FROM GOOD OLE UNCLE VIC

October 2005

   Shanghai was unbelievable. Twenty million people in one city. To put things in perspective, New York has seven million. Shanghai has some of the tallest and newest buildings in the world, and the service at the Ritz-Carlton where I stayed was the finest I have ever had. They even had a tailor come to my room! You would never have believed you were in a communist country. There was a buzz to the city that can only be felt in a modern, progressive, capitalist country. The Chinese have come into the 21st Century, and they are an economic force to be reckoned with.

   The answer to last week's quiz, "Where did the phrase, 'I heard it thru the grapevine' originate?" During the Civil War they used to drape the telegraph wire in the bushes when on campaign, and it looked like a grapevine. When news would come over the telegraph wire they would say "I heard it through the grapevine". Those that got it right were... Malcolm Kahraman, Shannon Davis, Laurie DeHoff, Carol Morgan, Alexa Mulava, Susanna Honeywell, John Krainer, Laura Paradine, Robyn Bianco, Valerie Kruenen, Greg Hunter, Jim Driggers, Rick Wade and Sharon Whitlock..

   This week's quiz: Who is the first person to climb the north face of the Eiger in the Alps in Switzerland? Email your answer to Vicki, at Vicki.Brick@BrickBodies.com. Please include the name of the club that you attend or where you are employed.

   On the way to China and Australia, I read a book given to me by two very dear friends, Dan and Debbie Janes. The title of the book is Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides. It is a story about the rescue of the last remaining survivors of the Death March of Bataan in the Philippines by U.S. Army Rangers at the end of World War II, just before they were scheduled to be executed by their Japanese captors. The story brought tears to my eyes.

   It was not one of these make-believe stories of superheroes and fictional characters. It was not about athletes who wake up safe and sound the next day, win, lose or draw. It is the true story of the 100,000 American and Filipino forces that surrendered to the Japanese in March of 1942 after four months of brutal combat and their ordeal until their rescue in January of 1945. Almost three years of continuous torture and depravity. Many did not make it. Ten thousand Americans and 25,000 Filipinos either died in the Death March or died in captivity.

   Their suffering began with the Death March of Bataan. After surrendering on the Bataan peninsula in the southern part of the Philippines, the defeated and demoralized Americans and Filipinos were forced to march over 100 miles to Camp O'Donnell, their first stop of many in their years of captivity. Starved and beaten along the way, stragglers were either shot, bayoneted or beheaded. That's right. Beheaded!! Over 5,000 Americans perished in The March. Many more Filipinos died as well. In one instance, an entire company of 350 Filipino Army Scouts were executed — beheaded for no reason whatsoever.

   Life at the camps was no better. Sent to other camps around the country because of crowding at Camp O'Donnell, the men were reduced to eating rats and drinking — you don't want to know what they were reduced to drinking. And then, after all that, at the end of the war, just before the American Sixth Army was going to liberate them, the Japanese were going to execute them. They were going to kill them all!! Thank God for the Rangers.

   One hundred and twenty five Rangers, aided by Filipino Guerillas, penetrated 30 miles behind enemy lines to rescue the last remaining survivors just in the nick of time. In the most daring raid of World War II, the Rangers were able to rescue every single prisoner from Camp Cabanatuan, now reduced to 500 prisoners because of fatalities, executions and relocation of prisoners to Japan for slave labor, with the loss of only two men. Of course, in the night raid every single Japanese guard was "eliminated." When they rescued the prisoners some were totally barefooted and had nothing to wear but a loin cloth. Many were so weak from starvation that they could not even walk and had to be carried out.

   The part of the book that really got to me was the second night out, the night before the raid, when the Rangers were approaching a friendly village where they would rest and recover from their travels before attacking the camp. As they approached the small village, they heard a faint melody drifting through the evening mist. Too faint at first to distinguish, as they got closer it was the unmistakable strains of "God Bless America" being sung by the small children of the village, all dressed in white and welcoming the Americans back after three long years of Japanese occupation.

   That song has a very special meaning to me. My Uncle Raphael was shot by the Japanese for playing that very song on the piano to a group of Filipinos in a secret concert during the occupation in an attempt to keep up their courage. Every time I travel outside the country, especially for extended periods like this most recent trip, I sing that song to myself as the plane is about to touch down in the good, old USA. No matter how much I enjoy my trip I am always glad to be home.

   After traveling I am much more thankful for all the blessings I enjoy as an American, and I often think of all of those brave men and women who gave their lives so that we can enjoy our liberties. And they are still doing it today — in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in other parts of the world. God bless America. God bless our troops.

   They have made a movie about the Cabanatuan rescue called The Great Raid. It is out in theaters now. I have not seen it but I certainly intend to. I hope you do as well. Bring some tissues. You may need them. I know I will.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY