It was a time unlike any we will ever have to endure. The world has since lost its innocence and man will never be the same. To live through the Second World War in Northern Philippines would have been difficult for any Filipino, and yet these men, not even soldiers but civilian volunteers, engaged an enemy who strode unflinchingly into our homes and took our wives, our foods, and our dignity. 		 
 
     
 
For some strange reason, I believe we were fortunate that it wasn’t our military that greeted the Japanese at the front door. If that had been the case, we would certainly have been wiped out, each and every one of us. Instead, it was a civilian’s disarming smile and the offerings of food that bought us time to get to know the enemy first hand, later to use this knowledge to subvert and vanquish him.

No one can deny the Boloman’s contribution to the intelligence backbone of the guerrilla resistance, or his masterful camouflage as meek villager by day, recon patrol by night. Yet, for all his courage and selflessness, the boloman remains a ghost---doomed to haunt the annals of military history in search of recognition. His exploits, at best anecdotal and scattered among assorted accounts, may lift him up to the light of scrutiny, only to fail to impress the appropriate US and Philippine veterans’ agencies. And when the last of them passes on, so, too, will perish the last of the true freedom fighters.

Which is why the Stingray Memorial Project is all the more significant. Now, more than ever, is it imperative for the modern soldier (and the community he serves) to place the garland of thanks around his neck, before it has to be a wreath on his grave.

In the same breath, we also thank the officers and crew of the USS Stingray who, by some divine confluence, shared the same quiet beach with our bolomen one night during World War II. Those frantic minutes spent unloading firearms, ordnances, and supplies linked us inexorably with America in a way that is profound and almost mythical. These, and similar incidents, now loom strangely larger than the war itself, and its participants, taller than monuments. At least, that is how many of us feel.

I hope many more of our children are able to read this book. Like other books of its kind, it is dedicated to the young for obvious reasons. To you who are about to read this particular anthology of stories, remember them well, as well as the names herein. For that is their most fervent desire.

  
 
- Ambassador Roy A. Cimatu
  

 
 
     
We must never forget.

The Japanese invasion of the Philippine Islands was as swift and deadly as a masterfully drawn sword. Filipinos suffered under the red sun. But it was a time for heroes.		  
 
     
 
- Miguel R. Guillermo
  
     
   

 
     
  Anchored in Freedom
Enshrined in Friendship