Dr. Agapito Castro, Jason Theriot, Hewitt Theriot:

-Dr. Castro was 10 years old, living in the Philippines (native) when Pearl Harbor happened; lived on the island of Luzon
-The first Japanese bombing on the Philippines was December 8 (in our time zone that was December 7-Pearl Harbor day)
-The Japanese forces came from Formosa, present day Taiwan
-First memories were around September-October when they would practice “black outs”
-Sirens would sound and they were supposed to turn lights off if it was at night
-His father had a radio that was strong enough to pick up the BBC station and that was how they learned about the comings of war

-First major memory of the war was December 10 and they were all sleeping, it was around 4 AM, and they heard 3 explosions
-Dr. Castro’s father brought them out into a grove of bamboo as it was thick and he figured the bamboo would be able to absorb the shock if a bomb landed close to them
-They stayed there till the sun came up
-His father was a judge and if anything happened in town he got the first reports, after the army
-Later that day he got a report on the bombings and one had hit a railroad and there was some people dead
-The bomb had ruined the railroad track and a train came upon it later that morning and detailed, killing a few people inside
-There was a camp about 2-3 miles from where the wreck had taken place, an Army camp, and that might have been the target or they were trying to cut off supplies to the camp

(4:10) Question: How did the Filipino people feel about the Japanese coming into their country?
-They still hate them now; resisted every way they could with the best guerillas and supported Macarthur

(5:11) at noon (Dec. 10) they left their home and went to their ancestral home in another town (grandparents’ home)
-That afternoon the Japanese began bombing Clark Field; Japanese planes were painted silver and stayed in “V” formation
-Crossed paths with soldiers from trucks on the roads, watching the bombings
-When they got to the house they saw a plane go down, Capt. Collin Kelly, after he shot down a Japanese plane that landed in a rice field
-Everyone began moving south to get away from the Japanese; they were invading and people were afraid
-Bataan surrendered in April 1942 and Corregidor in May of 1942

(10:56) September 21, 1944
-They hadn’t see any American planes for 4 years
-Heading out to the farm that morning, it was cloudy but they could hear the planes above them
-Then one of the planes came out of the clouds and they saw the “Stars and Stripes” on it
-They were bombing Clark Field

-With the Japanese invasion, Dr. Castro’s father was not able to practice his profession as a judge
-They had closed down their government and his family worked in the rice and sugarcane fields
-Japanese also took away his radio and they were only allowed to know what the Japanese told them
-The one thing they were not allowed to have was guns, they took all of those too

-Each town had a platoon of Japanese soldiers and they used Filipino military to help keep the peace

In Dr. Castro’s part of the country they had 3 types of guerillas:
-Bandits that robbed
-Ones supported by MacArthur
-And the Communists (started long before the war and were calling for reforms)
-All fought the Japanese

-The Communists guerillas still continued after the war and during that time, Dr. Castro felt more afraid than when the Japanese were occupying the area
-In 1944 the MacArthur gorillas came to Dr. Castro’s father and asked him to make a guerilla unit in their town as the submarines were giving them supplies and weapons
-By the time they were ready to make a unit the Americans came in

(16:58) the Americans
-The Marines were landing in the Lingayen Gulf, 100 miles from Dr. Castro’s family’s farm
-They could hear the shelling on the beaches; the Japanese fled to the mountains
-Eventually the Americans made it into the town and everyone went to see them
-They were dressed differently and had jeeps, they were the Alamo Scouts; had been sent ahead of the main army
-Dr. Castro was 14 years old at the time

(22:20) Japanese Occupation
-The Japanese came in and occupied the Philippines and each town had a platoon
-They stayed in the schoolhouses and there were guards 24/7 there; had rifles and bayonets
-Every time the natives passed them they had to bow; if not done right you were beaten

