Mary Jane Hodges Vance obituary

Posted on January 13, 2021 by Cliff Mills

I am very sorry to report that Dr. Mary Jane Vance recently passed away. The following obituary appeared on the Herald Banner website:

Dr. Mary Jane Hodges Vance, May 22, 1934 – January 4, 2021

The long-time Greenville educator, consultant, author and speaker joined the choir of angels peacefully at home on January 4th, 2021. Born in Manila, Philippines on May 22, 1934, to American and Spanish parents, Jesse A. and Mary Gamero Hodges, Mary Jane lived an extraordinary life and left an indelible impact on many.

She survived Japan’s Occupation during WWII and sailed enemy waters on the USS Uruguay as the first atom bombs dropped. As a repatriated American citizen, she and the surviving members of her family arrived in San Francisco on August 13, 1945 only to experience the worst riot ever in that city on V-J Day. Her long family journey to the U.S. finally ended in Hunt County, the birthplace of her father.

She and her siblings had been without the ability to attend school for 3 years during the Japanese Occupation of the Philippines during WWII. Eager to enroll in school here in her new country, she quickly caught up on her missed schooling and even skipped a few grades to complete her high school diploma from Quinlan High School (Quinlan, TX). She excelled academically and graduated with honors for her undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate degrees from East Texas State University (now Texas A&M-Commerce). During her college years she became a member of many organizations including the national honor society Phi Beta Kappa and then sorority Tooanoowee, which later became Gamma Phi Beta.

Continue reading →

Former STIC internee, Ruth Renfrow, reaches 100!

Posted on January 2, 2021 by Cliff Mills

Ruth Renfrow turns 100

Former STIC internee, Ruth Renfrow, was the subject of a recent feature article which appeared in The Union, of Nevada County, California. The article, titled Ruth Renfrow, who spent time in a prisoner of war camp before moving to Nevada City, turned 100 this year, tells the Ruth and Clyde Renfrow story from their first meeting in the Philippines, to marriage, to evading the Japanese after the invasion, to internment and to having two children, Willie and Winnie, in Santo Tomás.

The Renfrow family was repatriated on the S.S. John Lykes leaving Manila on 28 March 1945 and arriving San Pedro, California, on 2 May 1945. The article has several historic and contemporary photos. Link to Ruth Renfrow’s story.

Christmas behind the wire

Posted on December 22, 2020 by Cliff Mills

Recently, I happened upon the recent article This is how Christmas was spent in POW camps, by Roger Towsend, published in the Southern Daily Echo (Redbridge, Southampton, England). It begins:

As Families contemplate their Christmas arrangements in this most extraordinary of years, many will find it hard to accept that this cannot be like any normal year and that we may not be able to visit our loved ones.

But let us remember that this is the 75th anniversary of the repatriation of our Far East Prisoners of War (FEPOW) to Southampton and Liverpool around this time in 1945.

Perspective may be able to enlighten our thoughts at this time.

Though the article concerns mainly British civilian internees and POWs, it reminded me of the situation in the Philippine camps, where parents worked hard to normalize the wartime situation for their children. In his book, Santo Tomas Internment Camp, Frederic Stevens devoted a chapter to Christmas, 1942-43-44, where he describes all three Christmas’ at Santo Tomas.

And Sascha Jansen described her family’s creative use of face cream 1944 STIC Christmas Menu in the May 2010 issue of Beyond the Wire:

2 garlic buds
1 can of corned beef (last one from our Red Cross comfort kit)
1 small can of pineapple (last one from our Red Cross comfort kit)
1 taro root (from our Elephant Ear plant)
1 scoop Lugao
We traded a small can of “old” mustard powder for a big bunch of Talinum.

My mother cooked and mashed the taro and added the corned beef to make “hamburger patties.” She cooked them on a tin plate with Mabelline face cream for oil. She made a salad out of the garlic and Talinum.

A small amount of taro was mixed with the lugao and the drained pineapple chunks for dessert muffins. Before serving she spooned the juice over the muffins. It was incredible!

In The Christmas of 1944, from Inquirer.net, very different perspectives from Albert Holland, in STIC, and Warren A. Wilson, in Old Bilibid Prison, are given.

Isabelle Holter wrote a short article about the Christmas of ’44 in STIC, published in the September 2009 issue of Beyond the Wire. Titled Caroling Between Blackouts, the author tells of one child saying:

“I sure hope Santa Claus picks a cloudy day to come, so those bombers won’t bomb him,” exclaimed one, after a day of continuous air raids. Grim indeed was the prospect of any who contemplated serious preparation in celebration of Christmas that year.

