-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.lvcybermall.com/book <A HREF="http://www.lvcybermall.com/book/">The Gold of the Sun</A> ----- The Gold of the Sun A Reality Based Fiction BOOK TWO: THE AFTERMATH chapters 9 - 11 The bloody war was over. The hopes of Emperor Hirohito and others to force the Americans to agree to a treaty that would allow Japan to keep some of the lands they had taken by conquest had been shattered. They had planned the final battle that they were certain would cause the Americans over a million casualties when they invaded the Japanese home islands. The two atomic bombs and Russia's invasion of Manchuria in a attempt to annex some of Japan's conquered lands had cause the Emperor to agree to an unconditional surrender. Now the conquerors wanted to bring to justice those who were responsible for the many atrocities. Over 4000 war criminals were charged. Of these 2400 received a prison sentence of three years or more and 809 were ultimately hung. General Yamashita was put on trial for war crimes on October 29, 1945. General MacArthur organized this "trial" if anyone could call it a trial. It was a kangaroo court and the verdict to hang Yamashita was the worst American travesty of justice. Yamashita was not guilty of any of the charges brought against him. This was widely known at the time of the trail and history has since vindicated the General who was known as The Tiger of Malaya. In spite of this he was hung on February 23, 1946. The U.S. Supreme Court had reviewed the case and shamelessly approved the kangaroo's court verdict. Historians have excused MacArthur's actions by saying that Yamashita had embarrassed him by putting up a vigorous defense of the Philippines and didn't surrender until the Emperor had ordered him to do so. They also justify his action as trying to rejuvenate the image of Emperor Hirohito who he felt was needed in order to put through the reforms he had envisioned for Japan. Both of these reasons were probably true, but MacArthur learned after the trial that the Yamashita verdict was a mistake. The OSS (Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner of today's CIA) had been interviewing all of the Japanese Pows. One of the operatives was Severino Santa Romana. A Filipino who spoke Japanese. He had interrogated Major Kijomi Kashii who had been General Yamashita's personal driver. In tracing Yamashita's movements, the Major recounted having taken him to several locations where massive underground excavations were taking place. While the General was touring the site he learned from a Captain of the security force that the excavation was not a fortification but a secret depository for treasures collected in other conquered lands. This was the first time the Americans had any hint of these secret locations. Santa Romana had the Major carefully draw the exact locations of these two sites. He also arranged to keep the Major from other POW's so he could extract further information. He notified his superior who thought the information was important enough to send a written report to OSS Headquarters in Washington, DC. The report crossed the desk of William Donavan, known as "Wild Bill" who was the Director of the OSS. Donavan found the report intriguing and cabled Santa Romana's superior requesting that he be sent out to the two sites and personally inspect them. Santa Romana did as ordered only to find out that the maps were not accurate. There were no signs of any excavations. Had the Major lied? He rushed back to confront him, but when he got to the prison he found that the Major had committed suicide with a butter knife he had stolen from the prisoners mess hall. He quickly notified Washington. Donavan was not prepared to dismiss the report as false. There was another witness, General Yamashita who was awaiting the review of the Supreme Court. He had discussed this with the President, Harry Truman, and had been ordered to send the information to General MacArthur with a suggestion that the General look into it. MacArthur didn't believe the report and ordered one of his aides to pick up Santa Romana and go interview Yamashita personally. When confronted with the question the wily General just smiled. When MacArthur learned this he changed his mind. Perhaps there was something to this after all. But, how to get Yamashita to talk? He was about to be hung and MacArthur wasn't one of his favorite people. MacArthur knew that the only way Yamashita would talk would be if he was ordered to do so by his Emperor. MacArthur's headquarters was now in Tokyo so the General decided to put the question to Hirohito. At first Hirohito pretended he didn't know what MacArthur was talking about. Then he thought about it and decided that Yamashita knew very little about the activities of the Golden Lily team, and if he did know about two sites, why not tell MacArthur. With the loss of two sites he might gain some concessions. He might be able to save Yamashita and at the same time negotiate some of the wealth for Japan. He wrote a letter which was hand-delivered to the imprisoned General asking him to cooperate. The more the Emperor thought about it, the better the plan looked. For one thing it would signify that there were only two sites where this treasure was stored should that question ever come up. He knew there were 172 major sites in the Philippines. He rationalized that the loss of two of these sites would be insignificant, especially if he could gain some other advantages. General Yamashita received the personal letter from the Emperor. He was torn between duty and using this situation to obtain a reprieve of his death sentence. He advised Santa Romana and MacArthur's aide that was his decision. The aide lied to Yamashita by saying that MacArthur did not have the authority to commute the sentence, but that he might agree to sharing some of this wealth with Yamashita's family so that they would live comfortably after he was gone. Sensing that was all he was going to get he said he would cooperate only if the Emperor assured him he had that agreement in