,ALMOST ON THE CARPET A GVERILLA'S ACCOVNT OF -WORLD WAR II A work of nonfiction
LUIS T+ CENTINA JR+
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FILIPINAS ·HERITAGE LIBRARY
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20 1 (, Almost on the Carpet. Copyright Š 2016 by CentiRamo Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. This book is also available in full color. For permission requests, email thepublisheratinfo@gilbertluisrcentinaiii.com. The title of this book is taken from an article by the author published in Philippine Digest (Manila: 1971) and later expanded and published in Search, The Augustinian Journal of Cultural Excellence (Makati: 2003) Printed in the United States of America Publisher's Cataloging-in-Publication Data Centina, Luis T.Jr. Almost on the Carpet: A guerrilla's account of World War II/Luis T. CentinaJr. p.cm. ISBN-13: 978-1532712593 ISBN-lO: 1532712596 1. History -World War II. 2. Japanese occupation of the Philippines-Personal recollection. 3. USAFFJ?-Guerrilla movement-Negros island II. Almost on the Carpet HFOOOO.AO AOO 2010 299.000 00-dc22 2010999999 First Edition New York, NY
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This is dedicated to my beloved wife Eva, whose abidingfaith and love sustain and strengthen our family
CONTENTS
Foreword The LongJourney The Army or Bust Chance Encounter with History Surrender not an Option Portent at Sea Almost on the Carpet Vow to Help Spy Network Elusive Commission Liberation Epilogue
1 9
29 37
51 79 87 101
113 133 145 151
FOREWORD
I
n less than a year, I lost both my parents. First to depart from this world on December 15, 2014 was my mother. Seven months later, her husband of seventy,three years followed on
July 18, 2015. When I received the sad news in both instances, I was in Spain at Our Lady of Carmen Church in Neguri near Bilbao, where I have been one of three Augustinian friars minis, tering to its parishioners. Although my mother was on the brink of death when I came home, I was still able to spiritually tend to her for close to three weeks before she passed on. My parents were living at the house of my sister in New Jersey where they both had spent the last twenty years of their lives. My father had already passed away when I had to rush home again months lat, er. I received the news of his passing through my Father Provin, cial, who broke the sad news to me from Madrid after receiving a phone call from my younger brother who could not reach me at the friary. I left the following day on the next available flight that the Father Procurator could grab at the airline ticket counter at 1
LUIS T. CENTINAJR.
Bilbao airport itself. He wanted to leave nothing to chance, so he decided to drive to the airport instead of booking it online. I consider myself blessed that as a Catholic religious priest, I was able to give both my parents the last rites and to preside over the religious ceremony at their funerals. After my mother died and before I returned to Spain, I made sure to give the last rites to my father as I had the feeling that his advanced age and his host of illnesses would soon catch up with him. My father was suffering from both diabetes and Alzheimer's disease which robbed him of his memory and his ability to take care of himself. Since his diagnoses of these two diseases in early 2009, it was all downhill for him. For the last four years of his life, he could not recognize any of his children and referred to his wife as his "sister" or his "friend:' Near the end, the only things he could remember were his name and his service in the Army-the
Unit~
ed States Army Forces Far East (USAFFE), which was under the command of Gen. Douglas MacArthur in the Philippines, my father's homeland. Like countless veterans of any age, he did not emerge unscathed from the cruelties of war. But beyond all odds, he somehow lift~ ed himself up from his emotional and psychological wounds and
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became an educator. After the war, he went back to school on the Philippine version of the GI Bill and rushed his studies to obtain a two~year
Elementary Teacher's Certificate. The pressure to com~
plete the course in record time so he could be qualified to teach compelled him to attend summer classes at Colegfo San Agustin in Iloilo City (now University of San Agustin), where he at first enrolled in business classes, at Iloilo City Colleges (now Univer~ sity of Iloilo), at Occidental Negros Institute (now University of Negros Occidental~Recoletos) and at West Negros College (now West Negros University). He supported himself and his young family through his work as assistant deputy provincial assessor of the province of Iloilo, but the job did not last long. With a fledgling family to feed, he was a young man in a hurry to earn a living. Knowing that it was the surest way to employ~ ment after graduation, he opted to pursue a teaching career in a newly independent country eager to leapfrog itself to economic development through education. Before the war rudely interrupt~ ed his youth, he set his sights on becoming a civil engineer. Not having a four~year college degree in a country that puts premium on academic titles did not faze him. He more than made up for it by passing all the civil service examinations given by the educa~
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LUIS T. CENTINAJR.
tion department. He retired with not one but five civil service eli, gibilities to his name, which was quite a feat in the division of dty schools which he served with distinction for thirty' two years be, fore retiring in 1982. His multiple eligibilities opened new doors for him. After twenty,four years of being a grade schoolteacher, he was promoted to a supervisory post in the Division Promo, tional Staff as chief statistician and head of attendance. Fellow teachers elected him to the board of the Negros Oed, dental Teachers Federation for several terms, which he continued to serve until 1983, a year past his retirement. While sitting on the board of the organization, he advanced several initiatives to improve the lives of his fellow teachers. Chief among his accom, plishments was raising their burial benefits. But his greatest legacy is his children and his grandchildren who will carry the ideals he had taught them throughout his life: that honesty is the best policy and that, in the words of C.S. Lewis, "integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching:' He also lives on in the lives of his students who, upon learning of his death through social media, have expressed their gratitude for shaping their future for the better.
