Good Soldiers: Almost a Memoir

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Part memoir, part novel, is the story of a family's coping with the invading Japanese militia and covers the first seven months of the war in the Philippines.

During that time, the family is held under house arrest, except that the father CT, is taken off to be interrogated in the infamous Fort Santiago and later released to Santo Tomas Internment Camp.

Meanwhile at home, the wife, Honey, and the two boys, the Amah and the washerwoman, Tecla not only cope with the restricted life but also collect and hide important intelligence being gathered by the resistance forces known to the jailed husband.

The two boys decide to fight a war of their own, and at the same time form a deep friendship with their own Japanese sentries.

At the same time, they hate and fear the officer who continues to plague them with searches of the house, always leaving it in shreds and their own nerves undone.

In addition, they are a witness to terrible brutality practiced by Japanese soldiers.

One question is whether or not the Japanese will honor CT's petition for diplomatic extradition as he is the Panamanian Consul for Manila, even though an American citizen.

The other question is how did the nasty Japanese officer die in a conflagration of Tecla's hut?

The book answers both questions, while developing the discovery that there are good soldiers in this world of mayhem and destruction. Even the two boys learn that they too have become good soldiers.