3 posts tagged “bataan”
Oh No! Now it's a musical. I got word that it was performed in April, 2007 at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut, California. Written by Gary Davis, the story of Claire Phillips (AKA: High Pockets) has been set to music and most of the action takes place at the infamous Tsubaki Club in Manila. My friend Edna Binkowski (Bataan, Philippines) sent me the promo piece above. Edna has published a historical account of the real Claire Phillips: Code Name : High Pockets.
OK, so I'm breaking my own promise to myself . . .that I wouldn't endorse anyone's book. (I know too many authors and historians!) but here's an interesting story. I met the author a few years ago when I was running "Death March Tours" with Tony Estrada (rest in peace, my good friend!) and Jose Clemente of Rajah Tours in Manila. Edna Bautista Binkowski is known far and wide for her knowledge of all the events surrounding the Japanese take-over in Bataan. What a treat to "walk-the-walk" with Edna. She knows how to enliven history. She also runs a fine B and B in the town of Limay, which straddles the original route of the Death March. Now she's completed an account of the life and times of the rather mysterious hero, Claire Phillips, who worked as an active spy and established an underground supply chain to the prisoners at Cabanatuan. Everyone knew her as "High Pockets" and stories about her gained legendary status among the Allied troops. But back to Edna - For years she's been involved with FAME the Filipino-American Memorial Endowment. This unique organization has taken on the task of memorializing the route of the Death March, and has established a large number of Kilometer Markers and various memorials along the route. Their work continues with the help of local governments and local government officials. It seems that everyone knows Edna. After a particularly difficult tour recently, I had the opportunity to spend a few days at Edna's little hotel by the shore of Manila Bay. I had to get there by Manila/Orion ferry boat. Limay is a sleepy little town with one major fiesta a year. "Villa Edna" and Edna's wonderful family welcomed me. The day I arrived the Bataan Chamber of Commerce officials were having a meeting and luncheon out on the beautiful veranda that overlooks the Bay (excellent fried fish, lumpia, and lots of baked pork and rice!) Needless to say, if you're headed to the Islands and want to spend some time with the real locals, contact Edna. If you want to buy a book or get more information about her B and B write to:
Ms. Edna Binkowski, P.O. Box 6345, Limay, Bataan, 2103, Philippines or e-mail her at endbink@mozcom.com
For more information about F.A.M.E. (Filipino American Memorial Endowment) go to http://www.dot.com.ph/amcham/fndfam.html
Also for more interesting information on Edna Binkowski: Google her name for more references. She's well known in historical circles. She's tops in my book of friends.
28 January, 2003
Ever since the time I started reading books, I remember reading about the Philippines. While other kids read sports stuff and dreamed of the major leagues, I scoured the local town library for books about explorers, conquerors, and colonizers. It was escapism from the humdrum of growing up in a mill town along the banks of the Allegheny River. While other kids fantasized about being a Pittsburgh Steeler, my mind was set on seeing the same places where Da Gama, La Salle, and Magellan had set foot. Genghis Khan's birthname was Temujin. I was the only fifth-grader in my elementary school who could recite that fact. The teacher didn't even know the answer to that one, nor could she teach me much about Asian history. Maybe this incident gave me the first piece of solid evidence that I ought to leave town - as soon as I was old enough. It's now 2003, not 1952, and I'm standing on the same spot where Magellan died on the shores of Mactan Island (Cebu, Philippines) in February, 1521. I'm standing before a beautiful monument built by the Spanish colonials circa 1860. Nearby is a huge statue of the legendary Lapu-Lapu, the tribal leader who's responsible for Magellan's demise. I'm spell-bound and totally happy. I had waited a lifetime to experience this event. You travel to these places to try and put the whole thing into perspective. Though Magellan didn't live to tell about it, the Magellan expedition was one of those world-changing events in the history of exploration. His expedition and subsequent forays by Spanish navigators propelled Spain toward world power and riches never envisioned before the Renaissance.
They were intruders more than discoverers. Centuries before, the Hindi, the Chinese, and Moros had long established trade routes in this part of the Islands. It took a period of 40 years after Magellan's death to establish any kind of Spanish colonial power in Cebu. Miguel Lopez de Legaspi succeeded, and Spanish control flourished into the 17th Century. Legend has it that Colon Street in downtown Cebu City is the oldest Spanish street in the Philippines.
Today, the Spanish legacy is everywhere to be discovered in the 7,128 islands of the Republic of the Philippines. Fast-forward to 1941 and the real interest for the American history enthusiast gets the adrenalin pumping. December 8, 1941 and the Islands are about to be crushed under the onslaught of the Japanese. By April 9th, 1942 it's all but finished for the Republic as it finally gives in to total Japanese domination. Bataan Peninsula falls, and soon afterward, the island fortress of Corregidor, and 60,000 men march off to their doom. America is humiliated a second time after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. It will be three long years of heartache and bloody Pacific battles before the United States and its allies land in Leyte and Lingayen Gulf and stop the Japanese threat to Australia. The current fervor in historical retrospect of the European Theater of World War II has been superceding historical interest in the Pacific Theater of operations. On the importance of our re-taking of the Philippines, a tactical argument continues among the arm-chair quarterbacks. MacArthur's role is usually at the center of any debate. You either love him or hate him for what he did, or didn't do. Like so many other stories to come out of the World War II experience, the story of the Philippines, the trials withstood, the sorrows experienced on a national level, and the inevitable triumphs can't be neglected or forgotten. One author in particular needs to be mentioned here in helping to regenerate a new interest in nearly forgotten (or untaught) history. Hampton Side's excellent (and best-selling) book about the U.S. Army raid on the prison camp at Cabanatuan has caused somewhat of a sensation among those who claim "not to have read very much about World War II." I highly recommend that you read Ghost Soldiers.
I've made two trips back to the Philippines in the last six months to try and gain a new insight into the Philippines' unfolding history. More important, I wanted to trace the route of the infamous Death March from Bataan to Capas and visit the prison site at Cabanatuan. You can read about places like Gettysburg, Normandy, or Warsaw, but they remain just names in distant history until you can actually "walk the hallowed ground" and maybe in some small way, pay personal tribute to those who gave their lives. Each individual act of sacrifice can never be forgotten. Trying to understand why it took place is the real lesson to be drawn from history.
I'm on a mission and it's almost over. I'm working with two travel companies in laying the logistical work for a huge reunion that will take place in Subic Bay. I'm in a hotel dining room on the former U.S. Naval base. I'm surrounded by Filipinos, Koreans, - and Japanese businessmen. I can also detect some Mandarin being spoken in the corner of the dining room. Everyone greets each other with a morning "Hello" spoken in English. What a strange world we live in, I think to myself, as one of the Japanese asks me to pass the sugar bowl and gives me a smile and the old Asian head-nod. It's all about simple courtesy and trying to get along in an unsettled world of someone else's politics and cultural differences - and trying to learn from it.
For more information about traveling and touring in the Philippines, contact RajahTours, in Manila or in San Francisco: www.rajahtoursphilippines.com Professional, trustworthy, and equipped with a long track record of success, the Clemente Family is famous in Luzon for 35 years of dedicated service to the Philippine travel industry.
