Sentimental Journeys to Biliran Island
By Kennosuke Nakajima
The Visayas Association
In 1973, the Visayas Association was founded consisting of about a dozen people, including Mr. Morishima and I, who were impressed by the recent recovery of soldiers’ remains trip conducted by the Tokyo Association, a large association of families of the war bereaved. The Visayas Association aimed at continuing the recovery of bodies and remains of Japanese soldiers in the Visayas.
The Visayas Association conducted its first recovery of remains trip in August 1974. The association delegated more than 10 people including (widowed?) wives of my fellow soldiers to Leyte Island and Negros Island for 12 days.
In this chapter, I describe in detail my second trip to Biliran Island in 1976.
Biliran Island
Biliran is an island located northeast of Leyte. The perimeter of the island is about 100 kilometers long and the island itself is made up of low mountains.
Biliran Island has no major industries and no battle records during the Second World War. Only one war-related record exists here. A Japanese pilot was forced to land his plane here during the war. And the family of this soldier requested the Japanese Ministry of Public Welfare to search for him or his remains.
The Japanese Government had organized an investigation team to search for and recover Japanese soldiers’ remains around Leyte Island in the Philippines and I was chosen as representative of fellow veterans.
I was a communication soldier (radio operator) stationed in Biliran Island from January to the end of July in1944. So, in a sense, I was excited to visit Biliran Island and meet old Filipino friends of mine (who might still be there). The trip schedule included two days of search in Biliran Island. This became the prelude to my being involved again in Biliran Island after the war.
The Recovery of Soldiers’ Bones and Remains Trips
The first trip was conducted from November 20 to December 20 in 1974. From the Visayas Association, Mr. Abe Yoshio (deceased), Mr. Akabori Taroishi (deceased) and I were chosen as members of the government investigation team to recover the remains of fallen (Japanese) soldiers in the Philippines.
The team assigned to Leyte Island was divided into Group A and Group B. Group B consisted of 10 people: a young officer from the Ministry of Public Welfare; four young men from the Japan Bereaved Association; three of us from the Visayas Association; Cora Toyoko (who was living in Samar Island), our translator; and a PC (Philippine Constabulary) officer as security escort.
Group B worked in eastern Leyte Island during the first ten days. From the beginning of December, we were at Pinamopoan (village of Capoocan), on the northern coast.
Then we headed to Biliran Island. Our destination was Naval, on the western part of the island located north of Biliran town, where I was stationed as a soldier during war.
I was convinced that I could get information about the Japanese soldier who crash-landed his plane in Biliran Island because I had the information as early as August (1974), when the Visayas Association first conducted its first recovery of remains trip.
The people in Carigara, a town on Leyte Island close to Biliran Island, talked about a crash-landed Japanese aircraft in Naval at the end of the war. The witness’s oral account seemed to perfectly fit the information that the bereaved family possessed.
We spent a day in Pinamopoan to rest and to look for a motorized fishing boat that we could hire. The next day, a sunny and calm day, our group headed to Naval very early in the morning. I still remember that I could not stop my heart from beating as images of Biliran Island flashed across my sight.
Thirty years ago in Biliran Island, the only form of transportation for the inhabitants and the Japanese soldiers was the dugout canoe called banca. There were small towns like Biliran, Naval, Kawayan and Caibiran along the coast of the island.
The town of Biliran had about 500 inhabitants. There were no (electric) lights and no shops here. The town was the center of administration of the island and had for facilities a town hall, a church, and a primary school that had only three classrooms. The town hall, a modern building with red (galvanized iron) roof, stood near the beach and the town itself faces the Biliran Channel and the mountains of Leyte in the south.
The 10th Company of the 9th Infantry Regiment (of the Japanese Imperial Army) with a (radio) squad, comprising of about 80 soldiers in all, was stationed in Biliran Island and its headquarters was located in Biliran town.
The company commander was Lieutenant Shirai Yoichi.
About half of the soldiers in the island were decentralized to stations in Naval, Kawayan and Caibiran as security platoons.
I was a member of the radio squad belonging to the Radio Company of the 9th Infantry Regiment. Our squad was composed of six radio operators and a squad leader assigned to the headquarters of the 10th company. The only duty of our squad was to transmit messages five times a day to the headquarters of the Third Battalion in Ormoc.
The headquarters of the 10th Company occupied the town hall. It had for facilities several (steel) drums as containers for bathing water and a shed for cooking.
The radio squad where I belonged initially worked and lived on the second floor of the town hall. Later, we moved to the primary school building diagonally across the street from the town hall. This was because the first year soldiers (new recruits) had arrived and they were billeted at our former quarters.
