another letter from Carolyn

Dear Mr. Costes,


Thank you for your welcome letter. There is much I do not know of my father's time in Asingan, as he would rarely talk of the war. He was in the 32nd 127th, Co. G. He had malaria, of course, and survived Scrub Typhus earlier in Buna, New Guinea. He arrived in the Phillipines, after his sickness, to rejoin his company. He found that his friends were dead, as his company G had been directly bombed on the Villa Verde trail by friendly fire. He went through a survivors guilt, plus they later found that the malaria drug atabrine caused depression. Also while in he mountains in P.I., there was some sort of mud slide that somehow drowned men in my fathers squad and he felt responsible as he was the sargent. A doctor in the Phillipines talked to my father and basically pulled him out of his depression, by giving him a fatherly talk and became a mentor to my father. I believe it was Dr. Tanwangco. My grandmother stated that the doctor also saved my fathers life when he was ill.

(In letters Dr. Tanwangco also mentions that when he receives letters from my father, it brings back memories of another soldier, Johnnie Williams who he has not heard from).

A few stories my father did tell, were of a Village he stayed at between missions into the hills. I am unsure if it was Asingan. One story was about the villagers wanting room for a larger garden area and so he surprised them, found a bulldozer and made a huge 5 acre plot out of the jungle. He used to smile about how happy this made them and how when he came back from missions, the villagers would feed his soldiers and him huge garden meals of vegetables.
He also designed a hot shower system on paper and was going to rig it up for the village. He came back from a mission and the village surprised him with the shower made, from his design.
I'm unsure how this would be possible.
I'm also unsure if these were stories of Asingan, as would believe possibly these were stories of a smaller village??
Regardless, he greatly respected and loved the people of the Phillipines.
If you know of any stories of Asingan or Dr. Tangwanco, during WWII, I would greatly appreciate it. I enjoy history and would like to learn more.

Thank You,
Carolyn