Isabelle ends with the comment, “that experience has given us a life-time membership in the fellowship of the homeless, the hungry, the sick and the suppressed, wherever they may be.”

Australian War Memorial photos

Posted on September 15, 2020 by Cliff Mills

This week, I’m posting a small collection of photographs from the Australian War Memorial, at Canberra, Australia. These photos are in no particular order but relate to the Battle of Manila and the liberation of Australian internees in the Philippines. I am not posting descriptions of these photos, as most of them are self-explanatory.

Click on any of the photos to enlarge, but unfortunately, these are not high-definition photos. For print quality images, prints, or for commercial uses please contact the Australian War Memorial. If you reuse these photos, please reference AWM as the source.

On their website, the AWM also has a feature article on VP Day: Victory in the Pacific, and an article on the Japanese surrender at Morotai, on 9 September 1945.

Please use the comment form if you have any comments, corrections, questions or if you recognize any of the unnamed people in the photos.

Making History with Music…

Posted on September 14, 2020 by Cliff Mills

Today’s featured article has connections to the Philippines, WWII and music. It’s a brief story of a young serviceman who signed up with the 746th Far East Air Force Band to perform in the Philippines during the War. In fact, PFC Richard Burt’s group performed for the “Angels of Bataan” when they were awarded Bronze Stars after being liberated from Santo Tomás.

Making History with Music appeared on the History News Network on 13 September 2020. Written by Jason Burk, it details the creation of the band, which was composed of mainly professional musicians. It also describes the efforts to product a modern release of the group’s WWII music. It is an interesting read.

For more information, link to the complete article at the History News Network, or visit the 746th FEAF Band Facebook page.

NARA photos, continued

Posted on September 9, 2020 by Cliff Mills

Following is but another set of ten photographs downloaded from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). They are all in the public domain and can be freely printed, downloaded, or circulated. Many of these photos have been used before in books, magazines and websites. The description for each of the photos is to the right of the photo. Photos in this, and future, series will include STIC, Los Baños, Baguio, Old Bilibid Prison, New Bilibid Prison, the Battle of Manila, Liberation, etc. If you publish any of these photographs, please cite the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), as the source.

Because there are so many photos, I will continue to post them in weekly batches of ten. Eventually, they will be collected into various photo albums on this site. Click any of the photos to enlarge. Please use the comment form if you have any questions or if you recognize any of the people in the photos.

Next week, I will continue to publish photographs from other sources.

	Filipino refugees taking shelter in Palo Cathedral, Leyte, 1944
	U.S. infantry calling for air-support on Mindanao, April-1945
	U.S. General Dwight Eisenhower signing his autograph for Nellie Ordonez on Luzon, 1946. Nellie was a civilian employee at the headquarters of the Pacific Air Command.
	Allied strafing of Zamboanga Harbor, Mindanao, 1945
	Lt. Homer Hutchinson, of Pasadena, California, shows his secret radio set to other liberated prisoners of Old Bilibid Prison, February 1945. Lt. Hutchinson built the radio with parts stolen from the Japanese and hid it in the seat of a stool.
	U.S. General Douglas MacArthur and General Carlos Romulo arriving on Corregidor, 1945
	Two recently released prisoners walk with a G.I. at Old Bilibid Prison, February 1945
	Two American machine-gunners in position at Randolph Field, Leyte
	Invading Japanese bicycle-mounted troops crossing a river on Luzon,1942
	U.S. serviceman making a "grass skirt" out of discarded parachutes outside the Recuperation Ward on Leyte, 1945

More photos from Fred Hill WWII collection

Posted on August 30, 2020 by Cliff Mills

Fred Hill near Dulag, Philippines

This week, I’m continuing to show from a collection of photographs from the Pierce Library, at Eastern Oregon University, called the Fred Hill World War II Photographs. Fred served during the War and took many photographs during his service. He also collected photos from others, so some of these may have been published before in books, articles, websites, etc.

Click on any of the photos to enlarge. Unfortunately, these are not high-definition photos. For print quality images, prints, or high resolution tiff files, or for commercial uses please contact the Library Director at Eastern Oregon University. If you reference any of these photos, please cite Pierce Library, Eastern Oregon University, as the source.

Please use the comment form if you have any comments, corrections, questions or if you recognize any of the unnamed people in the photos. Thanks to Patty Gene Croft Stevens for identifying Beulah Schechter and Patricia Chittick in last week’s listings.

I am still looking for people to view a short Japanese propaganda video shot at Santo Tomás early during the War. I am hoping to annotate a version of the video with comments and identify any of the recognizable internees.

