Trixie Cruz: In the Islands of Sulu

(photo credit: theage.com.au)

I am a Shawnee. My forefathers were warriors. Their son is a warrior…From my tribe I take nothing. I am the maker of my own fortune.
- Tecumseh

Trixie Cruz: Kids

Those were the days my friend,

We thought they'd never end,

We'd sing and dance, forever and a day

We lived the life we choose,

We'd fight, we'd never lose,

For we were young and sure to have our way...

Those Were the Days

Col. Manuel "Peewee" Cruz,

Philippine Air Force, 1954,

8th Fighter Squadron, Basa Airbase

My father was born on 25 June 1927. He was a teenager when the World War II broke out and he joined the guerilla movement, becoming a member of the Philippine Scouts. Years later, he was made a US citizen for his wartime efforts. He had told me that he was barely sixteen when he joined the guerillas and he did so in retaliation for Japanese atrocities in Bulacan. He was among the other guerillas who ambushed a large contingent of the enemy before taking to the hills.

And here is where I usually stop to think. Papa was 16 and he was fighting for his country at great risk to his life. The heroes of the Philippine Revolution were all young too. Del Pilar was a boy general and martyr at 21, Aguinaldo was President of the Republic at 30, Bonifacio was 29 when he and Ladislao Diwa and Teodoro Plata founded the Katipunan and he was dead at 34.