The Kwiecinskis in Corregidor (Photo courtesy of Steve and Marcia Kwiecinski)
MANILA, Philippines - Bumping into American couple Steve and Marcia Kwiecinski is inevitable when touring the island of Corregidor.
The Kwiecinskis moved to the Philippines after retiring from their jobs in Michigan in 2008.
Steve was a computer programmer while Marcia was a physical therapist before they became “amateur researchers” on local war history. By now, the Kwiecinskis know the island by heart—its roads and landmarks and the stories behind them.
“We’re only temporary residents,” Marcia was quick to clarify as there are no official residents at the expansive memorial in honor of Filipino and American soldiers who fought the Japanese in World War II.
She lives with her husband in a solar-powered house at Middle Side where electricity and communication signals (including television) are sparse.
“We are here because Steve’s father was a soldier based in Corregidor before the war broke out,” Marcia said, adding how the late Staff Sgt. Walter Kwiecinski loved and often talked about the tropical paradise, but rarely about the war.
Steve talking about his father at the Corregidor Museum (Photo by Camille Diola)
Steve first visited Correigidor in 2002 after having dreamed about the “mysterious” island, prompted by his father’s recollection of his time in the country as a GI who suffered in the hands of the Japanese as a prisoner of war.
He enthusiastically narrates his father's story every time a small crowd gathers at the Corregidor Museum where two of his photographs can be found: one is a portrait of him as a dapper young soldier and another capturing him standing in front of the heavy mortar. The elder Kwiecinski was the last defender standing at Battery Way before the American and Filipino troops fully surrendered to the Japanese invaders in 1942.
“They chose him to pose for the photograph because he was over six-feet-tall,” Steve said, adding that the Battery Way is the most preserved five-gun area in the island.
Steve and Marcia have spent the past few years following the past life of Sgt. Kwiecinski around Bataan, Corregidor and prison camps during the war, even meeting people who were with him during the battle.
Steve penned these discoveries in a recently released book Honor, Courage, Faith: A Corregidor Story, which US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry K. Thomas, Jr. called “a labor of love.”
“It has been a long haul, the initial chapters of the book having been written when Steve first came to Corregidor ten years ago,” Marcia wrote on their blog entitled “Steve and Marcia on the Rock: A Corregidor Journal.”
Here, Steve and Marcia chronicle their stay in Corregidor, commenting on their discoveries about the Philippines, writing about people they meet (even local basketball leagues they watch), and describing their day-to-day experiences and finds.
In writing and in real life, it’s easy to see how passionate they are about the island's history—perhaps even more than some Filipinos are.
“Young people now just walk around with their iPods and cell phones not knowing about what happened there years before. It’s a pity,” Steve said.
One cannot blame him for this observation. After all, Steve and his wife sold almost everything they had for a simple, even crude, life in a tropical island to dedicate themselves in honoring the legacy of both Filipino and American war heroes.