Stranded in Manila: The Frances Long Story

2023-04-10

21-year-old Frances Long was just passing through Manila when WW2 broke out – stranding her there. She’d arrived just days previous with her fiancée, US Marine Alan Manning. On Sunday, December 7, they said goodbye to each other as he headed for his new military station. It would be the last time they ever saw each other. Because the next day, the world changed. The Japanese attacks deserted Frances in Manila – no ships could leave, she couldn’t contact her family, and she had no access to her money.

21-year-old Frances Long was just passing through Manila when WW2 broke out – stranding her there.

She’d arrived just days previous with her fiancée, US Marine Alan Manning. On Sunday, December 7, they said goodbye to each other as he headed for his new military station.

It would be the last time they ever saw each other.

Because the next day, the world changed.

The Japanese attacks deserted Frances in Manila – no ships could leave, she couldn’t contact her family, and she had no access to her money.

And then, US forces left Manila for Bataan Peninsula.

Leaving Frances alone, in a foreign city, awaiting the Japanese occupation army.

Within days Japanese forces moved Frances and other “enemy alien” civilians to a Manila Concentration Camp.

That was January 1942.

Frances’s pass-through trip had suddenly become a permanent residence…seemingly for the duration of the war.

For pictures, maps, and sources of Frances's story, visit: https://leftbehindpodcast.com/frances-long

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