Oldest grad of oldest university

Dr. Jose Javier

MANILA, Philippines—Every day, little Ponse Fortun would visit his grandfather, Dr. Jose Javier, and give the retired soldier a salute. The 4-year-old, Javier’s grandnephew, would not leave until the old man saluted back.

Ponse has been in awe of his grandfather since he learned that Javier had been a captain in the military. To the boy, being a captain meant being a superhero, just like Captain America.

But Javier, who turned 104 last Feb. 19, has another distinction: He is the second oldest living World War II veteran, according to the records of the Philippine Veterans Office Affairs.

The oldest is Javier’s brother Fernando, or “Tata,” who, at 106, is the oldest living alumnus of the University of the Philippines where he completed an engineering course.

Jose Javier, or “Peping,” is the oldest alumnus of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) where he earned a degree in medicine.

The Javier brothers were both invited to an event over the weekend that would lead up to Wednesday’s celebration of Araw ng Kagitingan. But the hot weather proved too punishing for the younger Javier, while his older brother was in a hospital in Baguio after a bout with pneumonia.

Poor hearing

But the younger Javier was strong enough for this interview, with daughter Lulu Brillantes and wife Filomena repeating questions that the old man could not catch because of poor hearing.

The old man remembered many details of the war, having written about it in his memoirs, “A Century’s Journey,” which he began writing on his 81st birthday and completed the day he turned 83. His wife and children published a limited number of copies that they gave to relatives and friends.

Joining the military was never part of his plan, Javier said. He had wanted to become a doctor since high school at a time when the choice of professions was limited to medicine, law, engineering, dentistry and education.

The younger Javier is the seventh of 10 children born to Trinidad and husband Irineo, a lawyer elected to the First Philippine Assembly who represented the first district of Ilocos Norte for two terms.

As war clouds gathered in Europe, Javier joined the military and trained for six weeks at Camp Murphy (now Camp Aguinaldo). On Sept. 1, 1941, he was inducted to the US Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) under Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Three months later, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in Honolulu and Clark Air Force Base.

Cruel

“War is cruel,” recalled the executive officer of the 21st Medical Battalion of the 21st Infantry Division in Bataan province during the bloodiest battles in the war zone.

Asked if he was prepared to die, Javier said: “Oh yes … [W]hile my companions played poker, I spent the time praying.”

When Bataan fell on April 9, 1942, Javier said the surrender was something he just had to accept. He was among the thousands of Filipino soldiers and American troops forced into the Death March from Bataan to Tarlac province.

“God protected me from danger,” he said of the ordeal, adding that he also prayed fervently for his mother and three sisters, who were all unmarried.

Painful sight

It was only when he reached Camp O’Donnell in Tarlac, which had been turned into a concentration camp, that he saw his older sibling, Fernando. The two brothers did not know that they had both been drafted in the war because they had lived in different provinces to pursue their respective careers.

Did he hug his brother when they saw each other at the camp? “No,” he said.

What did they tell each other? “Nothing,” Javier said, chuckling.

But it was a different story when he finally saw his mother. “I embraced her tightly and cried in her arms.” He also recalled the painful sight of his sisters standing among the hundreds of relatives of other prisoners of war. “My sisters were looking for me and my brother,” Javier said softly.

At the camp, Javier was recruited as a helper by the Japanese and was tasked to do household chores, from carrying heavy load to cooking.

“We feel proud fighting for our country, but we also feel sad. The Japanese burned our house and my brother was killed,” Javier said of his eldest brother, Florentino, a lawyer, who was executed by what he described as “pseudo-guerillas,” in 1944.

Secret to long life

Javier was 41 when he married Filomena in 1951. She was only 23 and was studying fine arts at UST.

“Want another secret to a long life? Marry late!” Javier laughed.

With the war over, Javier applied for a scholarship to higher studies in the US, only to be told that he’d have to wait a year before he could fly to the University of Pennsylvania.

While waiting, he was offered a job in Okinawa, Japan, by an American doctor he had befriended during the war. His plan to stay a year in Okinawa stretched to 38 years. It was in Japan where eight of his nine children were born. The Javier children only returned to the Philippines for their college studies.

Honesty is best policy

Javier said he availed himself of the US citizenship offered to war veterans so he could petition his children. The Javier couple returned to the Philippines in 1986 to enjoy their retirement.

Filomena said her husband drove a car until he was 98, and would have insisted on driving to this day had he not lost his driver’s license.

Still sharp of mind, Javier remains updated on current events. Asked what advice he’d give young Filipinos celebrating heroes on this day, he said: “Don’t emulate those involved in the pork barrel scam.”

He added: “When we were young, we had a poster in our classroom that said, ‘Honesty is the best policy.’ Children now are not taught to be honest.”

Asked if what he did during the war was a heroic act, Javier replied: “Of course, what else can it be?”