I liked our new quarters because the scene was nice and had (a view of) the sea. To the east of the radio room there was the town square across the street. There was also the church, the biggest building in the town, north of the square. And there was the long wharf made of concrete (actually, coral stone blocks) that served as entrance to the town, extending from the beach to the sea southwest of the company headquarters.
I heard the inhabitants of the town were engaged in subsistence agriculture and they seemed able to fish in Biliran Channel to make a living. As I had observed, however, they did not seem to work hard especially when the sun was shining. I could never find out how a family of seven members on the average could manage the household economy.
The people of the town seemed lazy, but they were very friendly and amiable. The Japanese soldiers were often invited to their marriage and dance parties on Christian festivals.
I became a good friend of the priest’s family, his married nephew and wife, and the niece, Salucia, a fair and attractive young girl. The family and I were just like a real family. They even washed my clothes and later I was asked to marry her (Salucia) by her brother.
I had another close friend, a seventeen-year-old beautiful girl, Elsa, who taught me the Visayan language. Her voice was very gentle, especially when she hummed a Spanish folk love song.
She learned some Japanese words so quickly from me while I learned less Visayan language from her. We still met often even though I finally I gave up learning the local language.
On the way to her house, there was the house of the mayor, a pro-Japanese. The Spanish-style two-story house was the third biggest building after the church and the town hall. The mayor often organized dance parties, which made the uninvited soldiers envious.
The Japanese officers in high position were often invited.
Two of mayor’s daughters were too attractive to ignore, giving reasons for the Japanese officers to visit the mayor’s house often. Besides the two daughters, the mayor had a son and three remotely related Spanish girls who were less popular among the soldiers because they seemed aloof, and with the (negative) image I personally have of most white-skinned women.
The days were very peaceful and calm, until the guerrillas attached one of our platoons on patrol in Leyte-Leyte, which resulted in the death of Lieutenant Nakajima, the platoon leader.
In reaction to this setback, our unit was commanded to secretly (without higher orders) station again in Leyte-Leyte. I could not say goodbye to the priest’s family and to Elsa.
As the boat headed to Biliran Island, I could identify the red zinc roof of the town hall and the wharf. It seemed to me, watching from the boat, that more buildings had been constructed in the town.
The boat went beyond Biliran town. There was Leyte-Leyte Bay to the left of the boat. Then was I reminded of Calubian town, where my radio squad spent some days on patrol with a platoon led by Subsequent Lieutenant Yunoki that belonged to the Shirai Company.
At the farther end of Leyte-Leyte Bay is the town of Leyte-Leyte, where I had worked for one platoon commanded by Second Lieutenant Nakajima. We went to this town back and forth by banca, paddling with our hands.
As our boat came close to Biliran Island, I saw almost exactly the same scene 30 years ago. Then old memories rushed into my mind.
Once a month, a sailing vessel sent from the Third Battalion Headquarters in Ormoc brought us letters, food, and one-month-late newspapers. Sometimes they even sent us what we called “comfort bags” that contained good luck charms, letters of encouragement from Japan, Japanese food, traditional items, etc. When we received a bag, we could not stop dreaming of going back home. It was popular among us to show the letters to each other and to guess the age of the senders, especially when they were from the ladies.
When I watched the coconut palm trees along the coast of Biliran Channel, it was exactly the same southern-taste (tropical) scenery that I always viewed from the radio room (during the war).
Suddenly at this moment, I recalled clearly in my mind the face of my fellow soldier who was in charge of cooking in the headquarters. I was his close friend, so he secretly gave me extra miso (soybean paste) and shoyu (soy sauce). Thanks to him, I could cook special dishes, which pleased all the members of my radio squad. I could not remember his name, but the scene opening up before my eyes from the boat reminded of the time we finally parted - when I retreated to Mafunagu Mountain (part of Amandiwing Range?) shortly after the Burauen attack.
My reminiscences stopped when our motorboat arrived in Naval. We immediately visited the mayor of the town. The mayor, who was around 50 years old, told us that he had heard about the crash-landed Japanese Army Aircraft in 1944.
When we requested him to help us to find out the truth, he willingly accepted, and his secretary brought in some old people sooner than I had expected. They explained to us all the things they saw and what they had heard while pointing at the map.
They told us the pilot was executed soon after the crash and was buried in a trench of the Japanese Army. They brought us to the playground at the primary school. However, none of them could show us exactly where the body was buried because they were too young to remember the events during the war.
I speculated that their story was trustworthy because there must have been a trench dug by the platoon under the Shirai Company that was stationed here.
Although we got some information, we were still at a loss because the playground was about 16,000 square meters wide.
While we were wondering what to do, a lot of people from the town came to see us. As soon as they heard our purpose, some of them started pointing at a specific corner of the school ground.
We could not return home to Japan without doing anything, and so we went to see the principal of the school to ask the permission to dig around the identified area. Somehow, the principal accepted our proposal and luckily it was not difficult to find some workmen.
As soon as we finished eating lunch, we started digging on the pointed area of the school ground. It was already December, but it was very hot and humid so we easily got tired in a short time.
We seemed not to have enough time because we had already spent a few days digging in Dagami and Burauen in Leyte Island with unsure information.
My experience usually makes me estimate a 30 percent rate of success, because the only sources to rely on for us were 30-year-old memories of the people. This time, however, I expected a much higher possibility of success because more than 10 people had agreed on one corner of the school ground as the burial spot.
In the end, we did not find anything that day, so we went back to Pinamopoan.
The next day, we headed again for Naval by motorboat and continued the diggings. The number of holes reached 12 in the evening, but we did not find anything.
With the failed result of the two-day search, the young officer representing the Ministry of Public Welfare tried to make us understand that the investigation in Biliran Island was closed. When we all opposed his decision, he denied our request to spend a few more days in Naval.
I presume now that his attitude was due to the fact that he did not have authority to change the schedules. I guess he was too young to be flexible in decision-making. Most especially, his cautious attitude could be associated with his marriage just before the trip. He seemed afraid of being accused of making arbitrary decisions by his boss.
Back in Japan later, he muttered that he would not wish to join this kind of trip again and be laughed at by us all. Anyhow, we could not stay in Naval one more single day because of his bureaucratic way of thinking.
Mrs. Hirano and her decision
It was early in 1975 when I visited Mrs. Hirano Kinue, the bereaved wife of the missing pilot, in Toyohashi (in Nagano Prefecture?). Mrs. Hirano looked like she was around 60 years old. She told me that she believed her husband still lives somewhere in Biliran Island.
After I told her about the tour in Naval, she started to talk about details of her husband’s life. Her husband, Associate Lieutenant Hirano, belonged to the aviation corps of the Japanese Army that was stationed in Manchuria since the Nomonhan Battles.
Later, in the middle of 1944, he was ordered to be involved in the Philippines.
Mrs. Hirano talked about her hard life as well. She had to work all day to raise two daughters. She and her daughters moved to Toyohashi after her in-laws asked her to abandon her rights to the family property.
I had heard so many stories about the bereaved families of the soldiers and her story was not an exception.
At the end of the meeting, I made up my mind to help her with all the efforts I could extend to her.
I contacted the officer of the Ministry of Public Welfare, the young and newly-married one. He negotiated with his boss and promised to stay longer in Biliran Island during next trip.
I expected the Japanese government to conduct the recovery of remains trip in Biliran in 1975. The Visayas Association was to conduct its own tour in 1976 (yet).
But before the end of summer in 1975, Mrs. Hirano surprised me with a letter asking the Visayas Association to conduct the recovery of remains trip. She explained in the letter that the Ministry of Public Welfare had rejected her request, a favor to explore Biliran Island during the trip of the Philippines in 1975.
Surprised and doubtful, I phoned the chief officer in charge of the tour. I knew he had told Mrs. Hirano the same reason he gave me for not going back to Biliran Island. I accused of him breaking the promise that his subordinate, the young newly married officer, had relayed to me.
“I don’t know anything about it,” he answered. He excused that he himself had not promised anything to me.
When I blamed him for his bureaucratic answer, he disclosed his real intention. “We just cannot do that (search the remains) of one soldier, especially when the search depends on doubtful information.”
I could only yell at the receiver, “I will find him!”
I visited Mrs. Hirano the next weekend and promised her that I would go to Naval to find her husband during the Visayas Association trip the next year. Since that day, I often visited her in Toyohashi for the preparations.
Since I had with me every piece of rumor related to Mr. Hirano, I was convinced that the soldier buried in the school ground in Naval was Mr. Hirano.
At the end of October in 1944, three fighter planes called Shippu, meaning strong wind, under the command of Associate Lieutenant Hirai (Hirano), took off from Negros Island and headed for Leyte Island to attack. When the Shippu was flying in formation over Leyte Island, the plane of Associate Lieutenant Hirai (Hirano) started to smoke from its engine.
