Epril and her parents have gone on vacation to the island Leyte. (In my simplified mind-map of The Philippines, Leyte is the north-south oblong island immediately north of the northeast Maine-like prominence of Mindinao, just east of the circular central island of Bohol and the north-south Cuba-shaped island of Cebu.) They left by ferry on Wednesday night and will be back next Tuesday.
Leyte is where Epril's family comes from. They moved to Jasaan when she was very young. So although everybody here in Jasaan seems to be distantly related to Epril, everyone in Leyte is too. Most importantly though, her grandparents are there, and she has not seen them in a very long time.
Anyway, it is just me and the sisters here at the house for now. I've been working and lying around not doing much of anything other than that.
from wikipedia.....
ReplyDeletegod love one of the largest naval battles in history.....
The Battle of Leyte Gulf, also called the "Battles for Leyte Gulf", and formerly known as the "Second Battle of the Philippine Sea", is generally considered to be the largest naval battle of World War II and also one of the largest naval battles in history.
The battle of Leyte Gulf happened on the opposite side of the island from where Epril and her parents are visiting... about 40 miles away, not including the distance out to sea.
ReplyDeleteHowever, more interestingly, they are on the bay of Ormoc, which is where a minor secondary battle against a small Japanese fleet of transport ships attempting to send ground reinforcements was attacked. There are the wrecks of 5 Japanese cruisers, 5 Japanese troop transports, one American destroyer only a few miles offshore.
If you go across the island to the East Cost (where the landing was), there is a statue in the place where General MacArthur came back ashore after the beach head was secured.
no shit? was that THE macarthur (i will return) landing? gotta love the history channel. when i left the phillipines i said the same thing! it seemed so appropriate.
ReplyDelete