Every 4th of July we have the Twilight Zone Marathon and I used to watch it. But this year I’m celebrating the 4th by writing. This is part of my 4th of July work.
On January 31, 1945 the 188th GIR landed on Nasugbu, while the 511th PIR 11th Airborne Division, commanded by Gen. Swing, was dropped on Tagaytay Ridge on February 3, 1945. They were the ones who liberated my home town, Las Piñas, and on the same day reached the Paranaque River by 9 PM.
Private Elmer Fryar, Medal of Honor (MOH), died in Leyte on December 8, 1944, while another MOH recipient, PFC Manuel Perez Jr., died charging the pillboxes on Ft. McKinley on Feb. 13, 1945.
See: 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR)
Trooper Pictures
http://www.ww2-airborne.us/units/511/511_trp.html
T/4 Rod E Serling 511th PIR RHQ Radioman
On the 8th Row, 1st Column, you see Rod Serling, screenwriter, novelist, TV producer, best known as the narrator of the TV series Twilight Zone.
Imagine pro-Japanese traitors ending up as the leaders of that country after WWII. But in the Philippines, it’s the grandchildren of traitor-oligarchs–Aquino III and Roxas II–who are the top dogs of the country!
I am convinced Rod Serling got the Twilight Zone stories from the Philippines. What happened to the Philippines after WWII is straight from the scripts of that series.
Serling’s unit was in the brutal block-by-block Battle for Manila.
It was Serling’s time in Leyte, when he faced death daily, that molded his political views and writing style. He suffered symptoms of what is now called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, such as nightmares and flashbacks.
He was quoted as saying, “I was bitter about everything and at loose ends when I got out of the service. I think I turned to writing to get it off my chest.”
For me the biggest shock is finding out that there never was any Liberation Day Parade in the Philippines since the war ended, while Guam had its 68th Liberation Day Parade last July 21, 2012!
Bienvenido Macario
Lemuria