THE WAR YEARS (MANILA MASSACRE OF 1945): THE NEAR-DEATH AND HORRIFIC EXPERIENCE OF CORAZON NOBLE

Corazon Noble, a popular pre-war movie star almost got killed during the so-called "Manila Massacre" in 1945. She was mortally wounded, stabbed nine times with a bayonet from a Japanese marine. Her ten-month old baby brutally killed with three stab wounds. Here's her story---
At 10 o’clock in the morning of February 10, 1945, a Saturday, Corazon Noble, 26, Patrocino Abad in real life, arrived at the Red Cross headquarters on Isaac Peral street (now UN Avenue) in Ermita from her Makati residence. She had with her, her 10-month old baby girl, her two brothers and several cousins. At about 5 o’clock in the afternoon, Japanese marines with fixed bayonets approached the main entrance of the building. They were bent on killing everyone--- men, women, children, infants--- in their line of sight. Finding it locked, one of them fired through the wooden panel. A small girl who happened to be right behind the door inside fell, mortally wounded. The Japanese outside continued firing until the lock gave way.

When the Japanese crashed through the door, Noble was in the foyer by the main entrance, her baby in her arms. She stood rooted to the floor and watched in horror as a Japanese marine came in and aimed his rifle at her. She crept behind a nearby medicine cabinet, clutching her baby to her bosom. The medicine cabinet hid her body, but her right elbow stuck out. The Japanese fired, shattering Noble’s elbow. Leaning against the cabinet, she slid slowly to the floor.

The Japanese walked over to Noble, stabbed her nine times with the bayonet. She was hit in the chest, in the abdomen, in the back, a rib was shattered, her legs were slashed, and her arms were pierced. She tried to parry the thrusts, twisting here and there, screaming fearfully. She did not notice that her baby, stabbed three times, was dead in her arms.

Romano Abad, Noble’s brother, was in the backyard of the building when the shooting started. He clambered over the wall into a nearby property. Noble roused herself and crawled out into the backyard. Her brother saw her over the wall and came down to pick her up.
(Source: “Sword and Fire: The Destruction of Manila in World War II” by Alfonso Aluit)

Red Cross building circa 1945
(photo credit: John Tewell)

On November 12, 1945 in a powder blue ballroom of the partly ruined Manila residence once occupied by a US high commissioner, Major General R.B. Reynolds of the American Military Commission sat as the presiding judge to the trial of General Tomoyuki Yamashita --the so-called "Tiger of Malaya."

The first witness was a pretty, 26-year-old Filipina. In her testimony, she recalled that on February of 1945, in what was infamously known as the "Manila Massacre," she had taken refuge with her ten-month-old baby in a Red Cross Emergency Hospital.

At the confines of the hospice, four Japanese sailors had trapped her. One raised his rifle, fired, and wounded her in the elbow. Then, they bayoneted her.

"I was stabbed nine times," she said. "The baby was stabbed three times. When they were gone, I walked out the back door and gave her to my brother. I couldn't stand it any more."

"What happened to your infant child?" asked one of the five US generals in the commission. "She died," was all she said. Forty-two days later, on February 23, 1946 in Los Banos Prison Camp, Yamashita was hanged for his war crimes.

The valiant mother, who sought justice for the death of her child and some 50,000 Filipinos in the 30-day battle for Manila, was Corazon Noble, pre-war movie queen.

Corazon was Patrocinio Decano Abad in real life -- wife to actor Angel Esmeralda, elder sister to former actress Carmencita Abad, and mother to the late actor and heartthrob Jay Ilagan. She was a native of Gapan, Nueva Ecija. (by Gypsy Baldovino)