A Japanese Tale In The Eyes Of My Grandparents

Church burning down

     A few questions I asked them were, "What happened?" or "Did you experience any fights or saw any?". My grandfather said that there was once a woman who helped his family by giving them food. The Japanese controlled the food supply back then, so once they caught her, she was killed. He also added that the Japanese once let people go in a church "freely". They probably thought that they were starting to be nice to them, so they went in. What they didn't know was that after all of the people stepped inside, the Japanese closed the doors and burned the church down. He also said that he and his family had to move to another place, quite far from where his home town was, for safety. 

     My grandmother didn't have as much stories as my grandfather, but it was still wonderful to learn about her experience. She told me that her neighbors were actually Japanese people! She said that they were actually very nice and friendly, but they had some bombs and arms in their house. She mentioned that they once saw a pig on the loose nearby. They caught it, cut it open, and ate it raw. That probably says how scanty food was back then. 

     What intrigued me the most is that my grandparents said that the Japanese built so many secret tunnels back in the day. My grandfather said that there was a tunnel near his old home and it probably still exists! I'm hoping it does because it would be really cool to take photos of it and just observe the surroundings. There could be so much history in it! 

     After my grandparents told me about the bad things that occurred, I had a picture on how devastated the Philippines was and the atrocities that probably happened. The Japanese was in control of the food and if one person disobeyed a Japanese soldier or disobeyed the rules, they probably have done something miserable to him or her. It could be either torture or death. What's worse is that after the war, we were left with tragic memories and destroyed country. I'm grateful that my country has risen up from those memories and is much better now. I'm so thankful that my grandparents got me so interested in Philippine History and were in a good mood to tell me their stories.