Invasions

Ken Ellis

My grandmother, Lola, used to tell my sister and I stories about her and her family
during the Japanese Invasion of the Philippines in 1942, and how they had to hide under their
house when japanese soldiers came. As I grew older, she told me the same story, but each
time, making it more graphic. The different little stories of loss and sacrifice she told me, are
just enough to paint a picture of what she and her family went through, but at the same time
not enough for it to be complete. Feeling like I lost the last piece to my puzzle, my school
midterm paper ended up being the thing that I needed to place my last piece down in its’ spot.
Out of many examples, Foreign Invasion is one example of an International Event.
The thing that makes invasions stick out of other International Events, is that it doesn’t
mainly focus on race or religion, but also area/land and government. If a country wants more
power, they will focus on doing what they need to do to take more land even if it means
killing people who get in there way, innocent or not.
During the 1940’s, both my grandmother, Lola, and grandfather, Lolo, were alive
during World War II (WWII), living in Bunacon, Philippines. During this time, WWII was
occurring, involving the United States, Japan, and the Philippines. The events that tied these
three countries together were Pearl Harbor and the Japanese Invasion of the Philippines.
Pearl Harbor1 was a time when Japan sent bomber aircrafts to a United States Navy
Port off of the coast of Hawaii. This event occurred on December 7th, 1941. Right after this
event, families in the United States decided to portray all Asians (Japanese in particular), as
bad people, sending them to camps where they would be discriminated, torchered, and killed.
Even though these horrible things were happening to Asians in the United States, no one
realized that the start of a second world war was about to unfold.
On December 8th, 1941, directly after Pearl Harbor, Japan removed their troops from
the United States, and sent them to the Philippines in efforts to invade the Philippines, and
take over the country. The battles between the Philippines and Japan alone took only one
year, but during that year, over 10,000 filipino soldiers and 1,500 American troops died from
the battle (not including the thousands of innocents being kidnapped, raped, and killed).

1
https://www.nps.gov/valr/index.htm
 Very early in the war, Filipino troops started dying, causing the Philippines to play the
losing hand in this war. The Philippines started to run out of troops and became desperate to
defend their country, so they formed military groups that used surprise as their main way of
attack. These groups were groups of humans who hid in trees, and used their home geography
as an advantage, surprise attacking any japanese soldiers who stepped foot in woods or
jungles, after, taking the supplies that the japanese soldiers were carrying. Luckily for the
Philippines, the United States sent around 700 ships filled with men to Leyte Island in the
Philippines. Once they arrived, they immediately cleared the entire island of japanese
soldiers, causing japanese military to flee. Without the help of the United States Navy and
Military, the Philippines would have been lost to Japan forever.
All this information is helpful in trying to understand what happened during this
event, but none of this really helps with answering the question that is still left unanswered:
do international events affect people around the world more, or around the actual area it’s
occurring? In this event, the actual victims of this invasion were the thousands of innocents
that were murdered and life impacted during the time of the raids and invasions. Not all
people around the world during this event didn’t need to experience military men taking
personal belongings or kidnappings/killings of loved ones. Not everyone lived in fear every
single day, thinking about what your next meal is, or if they would even be alive to see the
next day. Understanding and learning personal emotions from someone who experienced this
event first hand, is so important.
In my interview, I asked my interviewee: “What was it like growing up in a war
zone?”
Lolo (interviewee), responded with saying, “Lolo decided to take our chances in
manila not knowing what could happen. So we wait and see attitude.” When Lolo says that
his family decided to take their chances, this is an example of people living everyday in fear,
not knowing if they would live to see the next day. Both Lolo and Lola brought up how this
was the first time the philippines got invaded by a foreign power in a very long time, so no
one really knew how to act. No one knew what actions they needed to take to stay alive. With
this being said, this conflict with not knowing what to do contributed to the fear in trying to
stay alive. If you slipped up, that could cost your own life, and the lives of your loved ones.
Because this was the first foreign invasion in a while, cities in the Philippines established
bomb shelters, and places the civilians can go to be protected from bombs and other threats.
Both Lolo’s and Lola’s family had to experience loss and suppression from all freedoms.
During the invasions, Lola’s family was very lucky. Her house got destroyed, but a mailman
who always stops by offered to house her and her mother, until they could find a safe place
for the both of them.
After hearing this, I realized that this moment in time, brought the community
together, and showed the best parts of everyone. People reached out for one another, and
looked out for each other. The worst times can bring out the best in people, positively
impacting the lives of those around them.
During the interview, Lolo brought up a statement relating to home invasion. He said,
“They could come to your house without a permit, and they could do anything they wanted.”
During this event, civilians houses were destroyed and raided. At any time, a Japanese soldier
could just walk in, and take your family member, no matter house young or old he/she was.
Lolo brought up an event that happened to Lola’s uncle, and how he randomly disappeared
after leaving the house. He never came back. This being said, loved ones at anytime could be
taken from your life, and you may never see them again. All belongings you owned did not
belong to you, and immediately became soldiers belongings if they decided to take them.
Personal privacy was rare during the invasion. A quote that Lolo said, “There was a complete
loss of privacy, there was a complete loss of liberty…” scared me the most, and really hit me
because if you live in a life that has no privacy, liberty, or freedom, there really is no life at
all. Living and existing are two totally different things. Living in fear is not living, but
existing.
The next question I asked was: “What were some of the hard decisions you and your
family had to make?” Immediately, Lola responded with a vivid memory of one of her
friends. Lola talked about how one of her friends had to flee his house to a safety zone, but
forgot to hide his instrument so the japanese soldiers wouldn’t take it or destroy it. So he
decided to go back to hide it from the soldiers. One thing led to another, and he never
returned, later finding out that a bomb exploded, destroying both instrument and the boy. Life
decisions had to be priority in order to survive. If your wants over come your will to survive,
you’re dead.
Socioeconomic status is where you are in life, and your rank in the country's
economy. The question I asked was, “What was socioeconomic status like during the
invasion, and how did it affect your family?” Lola responded talking about how everyone
was at the same level, and it didn’t matter if you were rich or poor, japanese soldiers would
raid your house, take your belongings, and potentially kill your loved ones. Lola talked about
how everyone was equal, and being wealthy didn’t change how you were treated.
Lolo said, “...loss of law and order — chaos…”. With this being said, the government
wasn’t really governing the people of the philippines, but mainly focused on defeating the
japanese soldiers. Lolo talked about how when there is chaos, you lose honesty and liberties.
Because this was happening, Lolo brought up a statement about people only living on a day
to day basis, and not thinking about your future. People during the invasion had to think
about the present, and not get there head wrapped around their future. If they did, they could
slip up in the present by not paying attention or making the best decisions, leading them to
getting killed.
When you think about the personal experiences people had to go through during this
event, in a way, it is scary because there was no liberty, no freedom, no privacy, no order, and
everyday, you had to live in fear. People who are not in this area during the invasion, did not
need to deal with any of these problems. Many don’t even know that that happened. This
proves that people who live in the location of the occurrence of the international event, gets
affected way more than those who live farther away.