A u t h o r d r a w s on pe r s on a l kn ow l e d ge , pe n s WW II n o ve l
Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Any American airman shot down over the Philippines during World War II, if captured by the Japanese, had little hope of survival. But their odds of making it home alive increased if they were found first by the Filipinos.
One of those stories has come to life in the pages of a new book written by a Bella Vista woman who grew up on one of the Philippine Islands as war raged around her.
"Corridors of Pain," by Cecilia V. Gomez Andersen, is the fictional story of a B-29 crew and their survival after crash-landing in a swamp.
The survivors are taken by members of a guerilla band whose sole mission is to get them all into the safe hands of the U. S. military.
The book goes into great detail on how the rescuers risk their own lives to save those of the Americans, as well as the strong bonds that eventually form between the two.
Andersen, 79, was born in Ilog, Negros Occidental, Philippines. Her father was a school superintendent and her mother was a teacher, which afforded the young girl many advantages of which others could only dream, she said.
Following high school graduation in 1948, she attended Silliman University in Dumaguete City, where she earned her bachelor's degree and a master's degree in English. She then taught English at a number of colleges and universities in the Philippines before coming to America in 1958, after receiving a Fulbright Scholarship to Wayne State University in Detroit.
Following four years in Michigan, Andersen returned to her home, where she worked as an associate professor in English for two years to complete her obligation for the Fulbright Scholarship.
She later returned to the States and finished her graduate work at Wayne State. From there she taught at several colleges and universities, ending up at Pima County Community College in Arizona, where she spent 21 years teaching writing and literature.
She began writing her novel about two years ago.
"It is a story that needs to be told," she said.
Andersen said the writing came easy. She would sometimes sit down at the computer in the afternoon and not stop until sunrise the next day.
"It almost wrote itself."
The hardest part, Andersen said, was finding a publisher. She suffered through three rejections before landing a deal with Eloquent Books in New York City, which she found on the Internet.
She recently received a galley copy and has been going through it looking for typographical errors.
Andersen said about 20 percent of her book is based on her own life. While her characters are fictional, there are some attributes taken directly from family members, she said.
Her husband of four years, Roger, hasn't read the book from cover to cover yet, but he said what he has seen is "unbelievable."
Roger Andersen said he shied away from reading what his wife had put on paper during the writing process, but he admits he would sneak a peak in her absence.
"I told her I am not going to be a critic," he said, explaining why he chose not to read her entire manuscript.
Andersen already has a second book in mind, which will be a continuation of "Corridors of Pain. "She said two of the airmen in the first book fall in love with their Filipino rescuers and return to them some years later.
"Corridors of Pain "will soon be out in both hardback and paperback. Copies will be available at Borders Books, Barnes and Noble and several outlets on the Internet, she said.
If Andersen ever had any doubt as to whether becoming an author was in the cards for her, a recent trip to a Chinese restaurant put that uncertainty out of her mind.
At the end of the meal, she opened her fortune cookie and read these words: You are a lover of words. Someday you should write a book.
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online