(25:20) Bataan Death March
-From Bataan the POWs were walked to San Fernando, Pampanga in April for about 30 miles
-Then they put them on railroad cars to a town, Capas; 6 miles from Dr. Castro’s town
-At Capas they did a head count and then walked to Camp O’Donnell, where the concentration camp was
-Dr. Castro did not see the first batch of POWs but others were telling them about the poor Americans
-After that they began to bring them food when they got off at Capas
-They’d wake up at midnight to make rice and put either chicken or eggs with it and wrapped it up in banana leaves and then haul it to Capas and get there by 7 AM
-The Japanese would not let them get close to the POWs;
-If they were Filipino POWs they were a bit lenient on them so they could throw/roll the food at them when they walked by;
-If caught throwing food to the American POWs they’d get beat by the rifle butt
-One time there was an entire group of American POWs and the Japanese commander let them go up and give food to them; they were reluctant as this was a first
-After they ate all the soldiers stood up and clapped their hands before they were sent off

-Talking of families, others they’ve interviewed, Larry Aucoin, those they are going to interview

(37:10) after the Americans came
-After the Alamo Scouts left the 37th Infantry Division came in; made their headquarters in his uncle’s house
-The artillery was placed at their farm and they shelled the hills around Clark Field
-Every night they dug foxholes waiting for the Japanese Bonsai charges

(38:12) Life under the Japanese/Stories
-Things did change, people lived in fear
-They were starving but so were the Japanese; production of rice was down as people were afraid to plant with planes being shot down into the fields
-They would do public hangings in the town plaza; mainly they were guerillas
-Tells a story about a “ghost,” a hiding POW that wore a sheet
-A story about an American dive bomber that parachuted into their field and was shot
-Most of the schools were closed and those that were open would brainwash you; his father never let him go (4 years)
-The idolization of MacArthur to the Filipinos
-There was no news coming so many thought they were not going to be saved, never saw any Americans for so long

Transcription Begins:

Dr. Agapito A. Castro (3/9/2002)
Philippine Native
1100 Andrew St.
Suite 201
New Iberia, La 70563

I was 10 years old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. I was living on the island of Luzon. The first bombing of the Philippines was December 8th. Actually, December 8th, in our time zone, was December 7th in Pearl Harbor. It was a different attack force all together. The Japanese forces that attacked us came from Formosa, which is now Taiwan.
The attacks were concentrated mostly against the airfields. The biggest base was Clark AFB which was less than an hour's drive from where we lived.

I can remember two months before the attack, in October, our town started practicing "black outs". The sirens and church bells would sound off at night and everybody would turn their lights off. I remember looking out of our window and the whole town was dark.

The first memory that I have of actual war was on the morning of December 10. We were all sleeping and around 3 am in the morning we heard three loud explosions outside. So my father guided us outside and brought us down to a grove of bamboo behind the house. I asked him why the bamboo, and he told me because they were so thick and very thick roots. He figured if a bomb landed close to us, the bamboo would absorb most of the shock. We stayed there until the sun came up. There was no alarm, no sirens going off.

My father was the town judge. One of his duties was to investigate violent deaths. Early that morning the police led us to where the bombing took place. It seemed that the Japanese bombed a railroad track by our house. When the early morning train passed, it was derailed when it went over the bombed railroad. The locomotive and the railcars were lying on their side, wrecked, and I saw some dead people in the window. That was my first experience with the war.

At noon that day, on December 10, the whole family packed up our belongings and traveled to our ancestral home in another town and that's where we stayed. It was my grandparent's old house. That afternoon, the Japanese started bombing Clark Field. On our way there we saw a column of army trucks by the side of the road and the soldiers were all getting off the truck and scattering in the nearby rice field. They waved us to hurry up. They kept pointing at the sky and sure enough we saw nine silvery planes flying very high, in a tight "V" formation. We made it to our ancetrial home without incident.

The next day around noon, the Jap planes came again to raid Clark Air Force Base. I could see the black puff from the anti-aircraft shells among the high flying Jap planes. I saw a lone B-17 being chased by some Jap fighters. The B-17 was smoking and then I saw two parachutes come out of the plane. I lost sight of the B-17 and later on the local newspaper ran a story about the air battle. The American bomber was being piloted by Capt. Collin Kelly and the plain expoded in mid-air. Kelly was awarded the DSC for that action. He was the first American hero of WWII. (I have a painting of that battle scene and he signed it. The Japanese pilot who shot him down was Saburo Sakai, the famed Japanese Ace pilot of WWII, who also signed the painting) I witnessed this battle from my house. That afternoon my father and I went to see the remains of a Jap plane shot down during the noon raid. The plane plunged into a rice field creating a big hole. The stench of oil and gas and burnt flesh was nauseating.

