In love & war
As I write this, CNN has reported that Russia has “attacked” Ukraine and US President Joe Biden has condemned it as an “unprovoked and unjustified” attack. Explosions and air raid sirens are reportedly heard in Ukraine.
Is the world facing another world war even as it has yet to completely vanquish the COVID-19 virus and its mutants, which have exacted a heavy toll on lives, loves and livelihoods, just like a world war?
Wars and viruses rob us of all three, and more.
But love can overcome all, even war, which we pray won’t happen again, and COVID.
Seventy-eight years ago, at the tail-end of World War II, 11 American Prisoners of War (POWs) made a daring escape from a Japanese death camp in Palawan and survived.
According to Stephen Moore, author of the book As Good as Dead, an account of the death-defying escape of the 11 from the so called “Palawan Massacre,” “the reason they made it out alive was through the help of friendly guerilla warriors serving on Palawan.”
One of the guerilla warriors was my late paternal grandfather Col. Nazario Benito Mayor. The six POWs that initially reached my grandfather’s camp were survivors of Bataan and Corregidor and had been part of a group of 150 incarcerated in a Japanese-run camp in Puerto Princesa, the capital of Palawan.
According to historical sources, as the war was ending, the Japanese asked these POWS to hunker down in trenches, over which gasoline was poured over and set on fire. Eleven escaped the inferno and made it to a Filipino guerilla camp. One of them was Capt. Albert Pacheco of New Mexico in the United States.
My aunt MaryAnne Mayor Ancheta, (younger sister of my late father Frank Mayor), a retired nurse, remembers how her father, then a major, protected these survivors till they were rescued and flown to an American base in Morotai, in what was then the Netherlands East Indies. But they would not have made it without the help of the guerillas who guarded them with their lives, clothed and fed them. My grandmother Mary, an American herself, helped clean and bandage the infected wounds of these POWs. She cooked for them — perhaps, the first real meals those POWs had since Bataan and Corregidor — till they were strong enough to stand on their own. My aunt MaryAnne remembers how weak and gaunt these POWs were.
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Fast forward to February 2022. Through filmmaker Francis Lara Ho, who is producing a film on the survivors of the Palawan Massacre and the Filipinos who helped them, the children (five girls) of Captain Pacheco learned about the Mayor family.
Three of them, Gloria, Nancy and Lisa, who are living in California, reached out to my aunt MaryAnne, who is now with her daughter Dawne Ancheta-Both in California. The Pacheco daughters sent a collage of photos of their parents, and a grateful note (see sidebar at right) to the Mayor family whose parting words go, “Because of your family’s bravery, our family will continue to go on, and on.” Aside from writing down the names of their parents, they wrote all the names of Albert and Katie’s children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren. Over 50 descendants. Over 50 miracles.
Gloria, Nancy and Lisa met my aunt for lunch and each of them gave her a bouquet.
“They were crying. I was crying,” recalls Auntie MaryAnne. “They were holding me so tight. They kept on telling me, ‘If not for your father, we wouldn’t even be here’.”
They told my aunt that immediately after returning from the war, Captain Pacheco looked for his sweetheart Katie. They told her that Katie refused to give up even after receiving telegrams that her beloved Albert was “Missing in Action” and then, “Killed in Action.” She waited, and waited. “After he found her again, they married,” the Pacheco girls told my aunt.
Auntie MaryAnne calls the meeting gratifying, “a miracle.”
The reunion of the descendants of two brave men whose paths crossed 78 years ago, indeed, is a miracle. Because our lives are indeed a like a huge puzzle. Each piece is put there providentially by others — till all the pieces fit and there is one big picture.
For the Pachecos, a brave Filipino and his wife put many pieces of the story of their life together on a desolate island 78 years ago. With the encounter between the Pacheco girls and my aunt, another piece of the story has found its place — in our everyday common lives; in history.
(You may e-mail me at [email protected]. Follow me on Instagram @joanneraeramirez.)
To The Mayor Family with our Sincerest Appreciation and Gratitude
During World War lI, Albert D. Pacheco was one of 11 soldiers that escaped from the Puerta Princesa Prison Camp in Palawan. Your family hid my father from the Japanese soldiers. Your family’s act of courage and bravery led to my father being able to return home to the United States.
When my father returned home, he looked for his sweetheart, Catalina “Katie” for two months. Katie and my grandmother were sent five different telegrams notifying them that my father was “Missing in Action” or “Killed in Action,” but they refused to believe it. Katie waited four years for my father to return back from the war. After he found her again, they married. They had five daughters, who had his 12 grandchildren, who had his 29 great- grandchildren, who had his seven great-great grandchildren. Our Father died in 1997, but more than that “he lived for 78 years.” God had spared his life, and my father had a good life, proud of his service and he was a wonderful husband, father and grandfather. My parents were married for 53 years and he was able to meet most of his grandchildren.
Because of your family’s bravery, our family will continue to go on, and on.
Our family is so grateful to you and your family, with all of our gratitude,
The Pacheco Family Albert & Katie
Daughters, Gloria - Linda – Nancy – Kathy - Lisa
Grandchildren, Jerry – Dawn – Rick – Steven - Michael Albert – Brian – Michelle – Sean - Kawika – Reyna - Paula – Brandon
Great Grandchildren, Ashley – Dylan – Alexis - Gunnar- Taylor – Nathanial –Mikel – Christian -Joshua - Matthew - Cassie – Matthew – Tyler – Bradley – Lyndsey - Wyatt - Alilana - Kawika- Joey - Mason - Aizlee – Gage – Kalee - Londyn - Noah –Kingston – Kyson - Katie – Aiden
Great Great Grandchildren, Natalie – Phoenix -]ackson – Nevaeh - Hayden - Wilder - Dachelle
- Latest
