Same days, different eyewitness: Dec. 8, 1941 as diarists recorded it

Ramon A. Alcaraz at the time, was the skipper of Q-112, one of the Q-Boats of the fledgling Philippine Navy.

Felipe Buencamino III, friend of Teodoro M . Locsin and colleague in the prewar Philippines Free Press, was a young 2nd Lieutenant assigned to the staff of Gen. Simeon de Jesus.

Teodoro M. Locsin was a young staff member of the Philippines Free Press.

Fr. Juan Labrador O.P. was a Spanish Dominican.

Gen. Basilio J. Valdes was chief of staff of the Philippine Army and then concurrently Secretary of National Defense in the War Cabinet.

Two diary entries: from the top and middle of the military chain of command, Gen. Valdes and Ramon Alcaraz.

Again, two views from the active service: Gen. Valdes and Alcaraz.

A civilian and a military man’s diary entries: Locsin’s reflections, and Alacaraz on the tedium of war.

Three views of the same day: Gen. Valdes on the workings of the War Cabinet; Alcaraz recounts scuttlebutt among officers; that evening, Locsin reflects on his day and the isolation war brings.

Three views: Gen. Valdes on preparing to evacuate Manila; Locsin reflects on what war reveals about the “useful” life; his contemporary, Buencamino, writes in his diary from the front lines.

A truly rich comparison of voices and views: three men in active service and two civilians. All recount the day from the perspective of a major air raid on the city. Valdes on the last hours of the Commonwealth government in Manila; Alcaraz, as a Q-Boat skipper patrolling Manila bay and escorting the government evacuation; Locsin recounts the air raid; Fr. Labrador on the little the public knows; and Buencamino ends the day recounting the chaos surrounding troops withdrawing from Manila.

Christmas, 1941. Tedium for both Gen. Valdes in Corregidor, and Locsin in Manila.