When Batan surrendered in April 1942, the American and Filipino POW's were marched 30 miles in the heat of the April sun from Bataan to San Fernando, Pampanga. The prisoners, numbering in the thousands, were transported by rail cars to the small town of Capas. From there, they detrained and lined along the railroad track and had a headcount. After the headcount they were marched to the concentration camp, Camp O'Donnel. Capas was six miles from my town. This went on for days until all the prisoners from Bataan and Corregidor went through, and arrived at the camp. Our town elders got together and they decided that we should bring food to these starving people. Everynight the people in our town would wake up at midnight and start preparing food. We would wrap a big ball of boiled rice and put in a piece of meat and boiled egg in a big piece of banana leaf, and wrap all of that up. At about 4am we would ride on a ball cart to the town of Capas. It took about 2-3 hours to negotiate the distance on the slow bull cart. By 7am we would be in place. There was a rusty road that runs parallel to the railroad track where the POW's were detained and marched through.

The Japanese soldiers let us stay at a distance from across the road, and after the usual headcount, the Japs would march the POW's right close to us. We would then slip or throw the wrap food overhead to the POW's. If the Japs guards caught you they would jab you with their rifle butts, or kick and slap you. They caught the Mayor of our town and the Jap officer hit him with a lead pipe and broke his forearm. If the POW's were Filipino, the Jap guards were a little bit lenient. They looked the other way so long as the distribution is not flagrant. But they were very strict towards the American POW's. Anyone that was caught throwing food to the Americans would get a rifle butt across the face or chest.

When Corregidor surrendered, the Japs brought a train-load of American POW's. I remember a very emotional incident one morning. The train stopped and the soldiers were unloaded. They were all Americans. They let them squat down next to the train and then they counted them. The guards stood between the Americans and us. This one Japanese Captain, the one in command, motioned for us civilians to move in closer to bring food. We were reluctant, because this had never happened before. We ran up as quickly as we could to bring the Americans some food. Then the Captain blew his whistle and motioned us back. The Americans sat there and were eating this food, and soon after they all stood up at once, like somebody had given them an order. They all stood up, clapped their hands, and sat back down. The Japanese commander then ordered them to march out. It was very emotional.

When the Japanese invaded my country, a platoon was sent to my town. Each town in the Philippines had a contingent of Japanese soldiers, and the soldiers mostly stayed in the schoolhouse. In front of the school was a pillbox, and soldiers were standing guard twenty-four hours a day with their rifles and bayonets. The Japanese like to use bayonets to scare the people. And when you walked by them, you had to stop and bow. If you don't bow right, he's going to call you back and slap or kick you around a few times. They were very cruel.

The Japanese immediately confiscated all guns, weapons, and radios. The local newspaper was censored. The Japanese closed down the schools at the beginning of the war, but later on the schools reopened. My father did not let us go to school because the children were being brainwashed.

Each town in the Philippines had a town "plaza", or town square, in the middle of town, like the Boglani Plaza. There was a Catholic church on one side, a school on another side, and the municipal building on a third side. One morning after mass, as we were coming out of church, the Japanese came to the square and ordered all of us to gather around the square in a big circle. They brought in a prisoner in the middle of this square. They made everybody look up at him. They put a noose around his neck and hanged him by the flagpole. When the poor man stopped moving and was dead, they told the people they could go home.

Another time they did the same thing. This time they brought in a captured guerilla.

My father was not able to practice his profession. The Japanese closed down our government, so we moved to our ancestral home to farm rice and sugarcane. We had a newspaper, but the Japanese printed it, so they wrote what ever they wanted us to know. And they had confiscated my father's radio. The number one thing that you could not get caught with was a gun. You couldn't have any weapons. Each town had a Japanese garrison of maybe five soldiers, and they were in charge of security of that town.

