Memorial Day Address by Maria Westervelt • May 30, 2016
I. Memorial Day Address
II. Introduce myself and my family:
Mother – Augusta Evans (Alicante)
and Father – Marcos M. Alicante.
1. Met in Corvallis in 1920-22
(master’s degree)
2. Married shortly after and went
to Illinois (graduated with a
doctor’s degree in science
(agricultural science), soil
conservation)
3. They went to Hawaii and father
worked and helped in sugar
cane plantations. My oldest sis-
ter was born in Hawaii in 1923
(Catherine Alicante).
III. We went to the Philippines. Father
worked for the Philippine govern-
ment at the Department of Soils,
Department of Agriculture. He trav-
eled in the Philippine Islands a lot
helping the country in agriculture.
IV. We lived in San Juan, Rizal, about
45 minutes away from Manila (capi-
tal of Philippine Islands).
V. My sister, Theresa, was born in
1926. I was born in September 1930
and my brother was born in 1935.
VI. I studied at the Assumption Convent
in Manila (private girls’ school run
by nuns). Later, my brother studied
at Ateneo (Jesuit school) in Manila.
VII. On Dec. 7, 1941, we learned that
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, was bombed
by the Japanese. My sister, Theresa,
was having several of her friends
over for her birthday party.
VIII. Several hours later (10 hours later),
the Japanese bombed Manila. It
was in the evening that we heard
the bombing in Manila. It was so
earth-shattering. My father said we
are at war and took us down to the
trapdoor to the basement. I was so
frightened I could hardly go down
the trapdoor I was shaking so badly.
It was so fearful. I still remember
those days when the siren sounded
and the heavy bombing continued.
There was dog-fighting by U.S.
planes and Japanese planes, fighting
in the sky. The bombing continued
for days.
IX. Manila was taken over by the Japa-
nese shortly after 1942.
X. My father was working for the
government before the Japanese
occupation and was able to have my
mother (an American citizen) under
his Philippine citizenship. All the
Americans were put in concentra-
tion camps in Manila. My mother
was able to stay out.
XI. My father took very good care of
us; built an air-raid shelter under
the front porch that was tile and
cement; brought lots of canned
goods and sacks of rice and corn.
After the Japanese occupation, my
father was able to work at his office
in Manila. Our car was taken shortly
after and he continued to go to work
in a horse-drawn carriage. I stayed
home with my brother and older
sister (she helped with our tutoring
at home). My other sister, Theresa,
went to school (even had to study
Japanese. She went to school for
about a year or so.
XII. Times were quite hard, but our fam-
ily managed. Shortly after the occu-
pation, the Japanese inspected the
houses in our neighborhood. They
came in looking for short-wave
radios and other American goods.
My older sister, Catherine, had a
radio and would listen to short-wave
stations off and on. She hid this
radio (where I don’t remember). The
soldiers inspected our home but did
not stay long and did not harm us.
The Japanese were over us for about
four years. We managed on what
we had and did the best we could.
My older sister, Catherine, was a
writer and even had one of her plays
on the radio. She gathered a bunch
of neighbor children and grown-
ups and gave entertaining plays.
My brother and the neighborhood
children enjoyed making slides and
sliding down on the hillside.
XIII. Our yard had lots of fruit trees –
mangos, guava, papaya, bananas,
duhat (berry) and chico. Later on
my father planted corn, tomatoes,
radishes, spinach and potatoes on the
empty property next to our home.
XIV. Toward the last year of the war (May
19, 1944), my dear sister, Catherine,
passed away from lupus. I loved
her dearly (she was like a second
mother) and missed her a lot.
XV. Toward the end (last year of the
occupation), the Japanese took our
home and three other houses in our
neighborhood. The officers needed
to stay in the area near the hillside
behind our home and over the hill
was an empty building. Later on
after they left, I heard that tunnels
were built in the hillside. My father
moved us to a friend’s house nearby
and we stayed in their basement. He
would have taken us to his office
in Manila and thank goodness we
did not move there because toward
the end of the war, the Americans
bombed that place (including my
school nearby).
XVI. We managed staying in our friend’s
basement for several months until the
end when the Japanese left our house
and disappeared. We had hardly any
food except for vegetables.
XVII. Toward the end of the occupation, I
remember quite clearly that we were
at church services at this old Span-
ish church near our home up on the
hillside. We were at mass (mother,
sister, brother and myself). We were
kneeling down and the priest and
altar boy were at the altar saying the
mass. Suddenly, we heard a com-
motion outside and soon a Japanese
officer and soldiers came into the
church and the officer walked right
up to the communion rails and told
the priest to stop. The priest contin-
ued saying mass.
XVIII. The Japanese officer contiued
to tell the priest to stop. The
priest continued saying mass. The
Japanese officer turned toward the
people (around 50 or so) and told
us to stand up and look at him. In
the meantime, there were around six
soldiers on both aisles facing us. We
stood up and looked at the officer as
he told us to look at him and to lis-
ten to him. He spoke English quite
well. He stated that the Americans
were on the islands down south but
they will not conquer the Imperial
Japanese Army. We are very power-
ful. He spoke just a few sentences
and said no more and walked out
with the soldiers following him. A
miracle just happened. At that time,
there were massacres happening in
Manila. Thank goodness we were in
the countryside.
XIX. Soon after (early 1945), the Ameri-
cans came back and saved us. But
before that, there were air raid sirens
and heavy bombing and air fights.
The war has come to an end none
too soon.
XX. These war days are embedded in my
mind forever. I pray for peace forever
and ever.
Courtesy photo by Andrea Suitter
The Color Guard for the Memorial Day Ceremony includes (l to r) Stan Werth,
Kevin Goodell, Ed Ben, Tony Molina and Alfred Lane Jr.
Courtesy photo by Cynthia Farlow
Little Miss Siletz Halli Lane-Skauge, Junior Miss Siletz Felisha Howell, Shirley
Walker and Maria Westervelt, who gave the Memorial Day address
July 2016
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Siletz News
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