European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 9, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Yank army 1945 the going was better for trucks than it was for infantry but Friendly filipinos had cold Beer waiting at the end of the by Dick Hanley yank staff correspondent Manila foot sore infantry men of the 37th their Bones Ach ing from almost continuous have their hands full they Are crouched be Hind Corners of buildings on Manila Rizal ave nue and Are sighting their mis from behind pillars holding up the roofs of the cites Spanish Type sidewalks in the downtown with months and months of new georgias and Bou Gainville Jungle warfare behind the 37th is tonight getting its first taste of Street the do feet Are in the heart of and death is staring at them from behind unfamiliar metro Politan Twentyfive Days and 120 Miles ago the 37th began hiking to on blazing Cement High on Dusty dirt through Muddy Rivers and dried up Rice and Over half blowup Railroad they trudged their marching skirmishing with japs along the Roadside from the lingayen Gulf to the town of just South of Clark there the forced March had begun four Days this morning 4 they folded their Pon wet with heavy philippine and began the last Days March on their Highway a two Lane Concrete was Ideal for motor transport of our heavy to the foot soldiers of the 37th it was an Arch breaking wide White path that was growing More distasteful by the Brownout Bridges made a regular Supply of food for the Forward elements and Many gis sweated out the March on one meal per the yanks were a disheartened lot when they reached the outskirts of a Here at the very Entrance to the City another Bridge had been blown up by the automatic but with bitterness in their the gis began removing their heavy equipment in preparation for fording the out of nowhere filipino women and children descended on the tired they held armful of dark coloured bottles and gave them out along the files of greeting each i with the now familiar their Stock expression of grateful Welcome to All american soldiers in the philippine the bottles were and through the Trees at the right of the Road the men could see the Neon signs of the Balint Awak the filipinos were giving them cold while filipino eager to do anything to help the americans against the set to work with infantrymen building rafts out of Jap Gas Drums and planks from the other gis were led into the brewery by other there in the refrigerating Plant Soldier after sol Dier filled his helmet with the Amber beverage and came out into the Light of Day Daniel Catale of new York City had a Glass Beer Stein with for months it had held nothing but i Coffee and chlorinated now he paused to blow the foam off his he is like a shot in the now ill be Able to walk into Manila like i was the rafts were completed in a matter of and the filipinos shoved the infantrymen and their heavy equipment across this last Ford before they hit the City As they mounted a slight Rise in the a tall Monument greeted silhouetted against the Bright Noonday it was the Bonifacio Monu familiar to Many As a landmark indicating the Entrance to one his legs bowed under the weight of heavy machine gun turned to the Man behind him carry ing the guns and said that the Monument printed on some of the Jap invasion Money weve been collecting All along the As the end of the column filed by the Boundary Marker dividing the town of Malabon from the City of machine gun fire broke out on our right the japs firing on the fight for Manila was the company halted while a patrol went out in search of the enemy machine presently word to Saddle up was passed Down the line from Man to and the column slowly began to move As the men approached the word again came Back the now it was Low and on the double by the one after another the infantrymen crouched Low Over their weapons and double timed a zigzagging path across the open Plaza around the As the last Man in the column crossed the open the Jap Woodpecker up but too late to do we were in the City As we hiked Down the Boulevard of the Grace Park an artillery charge flew Over hike to t x Fric f j f i v ols fo0kvout Foj half obscured by the smoke rising in great circles from the City burning in the near the chinese cemetery on the left Side of the Friendly filipinos ran up and warned us of Jap snipers hidden among the there was a mine Field on the Road up ahead they and a filipino boy offered to Lead the Way through the dangerous again word was passed from front to this time with an anxious note in each mans voice As he spat out the mines keep on the every other i would keep on the Damn in single file the men went through the following the footsteps of the Man immediately in front of i set my combat boots into the footprints of a signal corps photographer As he went through the mine Field behind a we looked up Only once or twice to try to figure out what had been blown up nearby there were huge craters in Thev Center of the Road surrounded by unrecognizable As got into the City More civilians began to they ran out of their houses and their apartments handing out Coconut chewing Jap cider in Short stubby bottles and anything else they had that they could give when a questionable Jap Roadblock forced us to take a Detour Down a Side pretty girls ran up and threw their arms around the a Tigu Clad yanks and kissed one i with Ohio stencilled in Black on the Back of his fatigue jacket excitedly yelled to a Man across the Street boy what a i almost lost my nose that she came at me with her Mouth open for a she the no longer recognizable As tried in vain to shake off the overjoyed the gis pushed their Way Back into Rizal Avenue and continued their March toward the pasig their objective for the the do feet were dog they haunt realized How far they had travelled since they passed under that Boundary sign on the outskirts of excitement carried them creeping out of the reminded them that night would soon cover the strange a filipino Man about 55 years holding a brow stained water Glass in one hand and an almost empty whisky bottle in the ran Over to one of the store fronts bring the other bottle of and then dashed Back into the Street to give away the contents left in the bottle in his As the Man came out several bullets whined in a matter of seconds the civilians cleared the streets and stood wide eyed and open mouthed in the doorways wondering what was coming the infantrymen took cover behind con Crete pillars and Street and crouched Low on the sidewalks behind their another filipino came out of a a cup of steam ing Coffee in each More Jap sniper fire Cut through the faint Light Between the across the Street a i be Hind a pillar threw up his his cry pierced the hushed in he two gis carrying the familiar Side packs of the medics ran to his ignoring the Lack of they Cut his shirt exposing a White Back smeared with twisting red stripes like a Small town Barber they shouted Back for stretch a bearers while one of them beat on the door of a shortly the door and the medics lifted the Limp form of the injured a huge White compress now covering his and ran across the narrow sidewalk to the store beyond the open the whine of More bullets broke the silence of the everyone was on not sure where the firing was coming the Man with the Coffee cups appeared he approached the nearest i kneeling behind a Concrete sir he asked the the i angrily growled at the Friendly you can get Hurt out he the filipino answered i we filipinos Are so Happy to see we have waited so Long for you to come and with the japanese it was not we would gladly die for you now that you Are the Battle weary infantry Veteran fixed the safety of his took the cup and gulped Down its lukewarm shaking his head and smiling at the the i again turned his gun to the direction from which he thought the Jap bullets had Pauff 5