The Shippu squadron stopped their attacking mission. Since the plane of Associate Lieutenant Hirai (Hirano) did not stand a chance of getting back to Negros, the plane made a forced landing on the beach in Naval, on the west coast of Biliran Island.
The other two pilots flew their planes back to their Negros base after they had seen Associate Lieutenant Hirai (Hirano) waving at them, standing on a wing of his plane. This story was relayed to Mrs. Hirano after the end of the war by one of the two pilots.
From the moment she heard the story, Mrs. Hirano believed her husband is still alive somewhere in Biliran Island. However, she was also in desperate efforts to survive and to raise her two daughters during the period of confusion after the war.
When the daughters had married, Mrs. Hirano started to find the young soldier who told her the story about her husband to ask for his help. However, this soldier did not wish to go back to the Philippines. He ended up avoiding her altogether.
All that Mrs. Hirano could do was visit the Embassy of the Philippines and present a petition to the Japanese Ministry of Public Welfare.
She said to me, “I just want my husband back in Japan, even if he is not alive.”
As she had described, her two daughters had given up on her hope. Mrs. Hirano herself was ill and weak and her doctor had advised her against travel by flying.
After relating Mrs. Hirano’s story to the members of the Visayas Association, they allowed me to spend some days in Biliran Island in 1976. Then I became busy with all the preparations.
Mrs. Hirano sent us a big crystal clock along with a lot of watches and clothes for the principal of the primary school in Naval. I asked the help of Mr. Henry Sacramento, a Nissei who lives in Manila, to serve as guide, and also of Sergeant Amador Panamog, a Constabulary officer in Tacloban, Leyte Island, for security.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Hirano requested me to visit the brother of her husband in Kanagawa Prefecture without telling me the purpose. She told me later that she had expected this person to give some financial support to find his brother. But her expectation was frustrated.
Mrs. Hirano donated lots of money to the bank account of the Visayas Association and this enabled us to employ many workers for the digging in Naval. We prepared for the entire situation in the Philippines including the possibility of renting a bulldozer, compensation to the school, and some gifts for the principal and the teachers for the permission to dig. Besides a few torches (gas lamps) and some mosquito coils, we bought repellent sprays and medicines.
We also decided to bring a video camera to shoot the search process for Mrs. Hirano.
The Beginning of the Trip in 1976
In July 1976, we flew to Manila from Osaka International Airport.
We were more than 20 people because the trip was coordinated with that of the First Division of the Leyte Association which destination was Kangipot Mountain in Leyte (Buba-buga Hills in Villaba).
I was responsible for organizing the Biliran Team composed of three members from the Visayas Association including myself, Henry, Sergeant Panamog, and a driver. Mrs. Hirano sent the three of us insurance certificates for flying.
Mrs. Hirano called me up the day before we left. She was worried a lot for us because she had heard that Biliran Island was underdeveloped. She even said she would die in front of the altar if something (bad) happens to us.
I answered her cheerfully not to worry because I knew some people in the island.
Tacloban, Leyte Island
We stayed at a hotel one night and flew the next morning to Tacloban, Leyte Island.
There were four jeepneys at the Tacloban Airport to pick us up. Mrs. Nakamura Hideko, Mrs. Uehara Tomiko, Mr. and Mrs. Babalcon and Sergeant Panamog waited for our arrival.
Each team explained our schedules to the others and we made final confirmation that the Biliran Team would join the others in Ormoc, Leyte Island after five days.
The big difference of this trip from the previous trip was that there was now a ferry plying between Leyte Island and Biliran Island, which enabled us to go to Naval with all the equipment on a jeepney.
This made me expect to stay the whole five days and nights in Biliran Island.
On the way to Limon, I was informed that the jeepney could go through Limon and Leyte-Leyte and arrive in Biliran town. From Biliran town, there is a road direct to Naval.
Suddenly, I realized I could go through familiar towns. I gradually became excited by the possibility of meeting Elsa and Salucia on the way to Naval. My neighbors of 32 years ago came to my mind. Seated on the passenger seat of the jeepney, I imagined how my old friends would look like at present.
Limon
Our jeepney turned right in front of the church in Palo and headed northwest through the national highway. The dirt road stirred sand dusts into the air that sometimes caused car accidents because one could not see 10 meters ahead.
It was July, the driest and hottest season of the year. So our faces were totally white from the dried perspiration that had absorbed the dusts. We went through the town of Palo. (Later, along the) Carigara Gulf (Bay) Biliran Island came into view.
From Limon through the dirt road, we headed north. In 1944, there was no road for cars like today. I had to go (hiking) back and forth along this small country road, alert for possible encounter with the guerrillas.