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In our time of grief, the most touching moment to us, his
fam~
ily, came during my father's burial when a pair of Army soldiers showed up at his grave site to sound "Taps" and to present the family, through my sister Heidi who took care of my father in his final days, the flag of the United States. At the end of the burial service, one of the honor guards approached my sister with the flag folded in his hands and intoned as he handed it over to her:
ÂŤOn behalf of the president of the United States, the United States Army, and a grateful nation, please accept this flag as a symbol of our appreciation to your loved ones honorable and faithful service to our country. Its a great honor." It was a fitting send~off for my father who had wagered his life for his homeland and his adopted country during the Second World War in order for the rest of us to breathe the air of free~ dom. My father was eighty~seven years old when he was diagnosed with both Alzheimer's disease and diabetes. Before we knew he had Alzheimer's, we dismissed certain changes in his personality as crankiness. But when he started wearing sneakers which he hated all his life, we realized that something more serious was go~ ing on in his brain. We confirmed our suspicion when he scored
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LUIS T. CENTINA JR.
zero in a memory test his doctor gave him. My mother, on the other hand, was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and demen~ tia a year before she died. As she was in relatively better health than Dad, we thought she would outlive him. Some of our friends wondered how she would take his death since in their long mar~ riage they had never been apart no more than two weeks at a time. But her condition deteriorated quickly. While I was preparing the publication of Somewhen, a collection of poems that brought me back to poetry writing in 2013 after a long hiatus, Mom mentioned that I had never written any poems either for her or my father. What came out of her correct obser~ vation were two poems written for each of them: War Wound The war wound my father wears Is the shibboleth of our tight clan It cuts so deep, it never heals, no scar Can hide the hurt he suffers The apotheosis Of a World War II veteran.
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My First Poem My first poem I dedicated to you.
(You have no equal, you are the best, My number one mentor, the irreplaceable cook, The indispensable presence, the morale booster Pillar of strength, heart of our happy home, Geyser offlowing similes and metaphors, You are the first word I learned to master.) When a girl cousin published that poem as her own, The only line she skipped I now write to you: Mother, I love your
When my parents died, they both left a great void in the lives of those they left behind, including myself, my sisters Louella and Heidi and their respective spouses Mateo Garnado and Joseph Mannuzza; my brothers Pierce, Evans and his wife Mary Joan, and Christopher and his wife Liezl. They were mourned by their grandchildren Clark Kendall, Mark, Michelle and her husband Karl, Cindy, Francis, Israel, Marja Katrina, Jon Paolo, Samantha, Chester Louis, Gio, Eulo and Emmanuel Paul. In the early 1970s, prior to the declaration of martial law, the Philippines witnessed a flowering of many good publications, among which was the Philippine Digest. My father submitted to it an article titled 'i\lmost on the Carpet;' which became the basis
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LUIS T. CENTINAJR.
of this book. In 2004, an expanded version of the article was pub, lished in Search, an Augustinian cultural journal issued in Manila.
It is my hope that my father's posthumously published recol, lection of his personal struggles during the Second World War will remind everyone who reads it of the insanity of war and will choose the path of peace instead of conflict at home and in the wider world. -Gilbert Luis R. Centina III Neguri, Getxo, Bizkaia, Spain
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With his Q 11111111111111111111111111111111111 a young man ,- his country an - m- e-e-t-s -. estlny ::J..."7S ::J...=
On July 14, 2001, the New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Af, fairs awarded the author a certificate of appreciation "in recognition of out stand, ing meritorious service in ground combat during World War 11 in the Asiatic,Pa, cific theater of operations:' As one of the one hundred and ten veterans who were recognized by the Garden State that year, his journey to that stage of honor took over fifty years and nine U.S. presidents.
"SlIddenl)' (111.1 tllle xpectd/)' 1felt tI.le 1.1(wd (~f (I JlJ"wese soidier gr(lhl1illg 111)' rigl.1t dl"ll)' He 11drked IIl1illtclligill/e orders ill Jlpmlese. \Nitl.l l.1is gllll poillted dt lIIe, 1 s/oll'cd .1011'11 ,wd Il'd/ked k'side I.lilll, III)' rigl.lt l.1dll.1 ill his tight grip. 111 (lccp ]'rd)'t'I", 1 tI.1OlIg1.lt (~f III)' yOllllg ll'it~" (lskillg God to Sdl'C lilt' .ti·olll cd]'tit'it)' dlld to dl/Oll' IIle to S(ltd), eSCd]'e .Ii·olll thc CIIl'lllis strd IIg/cI.1O/.1." 'H'c IIll/St 1I0t /.1(/tl' ollr t(JJ"/lll'r clll'lllies, hilt II'C IIll/St tl.1dt ollr)i'l'l'.1olll is IlOt ll'it/.1OlIt cost or S(lo·ificl'."
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Luis T. CentinaJr. was born on August 21,1921 in Passi, Iloilo in the Philippines. For thirty-four years, he served with distinction as a school educator for the Department of Education in the Philippines. When war broke out in the Pacific in 1941, he answered the call to defend his country by enlisting in the Philippine Commonwealth Army and was inducted into the United States Army Forces Far East. After the war ended in 1945, he stayed in the Army for a few months as an investigator of the War Crimes Commission that sent collaborators and war criminals to prison. He died on July 18, 2015 in Belleville, New Jersey.
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