Tropic Born, War Torn: Untold Tales of Wwii in the Philippines

Recurring nightmares were Gloria Haube Vance's only inspiration to talk about WWII in the Philippines during Japanese occupation. Her family was spared internment camps because they were not Americans, but barely survived on their own. Near war's end they followed indigenous Igorots into remote mountains to find refuge from American bombs, surviving on sweet potatoes until their harrowing escape from Japanese troops in retreat. Decades later she told the war stories to her daughter and found the journal her German-born father wrote about managing a gold-mining camp of 15,000 under Japanese commanders, then under the bombardment of American planes that destroyed it all. Their untold tales are woven together in this vivid portrayal of war in a Pacific paradise.