It was nighttime when we walked along this road to avoid attacks from the guerrillas. There were no lights (then) in the houses along the road. There was even a small river on which dry bed were strewn the bleached bones of executed guerrillas. There were also large numbers of fireflies (that could be seen) along the river.
Leyte-Leyte
We arrived at Leyte-Leyte after 40 minutes of driving from Limon through the small dirt road. I had an impression that nothing had changed in the town proper except that the streets were now paved.
I recognized the town hall, the base of Second Lieutenant Nakajima’s platoon. It remained the same. There also existed the house where the military officers lived; its first floor was also used as quarters of the radio squad.
During the nights, there were no lights around the town except for palm oil lamps (in the houses). I often heard from the window of the house gunshots from the direction of mountains and saw the signal flares of the guerrillas.
The first floor had been converted into a store and the second floor was kept just the same as during the war, with bullet marks on the chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
The guerrillas left their mark by attaching Leyte-Leyte during a period after the local platoon pulled out and assigned to Calubian to help patrol the San Isidro and Villaba territory. This town was full of people helping the guerrillas.
I asked the landlord of the house about Nene, the young woman who was led away by some of the townspeople on suspicion of cooperating with the Japanese military. He said he did not know her, even if he was describing himself as the postmaster during the war.
I looked around and saw a tire-repair shop on the place where the only piped water supply outlet of the town was located during the war. The faucet was half-broken and the water thus flowed all day long.
The people at that time were aloof and few of them talked to the Japanese soldiers.
However, this time, we were surrounded and talked to by some of the older inhabitants, some of whom even remembered Second Lieutenant Nakajima.
Young Henry then started to talk to them about himself. “This guy was a radio operator. He is saying he stayed at this house a long time ago.”
Because I knew no one in this town, we just drove around without stopping. I felt senseless when I saw the grasses on the ground where some executed guerrillas were buried.
As we kept driving toward the ferry port (in Barangay Luy-a), the Leyte-Leyte Bay unfolded in front of us. People in Leyte-Leyte told me that the one-meter long crocodiles in this narrow bay had been exterminated.
A Ferry to Biliran Island
On an old second-hand ferry from the American Army, a middle-aged guy asked me to shake hands. He introduced himself as the vice-mayor of Biliran town (Mr. Leonardo Funa).
I asked him if the mayor 32 years ago was still alive or not. Then he surprisingly answered, “My father (actually, father-in-law), the ex-mayor, died a long time ago.”
Since he said he is the son (actually, son-in-law) of the previous mayor, I recognized him from his younger years.
When he heard that I stayed in Biliran town in 1944 as a radio soldier, he did not release my hands and told me to visit his house.
Mayor’s House in Biliran Town
The vice-mayor’s house, a two-story Spanish-style building, was the same house that the ex-mayor lived in during the war. Two of his sisters (in-laws) and three Spanish girls had married and left the house.
As soon as he had introduced to us his wife and a housemaid, he was excited to ask some news about Japanese executive officers of the Shirai Company. He still remembered their names.
When I told him that all the officers and soldiers assigned in Biliran Island except myself were killed in Leyte Island, he made the sign of the cross and said, “I see, that is sad news.”
It seemed for both of us that there were so many things to talk about the old days. However, I stopped talking and started to explain the purpose of my visit to Biliran. Then he offered us to stay in his place. We gladly accepted his proposal. And because of this unexpected encounter, I sensed good luck for the trip.
The First Day’s Afternoon
After eating lunch at the vice-mayor’s house, we left for Naval. The vice-mayor guided us to the elementary school in Naval.
The road between Biliran and Naval was (partly) paved and the condition was much better compared to the previous trip. I talked to the school principal and he was initially unwilling to give us permission to dig around the playground. He changed his attitude though and totally supported us after I offered him the big crystal clock that Mrs. Hirano had sent us.
It was already past two o’clock when we reached an agreement. We hired 50 workmen from the local crowd who had come around and split them into ten groups. I focused on an area of 1,000 square meters that we did not touch during the last investigation.
The reason why I focused on one corner of the ground was that the explanation of the witnesses was satisfactory to me, to the point that the trench could be located topographically.
We had a similar trench in Biliran town around the time we heard of the Saipan Defeat in July 1944. The troops in Biliran were preparing against guerrilla attacks. I guess the troops assigned in Naval were no exception.
I do not know where the base of the garrison in Naval was located, but I could imagine that the Japanese military occupied the school and had a trench somewhere in the ground. The procedures and success of the trip were largely dependent on my own hunch and inferences.
