Blood on the Rising Sun: The Japanese Occupation of the Philippines

Blood on the Rising Sun, originally published in 1957, recounts the moving story of Adalia Marquez, a reporter living with her family in Manila at the time of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines. Her story starts with the arrival of the first wave of Japanese bombers from Taiwan in December 1941 and continues to the liberation of Manila and the Philippines by the Americans in 1945. The book includes an inside look at members of the underground movement known as “Free Philippines.” Her husband, Antonio M. Bautista, one of the leaders of the guerilla group, did not survive the War. The book also provides accounts of Fort Santiago, which the Japanese used as a prison for captured guerrillas and others who resisted the occupiers. The author knew the grim story of this prison as her husband was held by the Japanese in one of its torture cells. Then, after his escape—one of the very few on record—the author and her two youngest children were imprisoned there as hostages for her husband.

Blood on the Rising Sun also describes life in Manila during its occupation. Filipino patriots, American soldiers, Catholic and Protestant missionaries, Jews, Chinese and Japanese officers and guards play important parts in the story.

Author Adalia Marquez served in the Counter-Intelligence Corps of General Douglas MacArthur. After the war, she travelled to the United States, where she wrote this book. Blood on the Rising Sun remains a classic testament to survival and courage under conditions of extreme hardship.