Manila Memories

these were the good old days in manila. you can never identify the present manila with the manila described in this book. sad but true. but if you are a romantic, manila was certainly a beautiful city before world war 2.
Rating: 5 / 5

This riveting memoir about pre-WWII culminates in the Battle of Manila in 1945. The book is authored by four young authors, who at the time were between the ages of nine and twelve. They are Juergen Goldhagen, Roderick Hall, Hans Hoeflein, and Hans Walser, all of European ancestry: German, Spanish and Swiss, all considered by the Japanese occupiers of the Philippines, as non-enemy aliens. They and their families were, therefore, not interned in concentration camp and spent the Japanese occupation in Manila surviving precariously on their own.

While life for the boys was relatively peaceful during the early Occupation, it became less so with shortages of food and medicine. Finally, with the month-long battle for Manila, commencing in early February, 1945, all vestiges of normalcy collapsed.

Three of the boys lived in the city and experienced horrific scenes, and were nearly killed.Nationality made no difference, and if one were in the wrong place, at the wrong time, one could be burned, wounded, or killed.

One hundred thousand civilians died in the Battle of Manila. Thousands upon thousands were massacred by the Japanese military.Roderick Hall’s mother, grandmother, aunt, the aunt’s fiance, and a family friend were killed.Miraculously, Rod, his younger sister, and two younger brothers survived.

Sixty-five years later, four memoirists tell their stories through the eyes of their boyhood–incredible historians with tales that will never be forgotten.

–Doreen Gandy Wiley, author and survivor of the Philippine Holocaust

Rating: 4 / 5

In this fascinating book, four boys tell of their memories of life in Manila, Philippines, before, during, and after the Japanese occupation during World War II. My comments on the book are biased because I know all four authors, having gone to the same school in Manila that they attended. However, my wife Hilah read the book too. She only knows the editor and has never lived in the Islands. Her comments are melded with mine, removing some of my bias.

The memories are told in the words of youngsters, and were largely non-judgmental, at least up until their tales of the liberation, a most stressful time. The boys understood that the Japanese were the enemy, and they feared them and wished them gone. However, they described some friendly exchanges.

After the Japanese took over the Philippines, food became scarce and the boys and their families were getting hungrier and hungrier. Although Hans Walser remembers that life under Japanese occupation was “… as normal as could be,” he describes how shortages of food and medicines brought about tension. Tension heightened as the Americans returned to begin their liberation drive. Air raids made life more hazardous as shrapnel and spent ammunition rained down everywhere. Walser writes how life “… was starting to get less and less `normal’.” Food prices soared. Understandably, the Japanese became less friendly, more suspicious, and guarded. But the boys still spent time playing, even in their perilous surroundings.

The battle for Manila is well described, and includes a map of American troop movements. Photographs show the devastation of the once beautiful city, known before the war as the Pearl of the Orient. It was an increasingly hazardous time for all residents, including the Japanese, with the significant threats of aerial combat, antiaircraft fire, artillery, and small arms fire, even for those in their homes. It was like a war game to the boys, but their parents were fearful for the health and safety of family and friends. Descriptions of this tension transport the reader through the boys’ eyes to those exciting, dangerous times.

Liberation brought much happiness to all but the Japanese. The American soldiers seemed ready for the people who lined the streets to cheer them. They won the children’s hearts tossing candies down to them from their trucks. They threw packages of cigarettes to the adults. This account of joy cheers the reader.

We recommend the book to those of our age who were children during the war, as well as other readers who would enjoy the experience of seeing such a major conflict through the eyes of young boys. It is a clearly written, entertaining, and thought-provoking read.

-Norman Simmons

Rating: 5 / 5

Manila Memories is a story about 4 young boys who lived through the Japanese occupation of Manila during World War II. These are gripping accounts, similar and yet very different, as each boy’s experiences were unique and are told with distinctive voices. There is the ordinariness of everyday life and then, often, the sudden and shocking cruelty of war. Once started, the book demanded to be read through. I enjoyed it very much.
Rating: 4 / 5

Sixty years or more after their boyhood experiences, four men have told their tales of boyhood during wartime. Most Westerners in countries occupied by the Japanese in World War II spent the three years in prison camps. However, the four families in this story were not considered enemies by their occupiers; two were German, one was Swiss and the fourth was considered Filipino because of a long Spanish history in the islands. They lived in Manila and watched the occupation take place. Their fathers’ jobs ended and survival became the mode of life.

Youth can protect us from real fear — especially if parents are present to deal with the realities. The four boys’ lives went on, for the most part, as boys’ lives do — play, schooling in one form or another. The presence of the Japanese and their unpredictability was part of their experience, and as time went on, privation, too.

The battle for liberation in February 1945 was the most horrendous time for all of them. Bombing, shelling and massacre presented them with lifetime memories that leave scars. That they have all gone on to live productive lives demonstrates the resilience of youth.

Undescribed directly is the heroism and ingenuity of the four sets of parents who survived three years demanding of innovation and courage.

Everyone should read this book.
Rating: 5 / 5