The first day ended with no positive results. We informed all the digging groups of a large amount of additional prize for the members of the group that found the remains of Associate Lieutenant Hirai (Hirano).
The Second Day
The next morning, there was a large audience around the excavation ground. Sergeant Panamog, the vice-mayor, and even some teachers had to help keep the order because there were people who gave false information and expected to be given rewards in return.
After lunch, I was convinced we could find the object we were searching because the helpers really worked hard. But again nothing was discovered.
In the evening, while I was eating dinner, I started to worry about failure for the first time since the departure for this trip.
The Third Day
On the third day, which was hot and humid, we again left early for Naval. There seemed to be more than 500 people watching us. I started worrying after digging almost 30 holes; water sprang up from the bottom at the depth of one meter.
As the stomachs of the helpers got below the water under that condition, I lost all my confidence in the unexpected situation. I was totally lost whether or not I should decide to change the place to investigate.
The situation reminded me of Mrs. Hirano every second. I could do nothing but pray. In the end, nothing came out and we went back to Biliran.
Third Day’s Night
The vice-mayor suggested to me that we take a day off for sightseeing around the town of Naval. But I did not feel like accepting the idea.
I wanted to ask about Elsa and the priest and his family. But I did not have any space for thinking about anything else except the result of the investigation.
My depression disposed the vice-mayor to get cold beers. His intention succeeded, because I thought of the old days when I could not get a thing like this (the beer) easily.
The Fourth Day
We hurried to Naval early in the morning without talking about our feelings. I knew every member of the team was in a hurry, even though none of them expressed it.
When we arrived, the workmen were already digging in their holes. I thought the promise we made the day before to split all the gifts to the workmen seemed to have made sense.
The day was hot and sunny again. I appreciated the weather because the work would stop if it would rain. I requested the workmen this day to finish digging in the areas we decided to dig on the first day.
I felt I was standing on the crossroad when I thought of my responsibilities toward Mrs. Hirano.
I pulled all the information together again in my heart. There was a Japanese soldier buried in this ground. There were no battles in Biliran Island. It seemed I was right, but I still could not deny the little possibilities that a soldier involved in a sea disaster had reached Biliran or a soldier had escaped from Leyte and died in Biliran.
Even if the remains were discovered, identifying Second Lieutenant Hirano seemed another obstacle. I knew he was middle-sized, but this would not help to recognize him from the others.
Mrs. Hirano told me a few days before I left Japan that her husband had teeth with gold crown.
“Where is that? Front teeth?”
“No, three teeth on the inside.”
“Would you recognize them?”
“For sure.”
“Okay then, that will be the decisive evidence.”
In one moment I regretted I said that. A tooth with a gold crown could make one family live comfortably in the Philippines. This reality had ended up with the stealing of gold teeth from dead bodies.
The Fourth Day’s Afternoon
Nothing happened all morning. We had lunch by shifts in the shade. I did not feel like eating. Henry brought out a cold Coke and said, “You’d better eat.”
I was thinking about the next year. I had no idea, however, where to dig.
Mr. Sato, a bereaved young guy from Fukushima prefecture, asked me if we were going to make it.
I answered, “I don’t know.” But then I thought: “Let us not give up. We still have tomorrow.”
He started to work after the short break. Every helper seemed exhausted by the series of hard days. I watched solidly at the ground with vacant feelings.
Then suddenly, Mr. Hatake, a brother in arm, rushed to me and said, “There he is!”
His face was distorted with tension. On the first second, I doubted my ear. The next moment, I rushed to the hole where a large audience was looking down.
At the bottom of the hole, five men were excited, holding some bones in their hands. I was too nervous to remain silent and told the PC sergeant to keep the audience away from the hole.
With every move of the five men, the people were shouting with excitement. I knew that it was too early to be happy unless I found the golden teeth. I revealed this for the first time, only at that moment, because I was afraid that these would be stolen.
The diggers started to look for the golden teeth. Every participant was looking down the hole. The body was lying one to two meters below the surface of the ground. As the bones that they found became fewer, the expectations become lesser.
After picking up all the fragments of bones, there were no golden teeth, only white ones. Everyone was talking that this was definitely Associate Lieutenant Hirano (the executed pilot), but I could not feel I made it.
I started to take off my shoes to get into the mud to look for the golden teeth myself.
Suddenly, Sergeant Panamog stopped me and told the five men in the hole to show their hands up to the sun. One of them was holding the golden teeth.