For four years we never saw an American plane until one morning, September 21, 1944. I was going to our farm. It was a very cloudy day. We noticed there was a lot of activity in the air, there were a lot of planes hovering around. One of those planes came out of the clouds and we saw the Stars and Stripes, and I said, "God Damn these are Americans!" They were bombing Clark Field. We had been under the Japanese control all those years. It was just like the Gestapo in Germany. We lived in fear all the time.

The Americans were eventually brought to Cabanatuan. The Marines landed in Lingayen Gulf, about 100 miles from our farm. You could see and hear the shelling of the landing beaches. The Japanese were trying to evacuate into the mountains, and they told us there were some Americans in town. So we went to go see them, and they looked very different. They were dressed different and had a different kind of helmet. The guns were so different. And they had jeeps! They were the Alamo Scouts. They were going ahead of the main army forces. When the Americans landed in Lingayen Gulf, the gorillas informed MacArthur about the Americas prisoners at Cabantuan. He sent the Rangers in to get them out. It is the only successful prisoner of war rescued attempt of WWII. It was quite amazing story.

I remember when the Alamo Scouts came to my town, and when they moved out, the 37th Infantry Division came in, and their headquarters was in my uncle's house. They placed the artillery in our farm. They were shelling the hills around Clark Airfield. There were a bunch of big guns, 105 mm and 155 mm howitzers. I can remember the sounds of these big guns- Kaboom! Kaboom! Every night, when the sun would go down, the soldiers would start digging their foxholes. They were preparing for the nightly Japanese Bonsai attacks.

I remember one time this American dive-bomber was coming over us. He was attacking this satellite airfield a few miles from my house. The Americans were bombing all over so we were in our air-raid shelter. This American dropped his bomb and as he was pulling out he got hit by artillery. We saw a parachute open and the plane crashed. But the parachute didn't open all the way; he fell to the earth. He landed in the middle of our cane field, a few hundreds yards away from us. We were in our shelter watching him come down. This Japanese spotter was on top of the church and he saw this thing coming down. Immediately he shouted to the Japanese to go get him. My father and I saw this happening. So we crawled out to this man, but he was lying on the ground. He had broken both his legs. The Japanese came and shot him. They killed him right there and told us to load him onto a cart and bring him to the Japanese garrison. They could have given us some trouble, but luckily they didn't.

Sometime in January of 1945, when the Americans had captured Manila, was when our people were finally liberated and our government was reestablished. MacArthur came down and gave his speech and we raised our flag. The Filipino people believed that MacArthur was God. His father fought the Spaniards in the Philippines and he was a big general there. MacArthur became an aid-decamp to his dad and toured all of Asia. Then, he was stationed in the Philippines before he became Chief of Staff of the US Army. He and his wife lived in the Manila Hotel for years. His son was born there, so he had close ties to the Philippine people. Without MacArthur, the US Navy would have by-passed the Philippines and gone on to Formosa and then Japan. He fought that vigorously in front of President Roosevelt at a meeting in Pearl Harbor. He said that, 'we have a moral obligation to free the people of the Philippines. We promised to defend this country and we did not.'

My feeling is that Roosevelt wanted to start something to give him an excuse to help Britain fight the Nazi's. He needed an excuse, so that's my opinion about why he didn't warn about Pearl Harbor.

(How did the Filipino people feel about the Japanese coming into their country?) Hell, they still hate them today! We resisted every way we could. We had the best guerillas in that part of the world. They were all support by MacArthur.

When I first met Dr. Bernard, when I first moved to town, they introduced me to all the doctors, he said, "Aw, you from the Philippines." I said, "Yes." He said, "You ever been to Manila Bay?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Do remember that boat that was jetting out of the bay, the farthest one close to Corrigador?" I said, "Yes sir, I remember that one." He said, "Well I sunk that ship!" That's how we first met. The ship was still sitting there in Manila Bay after the war ended.

I've spoken with Larry Aucoin about the war. He was just a small boy like me during the war. He and his family were in the concentration camp at Santo Thomas, where my school was- the University of Santo Thomas. It was a Dominican school used by the Japanese as a concentration camp for foreign civilians. That's were he was. There was a book published, Rescue, and his father is mentioned there.