Fausta Gomez

Born in Arayat, the Philippines, Drafted year: 1943, 12y/o, for a month

The villagers did not like me

because they knew I had been raped.

I married a man from another village.

My father passed away early, and I was working as usual to help my mother sell banana leaves at the market. In the afternoon, Japanese soldiers came and forced me into a truck. There were three women and many Japanese soldiers.

I was taken to Arayat Central School, which was being used as a military base. Each of the women was confined to a different room. I couldn't see them, but I could hear them crying.

In the evening, 2 Japanese soldiers came in and started beating and undressing me. I cried and resisted to stop. It was painful.

The soldiers didn’t come the next day. Later, the soldier who raped me came every night, but did not abuse me. During the month or two while I was kept in the base, I constantly protested to send me back home. He may have felt sympathetic that he told me to go home.

When I returned home, the house had been burnt down and my mother was sick in bed with a fever at my neighbor's home. I was in shock for a few months. The villagers did not like me because they knew I had been raped. I married a man from another village.

I want the Japanese soldiers would repent for the cruel acts they did to me. I want justice to be recovered before I die. And I want an official compensation.

* During our conversation, an old man was watching us from behind. I asked later who he was, and I was surprised to hear that he was her husband. I was impressed how her family shared and relieved her pain.