied by Washington.  Bradsher also quotes President Aquino saying that $13 billion will eventually be needed and that the damage will not be fully repaired before 2017.

     On a lighter note, Bradsher quotes some of the older residents who commented on seeing the large number of American soldiers and airplanes coming to their aid.  They said it reminded them of the return of the Americans under MacArthur in 1944 when they landed on the beaches near by to oust the Japanese.

     In closing Bradsher talks with some of the locals who are starting to rebuild on the same sites where their dwellings were completely demolished by the typhoon.  Unfortunately, as the ocean level continues to rise, future typhoons, even less vehement, would cause even greater loss.

     Not to end on a down note, kudos to Mr. Kerry for showing up in person to lend his support, and also to the American soldiers whose assistance reminded the elders of the 1944 return of the Americans to help liberate the Philippines.

Taft's Heart Was in the Philippines

                                     Ringing in 2014 Lightly and Positively

            On Christmas Morning I received a present, a book that has quite a bit to do with the Philippines: Bully Pulpit.  Doris Kearns Goodwin, the author, writes about two presidents, Teddy Roosevelt and William Howard Taft.  As I read through about half of the book, I had mixed reactions about how Kearns Goodwin depicted the U.S. take-over of the Philippines.  My first idea for this column was to take issue with her, but while I was taking my New Year’s Day shower (I do get some of my best ideas in the shower) I changed my mind.  My wife regularly chides me for being negative, so a good resolution for the New Year would be to be more positive.  Several positive ideas followed this thought in quick succession, and my mood lightened.  I decided to start off 2014 lightly and positively.

     

           While I still have reservations about Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Bully Pulpit, it does contain a number of positives, particularly about William Howard Taft, the first Governor of the Philippines as a U.S. colony (1901-1904).  Unlike his friend Teddy Roosevelt who pressured President McKinley into colonizing the Philippines, Taft opposed the take-over from the outset.  He accepted McKinley’s appointment to lead the Philippines Commission and then to become the first governor only because “we were there” and should do a proper job of helping the people toward an independent and democratic government.

            As Kearns Goodwin points out, Taft and his wife and family were very egalitarian.  Taft crafted the expression, “our little brown brothers,” without being patronizing.  The Tafts’ positive attitude toward Filipinos made them popular with the local population but created much tension with the U.S. military.  The U.S. Army was waging a notably brutal and racist-tinged campaign in the Philippines.  Despite this, Taft managed to get the U.S. to buy the 400,000 acres of land held by the “friars” (Catholic Church) and distribute the land to the people.

This entry is excerpted from an article I wrote yesterday (Jan. 1, 2014) for VIA TIMES Newsmagazine (see the link).  RHB