Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila

by James M. Scott

Japanese soldiers in the Philippines have written a page of history as terrible as any the foulest mind could conceive,” wrote the Hartford Courant. “It is a record so base that the whole human race should feel ashamed.”

Philippine president Elpidio Quirino, in one of his final acts in office in 1953, pardoned Furuse, Yokoyama, and scores more Japanese war criminals. What made the move all the more powerful was that Yokoyama had been convicted of the murders of Quirino’s wife and three of his children, who were all gunned down during the Battle of Manila. “I am doing this,” Quirino said, “because I do not want my children and my people to inherit from me hate for people who might yet be our friends.”