As the sergeant gave the golden teeth to me, I could not stop crying, thinking of Mrs. Hirano’s wishes. There were absolutely three golden teeth.
We shared our happiness by shaking each other’s hands. I felt that all our efforts over several years were rewarded at that moment.
We left all the gifts we still had to the diggers and the teachers at the school. We were told there would be a memorial flower garden near the site.
The remains were cremated at the beach where the airplane crashed, with all the memorial items that Mrs. Hirano had handed to me, except for the golden teeth.
I confirmed how lucky we were to find the gold-bridged teeth because we had found nothing else except the teeth to recognize the remains as that of Mr. Hirano.
Captain Sasaki and his love
We had a farewell party that night and I had an unexpected visitor, the former mayor’s younger daughter (Mrs. Corazon Nierras-Pajota). I was delighted that she, 48 years old, was still beautiful as she had been. I drank a lot because of our successful search and the reunion with her that night.
After repeated toasts she said to me, “Biliran was peaceful when you were here. I never forget old memories at that time.”
And she continued to talk about the dance parties held at this house a long time ago. I was never invited to these parties, but I could imagine her figure with a beautiful evening dress on.
She drank a lot of wine in a very short time. The more she drank, the more she became talkative. Her brother (-in-law), the vice-mayor, never stopped her drinking, so I started to worry about her way of drinking. She told me that she and her husband were high school teachers (sic, elementary school teachers).
Even if she was totally drunk, she could cite some names of executive officers in the Shirai Company. The moment she finished the first bottle of wine, she asked me whether Captain Sasaki is still alive.
I thought of Vice Captain Sasaki in the Shirai Company, because in the Philippines the people called all (Japanese) soldiers who carried swords as “Captain”.
I replied, ”Captain Sasaki died in battle near Dagami in Leyte Island in November 1944.”
And then I saw her eyes with tears.
She did not wipe her tears and said, “Captain Sasaki wrote to me in October 1944 from Dulag, Leyte. Soon after I received the letter, the battle (of Leyte) started. We were engaged to marry.”
I did not tell her that Vice Captain Sasaki was seriously injured during the battle near Dagami. According to what I heard, he shouted to the retreating party, “Bring me with you!”
But Lieutenant Shirai, the company commander, went back to him to tell him something, which was probably to persuade him to commit suicide. However, this interpretation could no longer be verified now, because Lieutenant Shirai also died after that battle.
The only fact I could tell now is that there was a woman who cried for Captain Sasaki, in Biliran.
The Last Day in Biliran
On the day we were to leave Biliran, the vice-mayor toured us around the town, although I could still remember very well the details of the town.
Town Hall
As we headed for the beach from the vice-mayor’s house, we passed by the town hall with the red roof. There has not been any change in its structure except that the kitchen shed and drums for bathing water had been removed.
The sea where we swam and dived to catch fish behind the town hall still existed, as well as the wharf that was made of concrete (coral stone blocks).
Leyte Island across the sea reminded me of the day I sat on the wharf to watch the sunset before our transfer to mainland Leyte during the war.
On the same wharf I left again for Leyte. This time around, a lot of townspeople came to see us off, calling their familiar soldiers’ names. I did not have time to confirm if Salucia and Elsa also saw me off.
The Radio Squad Building
The radio squad building was almost in front of the town hall. The first floor was used by the six of us radio soldiers as place to work, eat and sleep. This building had zinc roof.
When we lived here we were delighted by the crabs the local fishermen had caught from the sea.
I recalled Sergeant Nakai coming back from duty in Masbate Island with two big cows transported by ship. The meat was unexpectedly unappetizing and was hard to bite because the animals grew up fed with grasses.
But there was no refrigerator, so we had to eat beef everyday until the meat was consumed. Later, we totally lost our appetite for beef by just smelling the meat.
In front of this building, the road crossed at a right angle. After the Saipan Defeat (in July 1944), the garrison platoon dug a trench along this road.
The Town Square
In the same block, there was a town square with well-maintained grass cover. This served as drill area for the first year soldiers (new recruits) during the war.
After the Saipan Defeat, all soldiers practiced anti-aircraft maneuvers all day long. The radio soldiers were no exception. This was intended for the coming of the Americans. Later we faced the Americans in real combat and learned that our rehearsals using rifles meant nothing.
While I was standing on the square, an old Filipino came to me and said “hello” in broken Japanese. He knew some other words learned during the war from Japanese soldiers.
He had learned that I was assigned here and told me, “I once played baseball with some soldiers here in this square. Do you remember me? I was injured when I fell down and one of the soldiers had treated me there.” He pointed to the radio squad building, where there was also a dispensary clinic during the war.
