We questioned whether or not a captured general
still had the authority to issue orders to his former "unsurrendered"
command.
Transfer to Mountain Province: Trying to be a good soldier, I prepared
to make my transfer to Col. Horan's Guerrilla Unit. I obtained a good
guide and a strong horse. I told the officers and men of the 14th
Infantry, "Good-bye and good luck." We started north.
After several days on the trail, the guide and I reached a small
barrio east of Ilagan. Natives told us Ilagan was occupied by
Japanese.
As I was bedding down in a small native shack, a Filipino quietly
crept up to my bed, and said, "Sir! I am an emissary from General
Aguinaldo in Palanan. Sir! General Aguinaldo wants to hide you from
the Japanese for the duration of the war."
I was delighted; this seemed like the answer to a prayer. I had no
idea where Aguinaldo had ever heard of me, or why he was interested in
me. We did have one thing in common we were both doctors. I learned
several things about Aguinaldo: he had been mayor of a small barrio.
When the Americans took the Philippines from the Spanish in 1899,
Aguinaldo appointed himself the President of the Philippines and led
an insurgent army of 40,000 against the Americans and fought a long
and bloody war.
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