writing. While this was going on MacArthur was getting pressure from the Emperor who was now asking for 50% of the treasure. Japan's cities were in ruins and this money would help rebuild them. MacArthur sent both requests to Donovan who discussed it with the President. At this point no one knew if the treasures even existed or how much was in the two sites, if it were true. Truman was deeply involved with many problems in Europe caused by the Russians. He flipped the matter back to Donovan and told him: "You handle it." With Truman's seemingly indifference, Donovan rejected the Emperor's request and cut his percentage to 20%. He told MacArthur to have the OSS take possession of the remaining 80% and they would decided what to do with it later. Donovan promptly forgot about it. MacArthur did not forget and these chapters will explain how it was finally divided. Under Santa Romana's direction both treasure sites were found and after two years of digging, billions of dollars in gold were removed. The sites were real all right. This would greatly affect future events. Ferdinand Marcos was born on September 9, 1917 in Sarrat, Illocos Norte. His father, Mariano Marcos, had been a provincial Congressman since the 1920's. Ferdinand entered law school in 1935. That same year a bitter political rival of his father was murdered. The young Marcos and his uncle Pio Marcos were the prime suspects. Three years after the murder Ferdy as he was called and his uncle were arrested and charged with the murder. Pio got off, but Ferdinand was convicted for the murder. Because of his young age he was only given a 10 year prison term. After a year in prison where he finished his studies he passed the bar examination. He was an attorney. For some unexplained reason President Quezon issued a pardon for Marcos. Also, for some unknown reason Marcos refused it. Instead he wrote his own appeal to the Supreme Court. He admitted that he did shoot the political foe of his father but now claimed it was self-defense. The dead politician had been shot in the back through a window in his house late at night. He was hardly a threat to Ferdinand. Still in late 1940 the Philippine Supreme Court reversed the conviction supporting Marcos's claim that it was self-defense. Marcos was released from prison. Obviously the fix was in at the highest level. He then opened his law practice in Laoag near his home. In April 1945 with General Yamashita and his troops retreating to the northern highlands of Luzon, Mariano Marcos, Ferdinand's father was arrested by American-led Guerrillas. He was convicted as a Japanese collaborator and executed in a bizarre manner. He was tied to four carabaos (large water buffaloes) which literally tore him limb from limb. The pieces were hung in a tree to rot. In later years Marcos would cause various writers to portray him as the greatest Philippine war hero. In reality there is ample evidence to prove that he, like his father, was a "makapili", a collaborator working for Colonel Arika, the Kempeitai Commander in Manila. He was also a black marketeer. Just before the war was over Ferdinand was arrested for operating a black market. He talked his way out of jail by claiming he was raising money for the Guerrillas. After his release the Guerrilla headquarters claimed he was not working for them and ordered his execution. By then he was hiding out up north and was never brought to justice. One of the stories that Marcos liked to tell was that while he was on a one man patrol for the Americans he ran across a Japanese patrol which he attacked and singlehanded killed with his rifle and bolo. He was supposedly shot in the leg and pried the bullet out with his knife. While looking in the Japanese pack mule for something to bandage his wound with he found three gold bars. The bars were too heavy to carry with his wounded leg so he buried them by a tree and clearly marked the tree so he could return to claim them. Was this true? There was no evidence of this new found wealth immediately following the war. He became a struggling attorney. Marcos, like his father, won a seat in Congress from the same district in 1950. He had kept his law office in Ilocos Norte and when not in Manila he would take a few cases to keep in touch with his voters. In the spring of 1952 two laborers came to him and asked his help in collecting their pay from two ex-Imperial Army veterans. They claimed they were hired to dig a deep pit near the old military base and had uncovered a lot of gold bars. Instead of paying them the Japanese had run them off at gun point. Marcos went with them and they sneaked up on the excavation. Marcos saw the two Japanese hauling gold bars up from the pit and struggling to load them on the back of a truck. Marcos told the laborers to wait there while he went to get help. Marcos returned within an hour with two men. All three were armed with rifles and hand guns. Without fanfare the three armed men took up positions and on command shot and killed the two Japanese and two other Filipinos who were in their camp. Then without flinching they shot the two laborers. Marcos and his two friends removed the rest of the gold bars from the pit and finished loading them on the truck. The total weight of the bars was over two tons. The truck sagged on its springs. He then had his friends collect the bodies and drop them down the pit. The rest of the day was spent by the three men filling the pit in order to hide bodies. When it was about a meter from the top Marcos dispatched his two friends with a hand gun and rolled them into the pit. He finished filling the pit and cut down branches which he spread around to hide the activity. Marcos now knew these treasure rumors were true. It was the beginning of his nearly forty-year quest for the rest of the treasure. A year later Marcos married Imelda Romualdez and thus was formed the beginning of the conjugal dictatorship. --[cont]-- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End Kris DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! 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