I do not remember him but I remember the baseball games. The balls were sent from Japan along with the letters. We played sandlot baseball, Japanese versus Filipinos.
The Theater
While I was walking down the town square, I saw a white concrete stage on its western part. Again old memories came to my mind here.
During the war, several festivals were sponsored by the Security Party. The aim was good publicity for Japan. But the Filipinos also loved these festivals, so it was always welcome to have a party here.
The festival always ended up with a play wherein Japanese soldiers fought for the liberation of the Philippines from American occupation. The people in the town enjoyed it, not because of the story but because of the beautiful local girls who played in the drama. The girls were popular in the town.
The Church
To the north of the town square there was the church, a modern structure and the biggest building in the town that could accommodate a lot of people. Every early Sunday morning, the church bells ring.
The old church was demolished after the war and replaced with a smaller concrete structure.
I was dreaming of a dramatic reunion with the priest and his family, especially Salucia. However, the vice-mayor told me that they moved shortly after the war to Malitbog in Southern Leyte. The priest’s successor was from America and the new convent was now a smaller one with European style architecture.
I found a big difference in this church in 32 years.
A chance reunion with Elsa
After passing by the church, the vice-mayor told me he would show me one of the streets, a place with small houses and closed shops during the war. At first I declined to visit that street because I knew no one who lived around that area.
The vice-mayor might not have heard me because we still went to that street.
“This street has changed a lot,” I admitted.
Many shops and people let me feel again the 32-year gap. He brought me to the biggest shop in the town and explained to all the customers that I am his old friend who lived in Biliran during the war.
I walked and looked around inside the shop while he was talking to somebody.
Suddenly, a middle-aged woman in the cashier’s booth stood up and extended her hands to me. I was surprised by the unfamiliar woman, but obliged by shaking her hands.
Then I recognized it was Elsa, the unforgettable 17-year-old beautiful girl during the war. She was already around late 40s and had grown a bit fat. I recognized her to be still beautiful and she reminded me of her youth, humming a Spanish folk song by the window of her house a long time ago.
“Mr. Nakajima, you were a good soldier,” she said and smiled. I had so many things to tell her, but I could not say anything.
She told me she was married to the Chinese bourgeois who owned the shop. She remembered me giving her a towel and a magazine from a comfort bag sent from Japan.
Reunion of Mr. and Mrs. Hirano
I went to see Mrs. Hirano soon after our arrival in Japan to show her the golden teeth of her husband. In front of the Buddhist altar at her house she cried and thanked me saying, “They are exactly (the teeth of my) my husband.”
At that moment I felt deeply relieved and unlocked from my responsibility. This year (1977, the year of writing) was the thirty-third anniversary of Second Lieutenant Hirano’s death and the documentary about him was broadcast as a special program of NHK (Japanese national television).
After a Buddhist service at Daien Shrine in Sumiyoshi, Osaka, (the symbolic remain of) Second Lieutenant Hirai (Hirano) was handed over to the war widow by the government.
Afterwards
After several months, I visited Mrs. Hirano in Toyohashi. I recognized the golden teeth of her husband inside a display glass on the altar of her house.
After an early dinner with her in the city, we left for the train station. On the way she thanked me a lot saying, “I never forget my obligation toward you.”
I answered each time she said so with, “No wonder for my fellow soldiers.” (It was a duty to my fellow soldiers?)
In a little while, just at the moment I left her, she told me she would have a grudge against me all her life. I could not get the meaning of her statement right there and then, and I doubted my ears. I stared at her, but she did not even say a word.
I was about to ask, “why…Mrs?” But I did not continue because I saw in her face that it was useless to ask her.
Since that day, her last words never disappeared from my mind. And I did not fully get the point why she had a score against me.
Mrs. Hirano wrote me back every time I wrote her later. After several exchanges of letters she sent me one that said, “Everything is done, and I spend each day in emptiness.”
This letter allowed me to reach an understanding of everything.
I was reminded of Mrs. Hirano’s statement when I first met her. She had said, “It seems to me that my husband still lives somewhere in Biliran.”
Now I suppose she had hoped that I would find a hint that her husband is still alive. However, what I discovered was absolute proof that her husband is no longer alive. This also meant that her last hope had been shattered.
I regret now that I did not perceive the warped belief in her mind. But even if I did, the result would have been the same. I do not know how she is doing now.
Anyway, I have so many memories that I could not forget. One was the last word that Mrs. Hirano spoke to me. Another was the excavation days in Naval.