The passing of Ambassador Juan José Rocha—Johnny to his family and friends—on July 20 was a lamentable loss to Manila’s...
(Editor’s note: Article is based on a talk delivered during the forum, “Bataan Legacy in Manila, 73rd Anniversary of Bataan...
For 14-year-old violin student Pilar Benavides, it was a circuitous journey from her wartime home on Gastambide Street, Sampaloc, to...
The first post-liberation concert of the Manila Symphony Orchestra (MSO) under conductor Dr. Herbert Zipper was given in the ruins of Santa Cruz Church on May 9, 1945. It was described in the Sunday Times Magazine in May 1970 as the most unusual concert ever given in Manila.
Lita Carlos and her cousin Ernesto “Esto” Lichauco heard it at the same time late Saturday afternoon, Feb. 3, 1945—...
The Harvard community in Cambridge, MA, was roiled in early May by the effort of a campus group to stage a Black Mass in a campus facility. An actual Black Mass involves the desecration of a consecrated host and a mockery of the Catholic Eucharistic liturgy.
Late in the afternoon of Feb. 3, 1945, advance elements of the US 1st Cavalry Division rolled into Japanese-defended Manila and liberated Malacañang Palace first and then Santo Tomas Internment Camp.
In her vivid account of the first day of Manila’s Liberation on Feb. 3, 1945, Conchita C. Razon (Inquirer, Feb. 3, 2013, page D2) writes: “There were rumors of plans to execute the internees.” How well-founded were these rumors?
It is the month of February again, the month in 1945 when the Japanese chose to turn our fair city into a battleground and killing ground, as Ambassador Juan José Rocha has said, leading to the death of some 100,000 noncombatant civilians, the destruction of irreparable heritage, and the near-obliteration of public utilities.
Today is Friday, Feb. 3, 2012—a Day of Remembrance. Flashback to Feb. 3, 1945—a day that brings to mind the stark events of a war that begs not to be forgotten.
