{"id":3339,"date":"2014-08-03T02:57:37","date_gmt":"2014-08-03T02:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/?p=3339"},"modified":"2014-08-03T02:57:37","modified_gmt":"2014-08-03T02:57:37","slug":"bataan-death-march-survivor-passes-at-age-94","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/?p=3339","title":{"rendered":"Bataan Death March Survivor passes at age 94"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is with great sadness that the Gaerlan Family announces that our beloved father and hero, Luis Gaerlan, Jr.<\/strong> passed away on Thursday, July 31, 2014 at 12:39AM at the age of 94 (born December 29, 1919).<\/p>\n

He was hospitalized at UCSF on June 30 for urinary tract infection and aspiration pneumonia which later developed into sepsis.<\/p>\n

On Day 1, the doctors wrote him off and they told us to expect him to pass away within the day (they actually estimated him to last for only 2 hours).\u00a0\u00a0 But true to form, Dad proved them wrong and lasted the first day.\u00a0The first week was touch and go and we gathered together a few times to expect his last breath.\u00a0Every time the doctors said that he was dying, he would surprise them by waking up and responding to them.<\/p>\n

Like the true Bataan death march survivor he was, \u00a0he was able to beat the sepsis after the first week (the doctors thought it was miraculous) and his first word to me was \u201cbuhay pa\u201d (still alive).\u00a0But his blood pressure became highly elevated (he was not given his BP medications for a week).\u00a0Despite the unstable blood pressure and the fact that he could not ingest anything yet (he was unconscious most of the time), UCSF discharged him on July 17.\u00a0He was under the VA and hospice care at home.\u00a0 He showed some signs of improvement\u00a0 and managed to ingest some nutrition but a week before he passed away he decided to exit this world his way by refusing to swallow anything.\u00a0 He managed to hold on to celebrate his and Mom\u2019s \u00a069th<\/sup> wedding anniversary on July 29.\u00a0 He passed away peacefully at home in San Francisco on July 31 surrounded by his wife and children.<\/p>\n

He was my inspiration for founding the Bataan Legacy Historical Society.\u00a0 He was in the 41st<\/sup> Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army Forces of the Far East (USAFFE) during WWII and survived the Bataan Death March and his incarceration at Camp O\u2019Donnell in Capas, Tarlac.\u00a0 When I was growing up in the Philippines, he used to tell us stories about the war, albeit in his usual comedic fashion.\u00a0I never realized the hardship and sacrifices that he endured until about two years ago when I read about his regiment\u2019s experience on Mt. Samat in a training officer\u2019s course from the Army War College.\u00a0 His passing away only increases my desire to let the world know of this seminal point in history.<\/p>\n

I learned many things from him as I was growing up foremost of which was his integrity.\u00a0 He worked for Bank of America in Manila for many years and was one of the bank\u2019s original employees (starting in the late 1940\u2019s).\u00a0 \u00a0In my eyes, he was fearless and from him I learned to stand up to any one regardless of race, creed or wealth.\u00a0 Despite his diminutive stature (5 ft. 4 in), he stood his ground to the much taller American officers in the bank \u00a0and for that, he was greatly respected by the bank employees.\u00a0 To this day, former employees of the bank still tell me how much they love and respect him.<\/p>\n

When he was a young man, he used to do \u201charanas\u201d (serenades) in Imus, Cavite, often playing the violin.\u00a0He was such a charmer but he remained officially married to Mom for 69 years and unofficially almost 70 years as they actually had a secret wedding on August 12, 1944.<\/p>\n

Dad was always the life of the party.\u00a0 He was full of hutzpah and his sense of humor was sharp, witty and infectious!\u00a0 \u00a0I remember his birthday parties filled with great food, laughter and libation (best whisky in town) with people dancing the night away.\u00a0 John Travolta could not hold a candle to him as Dad used to dance the floor away (sometimes while holding a glass of scotch whisky, preferably Chivas Regal Royal Salute).<\/p>\n

He was quite independent and healthy and took care of my mother who was diagnosed with Alzheimer\u2019s about ten years ago.\u00a0 But in December of 2008, he suffered a nasty fall which resulted in a traumatic brain injury, dramatically altering his physical and mental state.\u00a0 But his wit and sense of humor remained with him until the very last.\u00a0 The last six years had been full of joy, love and laughter as I learned to know him better.<\/p>\n

Although he was sometimes called a ladies\u2019 man, my Mom was the true love of his life.\u00a0 I saw how their love grew deeper during the last six years, despite their infirmities.\u00a0 As part of their regular activity, I used to make them sing their favorite \u201ckundimans\u201d (love songs).\u00a0 When Mom could no longer follow the lyrics, Dad used to sing solo to her.\u00a0 His biggest worry even until his last day was my Mother.\u00a0 But my siblings and I managed to assure him that we shall take care of her, just as he wished it.<\/p>\n

I remember the look he gave me the day before he was hospitalized, a loving gaze as if he were trying to memorize my face.\u00a0 I shall miss him terribly.\u00a0 He will always be my inspiration.\u00a0 He will always be my poster boy for the Bataan Legacy. \u2014 (Cecilia Gaerlan Shuttleworth)<\/strong><\/p>\n

(Editor’s note: Mr. Luis Gaerlan, Jr. was a senior executive of Bank of America Manila Branch. He was also the person who hired Dino Crescini at Bank of America who later became the Head of Private Banking Group with responsibilities over credit card activities in the Asia Pacific Region.)<\/em>
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It is with great sadness that the Gaerlan Family announces that our beloved father and hero, Luis Gaerlan, Jr. passed away on Thursday, July 31, 2014 at 12:39AM at the age of 94 (born December 29, 1919).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,50],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3339"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3339\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.philippinesentinel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}