President Joaquin has mentioned many times what an impossible task it would be for the president of Rotary International to serve effectively without the wonderful work that is done by every international officer and committee man. Because some club presidents may have tried to accept the responsibility of leadership in their clubs without the assistance of the committees that are suggested in the "Mr. Pres- ident" folder, President Joaquin has suggested this thought: "In our local clubs, as in the international organization, we need a full team. to accomplish the goals for 1953-54. It is not just your year as president of your club, or my year as president of Rotary International, but it is our year to each of the 374,000 Rotarians around the world. Surely no club president will for-get to fulfill his basic responsibility to his local team by failing to appoint im- mediately the committees in club service, vocational service, community service, and international service that are necessary to the success of our year." ------------------------------------- to the hospital tunnel of Corregidor where two sections had been prepared. One section of the tunnel was reserved for the ladies. Mrs. Quezon and her daughters, Mrs. Sayre, and other American ladies were placed there. In the other section, the men were assigned-President Quezon, members of his cabinet, Commissioner Sayre, and members of his official entourage. The air within those tunnels was far from healthful; the concrete floor was soon covered with mud which upon drying became dangerous dust. Some kind quarter-master officer, desirous of making the temperature inside of the tunnel a little cooler placed a huge electric fan at one end. While it is true that it helped to make the air circulate, it also served. to scatter the dust and caused everybody to cough. I immediately took steps to correct the mistake by having the floor of the tunnel cleaned and mopped with caroline solution while the President was seated. outside. As it was Christmas Eve, Father Ortiz, a young Jesuit who accompanied the President, said Mass in the tunnel. In his sermon, he said that Christ had come to bring peace on earth and goodwill to men. His words sounded ironic. We were commemorating the birth of Christ while the Japanese were bombarding the various United States Army stations in the Philippines. Towards the middle of January, the President became seriously ill. Un- able to resist the filthy air within the tunnel, I used to spend the nights in a cottage assigned to the President, a little distance from the Malinta. tunnel. On the night of January 22, Major Cruz came to call me with the message that the President was in serious condition. I rushed to the tunnel to find him suffering from a severe attack of spasmodic cough and dyspnea. As soon as he saw me, he extended his hand and in a trembling voice, said, "General, I am dying." I comforted him by assuring him that he would not die. I asked. Doctor Trepp, who was at his bedside, what he had done to relieve the cough and difficult breathing and then I suggested an additional injection. The President fell asleep and began breathing much better. Realizing that poor Doctor Trepp was exhausted, I told him to go to bed and I remained seated next to the bed of the President, At six o'clock in the morning, the President woke up much. better and so I took advantage of his improvement to attend Mass in one of the Army barracks. During the Gospel, a messenger came again to call me as the President had had a second attack of dyspnea. We renewed the injections given during the night and he was again relieved. I then went to see General MacArthur and asked him to help me convince the President that it was imperative that he move to one of the buildings outside of the tunnel. I explained to General MacArthur that un-less this was done, it was impossible to prevent the recurrences of these attacks of difficult breathing. General MacArthur went to see the President and towards noon sent for me. "It is all fixed," he said. "At dusk, an Army ambulance will enter the tunnel to transfer the President to the cottage. assigned to him next to mine." The first night that the President slept in the cottage was un-eventful, The following day, he was very much. improved. He was happy and his morale was high. Unfortunately, however, several nights later, the Japanese started firing their artillery from Cavite and one of the shells dropped just 500 yards be- hind the house of the President. The sound of the detonation had scarcely passed away when the phone rang. It was General MacArthur instructing me to rush the President to the tunnel. When I went to President Quezon's room, I found him already gone. The problem then became more serious. Fortunately, I met a Filipino civilian engineer who had been caught in Corregidor drill- ing artesian wells for the United States Army. I asked him if it would be possible for him to build a platform just behind the kitchen exit of the hospital tunnel and then place a tent large enough to