	Aerial view of Old Bilibid Prison, 1945
	Young boy sits inside STIC shanty, 1945
	STIC shanties, 1945
	Aerial view of STIC, 1945
	Manila Hotel damage, 1945
	U.S. military model of Corregidor, 1945
	Baguio rental cottages, 1945
	Samar Street cleared of mines, Manila 1945
	Aerial view of Baguio, 1945
	Japanese "Sally" bomber being shot down, 1945

Spanish family’s Battle of Manila ordeal

Posted on August 30, 2020 by Cliff Mills

The tragedy that befell a non-interned Spanish family is detailed a recent El País article titled Anna Maria: The Spaniard who survived 16 bayonet wounds during the Battle of Manila.

The 28 August 2020 article, by José Manuel Abad Liñán, begins:

“Anna Maria’s first life began in Cebu City in the Philippines on August 23, 1938. That was the day she was brought into the world by her mother Aurora, the daughter of two Catalans from Cerdanyola del Vallès who had immigrated to the Philippines to work in copra, the dried kernel of the coconut which is used in soaps and oils. Her father, Plácido Antonio, had left Onda in the Spanish province of Castellón to work for the prosperous General Tobacco Company of the Philippines (CdF), the first Spanish multinational. In the end, the family moved to Cavite, south of the capital Manila, where speaking Spanish did not clash so much with chabacano, the creole language spoken by the local population.”

Anna Maria Aguilella arriving in Barcelona in 1946

At points, it is a very difficult story for me to read, because it echos what happened to my family during the Battle of Manila. In that instance, my mother and grandmother, together with their neighbors, were taken out of their homes in Manila by the Japanese to be shot. Luckily for them, and me, that didn’t happen. However, the outcome for Anna Maria’s family was far more tragic. I think that it is important to read for those who were inside, and outside of, the camps, showing the trauma that far outlasts the experience.

Link to the full article in El País.

Another collection of Photographs

Posted on August 24, 2020 by Cliff Mills

This week, I’m showcasing a collection of photographs from the Pierce Library, at Eastern Oregon University, called the Fred Hill World War II Photographs. Fred served during the War and took many photographs during his service. He also collected photos from others, so some of these may have been published before in books, articles, websites, etc.

Please use the comment form if you have any comments, corrections, questions or if you recognize any of the unnamed people in the photos. I am also looking for people to view a short Japanese propaganda video shot at Santo Tomás early during the War. I am hoping to annotate a version of the video with comments and identify any of the recognizable internees.

	Fred Hill near Dulag, Philippines
	Santo Tomás Internment Camp (STIC) shown from street, 1945
	Beulah Mae Schechter and Patricia Muriel Chittick at STIC after liberation, 1945
	U.S. Captain Price with two internee children, 1945
	Two young women handling mail at STIC after liberation, 1945
	Indoor mail call at STIC, 1945
	View of Manila from the tower at STIC, 1945
	Aerial view of Corregidor on 16 February 1945
	U.S. infantryman near the mouth of Malinta Tunnel on Corregidor, 1945
	Fred Hill and pals taking a break, 1944

Another batch of NARA photos

Posted on August 16, 2020 by Cliff Mills

Following is but another set of ten photographs downloaded from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). They are all in the public domain and can be freely printed, downloaded, or circulated. Many of these photos have been used before in books, magazines and websites. The description for each of the photos is to the right of the photo. Photos in this, and future, series will include STIC, Los Baños, Baguio, Old Bilibid, the Battle of Manila, Liberation, etc. If you publish any of these photographs, please cite the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), as the source.

Many thanks to Lexi Zotomayor for identifying last week’s photo of some former internees in the shade of an Army transport plane as that of Chief Nurse, Laura Mae Cobb, and the rest of the liberated U.S. Navy nurses from Los Baños.

Next week, I will begin publishing photographs from other sources.

	Liberated Los Baños internees, Albertina Janssens and Mary Martha Brown, talk with U.S. liberators, February 1945
	Some newly liberated Los Baños internees during evacuation, February 1945
	U.S. bombing raid on Cebu City, 1945
	Captured Japanese soldiers, 1945
	Carabao amunition-train on Leyte, 1945
	Filipino guerrilla unit on Luzon, 1945
	Three liberated POWs from Old Bilibid Prison being fed, February 1945
	Ex-POW Arthur Raynolds visiting Old Bilibid Prison graveyard, 1945
	U.S. tank-destroyer outside Manila Legislature Building, February 1945
	Repatriation of STIC U.S. Army nurses, 1945