100-year-old Bicol veteran remembers atrocities of war

15 November 2007
By Ephraim Aguilar
Naga City

THE PORTRAIT OF A STURDY SOLDIER IN A crisp, buttonholed uniform in the living room wall bears little resemblance to Felixberto Racadag Sr., now wearing a white camisa chino and stooped on his wheelchair.

The silver-haired Racadag, however, has retained a regal bearing as he vividly recounts how he survived World War II as a soldier.

Dr. Erlinda Gonzales-Belleza, museum curator of Legazpi City in Albay, considers priceless the accounts of war veterans like Racadag. She recently visited the old man in his retirement home in Naga City to document the experiences of Bicolano war heroes who fought against the Japanese.

The man, who turned 100 in August, smiled as Belleza showed him copies of old Japanese songs that the invaders forced their Filipino captives to memorize and sing.

His countenance faded as he recounted what happened to those who were not able to sing the songs correctly—they were slapped hard or bayonet-stabbed and were given “kangkong” (swamp spinach) for food if not denied food rations.

War accounts needed

Not many people know that Bicol played a significant role in the country’s liberation from the Japanese forces during World War II, Belleza said. Only a handful of historical accounts exist, which narrate the martyrdom and heroism of the Bicolanos during the landing of American soldiers in Legazpi on April 1, 1945, she said.

The landing served as the focal point in the Allied sweep of the entire region.

Belleza said Bicolano historians had failed to write even the few existing accounts on the heroism of the local fighters. “Many of our history books depicting the liberation was written by either an American author or a historian who is not a Bicol native,” she said.

She said that it was high time that this episode be rewritten—this time, from the point of view of the Bicolano themselves who had been there when places were bombed and when captives were abused and tortured.

US Army

Born on Aug. 22, 1907, Racadag was the seventh of eight children of Bernardino Racadag and Praxedes Pancho. He had wanted to become a teacher but wishing to take his family out of poverty, he decided to join the the Philippine Scouts in 1926 which gave him P18 per month.

Joining also meant enlisting in the US Army, he said, and he had to endure being away from his family for long periods of time.

Racadag said discipline and courtesy were values taught in the rigorous military training.

When the war against the Japanese broke out, he was one of those who engaged in battle. He remembered having to walk from a camp in Camarines Norte to Legazpi, now a four-hour drive on concrete road.

He said the soldiers would pitch tents on the sides of the trail whenever they had to eat or rest.

Racadag had also faced challenges common to guerrilla fighters.

Ramon Estor, 81, president of the veterans federation of the Philippines in the 2nd District of Albay, said that as Japanese atrocities increased, guerrilla units were organized in the localities.

As a guerrilla, Estor remembered fighting without battle gear and modern weaponry. The natives relied on food packs and ammunitions being dropped by the Americans from helicopters to their transit camps.

Death March

Racadag was among more than 75,000 American and Filipino soldiers in the Bataan Death March. It was one of his most bitter war memories.

Starting out in Mariveles town on the southern end of the Bataan Peninsula on April 9, 1942, the prisoners of war were forced to march 88 kilometers to San Fernando in Pampanga, then taken by substandard rail cars to Capas town in Tarlac, from where they walked the final 13 km to Camp O’Donnell.

Some 10,000 Filipino and 650 American prisoners died before they could reach the camp, many of them from disease, starvation, dehydration, heat prostration, untreated wounds and wanton execution.

Racadag said that it would be fortunate if the prisoners could be fed once a day with salted rice balls thrown at them. To quench their thirst, they would drink even from dirty water sources along the trail, he said.

Racadag was struck by what appeared to be malaria but was able to cheat death.

Atrocities

Some of the prisoners were beheaded, shot, stabbed with bayonets, raped, gutted (bellies cut open and left to die), beat with rifle butts, and deprived of food and water. Those who fell and stopped marching from weakness or as a protest, were killed.

When Belleza asked the old man what made him strong in those tough times when he was being mistreated and away from his family, he cried. He simply pointed his finger upwards—a gesture to indicate divine guidance.

After the war, Racadag lived in the United States as a soldier and reached other places like Germany. He was able to send all his nine children to school, most of whom are now professionals abroad.

Belleza stressed the need to gather accounts from the few war veterans still alive.

Estor said 12 war veterans died from September to October alone in the second district of Albay. Many have died of old age or because of lack of financial support and medical services, he said.