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June 1, 2004 I received the following e-mail from the great-nephew of Raymond Leyerle, Lou Gopal. My uncle, Raymond Leyerle, was born on July 12,1881. He was actually my great-uncle as he was married to Adelaida, my grandmother's sister - she was of the family of Zaragoza.  Adelaida and Raymond Leyerle This picture was taken in 1942 when Raymond was issued a temporary leave away from Santo Tomas for about 3 months. This was arranged by a neighbor who was a Japanese businessman and had some connections with the Japanese military.  Elvira (nicknamed "Butch") and her sister Rosario (nicknamed "Charito") with their father, Raymond Leyerle. The dog's name was ... "Spot" - it was a mongrel, part fox-terrier but was part of the family for many years. They were Spaniards who had settled in the Philippines three generations back. Raymond was retired from the Marines after the Spanish American war and settled in Manila and got married. He became Manila's Police Chief prior to the Philippines becoming a Commonwealth. At that time, they started moving Filipinos into larger roles of responsibility and he lost his job. He then went to work at the Cavite Naval Yards as a civilian working for the U.S. Navy. When war broke and the Japs required every U.S. citizen to register, he declared his loyalty to America even though his family said they would hide him. When he went to Santo Tomas, his family wanted to be interned with him but the Japanese said no....just him. His wife, Adelaida and two daughters, Rosario and Elvira (who now are living in the Bay Area) were able to visit and bring him food from Jan 42 to spring of 1944 when things started going very bad for the internees. After that he would somehow pass word out to his family that he would be at a certain window at a certain time and he and his family could only wave to each other. They never saw him until Liberation. He was lying in a hospital bed when his two daughters came looking. They actually passed right by him but didn't recognize him because he had lost so much weight. He was over two hundred pounds when he went in - he had lost 90lbs. and died of malnutrition on February 12th, 1945. He is listed in Fred Steven's book. I've attached a couple of pictures. Thanks for doing this. I appreciate it ! Lou - (Lou Gopal lougopal@hotmail.com)  Thanks! |