Death and resurrection on Hill 600

WHEN life returns to earth, it seems a noble and fitting idea to

coax life back from the very soil that buries it. Simply put, we

can plant trees to remember our dead any day of the year, but

especially on Nov. 1.

Antique collector-restaurateur

Romy E. Bauzon did just that five

years ago. When he acquired Hill

600 in Pozorrubio, Pangasinan--a

battleground named after the same

number of American soldiers killed

in a skirmish during the Japanese

Occupation--he planted mahogany

trees as a memorial to their heroism.

In fact, he planted 10 trees for each

of these 600 heroes for a whopping

total of 6,000 trees.

From mere saplings, the mahogany trees have grown at least 30

meters high now, turning lush green what used to be, after the

war, a predominantly brown-colored rugged terrain. Slender but

definitely sturdy, the mahogany trees dance with the wind;

otherwise, they stand still like sentinels guarding their

sanctuary that one day in January 1945 was successfully

defended by American soldiers, 600 of whom fell in the gallant

effort to liberate Luzon from the Japanese.

Now renamed Guernica Hill 600 after the two restaurants the

Bauzons are operating in Ermita and Malate, the hill is fast

shaping up as a sanctuary for birds and insects as well--and,

very possibly, as a new tourist draw in the town of Pozorrubio.

To the mahogany trees, Bauzon has since added fruit trees and

a wide variety of flowering plants, notably bougainvillea,

banana blossoms and all kinds of Birds of Paradise. As the trees

grow and the blooms multiply, so do the birds and insects that

find home in the ever-thickening foliage.

Natural park

The hill is quietly transforming into a natural park, its splendor

and beauty revolving around its thousands upon thousands of

young and well-protected trees. So great has been its

transformation that one of the surviving American soldiers, Jay

Gruenfeld, then 72, on a 1995 pilgrimage to Lingayen, where the

43rd Infantry Division of which he was a squad leader landed on

Jan. 9, 1945, could not believe what he saw when he revisited

Hill 600. The greenery unfolding before him was a far cry from

his recollection of the place as a generally rugged terrain.

Bauzon himself, resting atop his property at the time, couldn't

believe his eyes upon catching the sight of an elderly Caucasian

in khaki walking shorts and bearing a backpack, trekking up the

hill, using a twig as a cane one clear morning in January 1995.

''What is a foreigner doing here? What does he want?'' Bauzon

recalls asking himself.

Upon contact, the two shook hands while exchanging polite

hellos. Gruenfeld promptly explained his presence. He told

Bauzon he was revisiting the site of a soldier's memorable battle

''to complete my reflections on a life defined by the horrors of

war and fulfilled by events that were to follow.'' Thereupon, the

American gave Bauzon a firsthand account of the historical

value of the hill. It turned out that Gruenfeld, who became a

full-time forester after the war, was gathering material for his

autobiography.

Place of pride

Understandably, Hill 600 occupies a place of pride in Gruenfeld's

book (''Purple Hearts and Ancient Trees'') which rolled off the

presses two years later in 1997. As he had promised Bauzon, he

sent the Filipino an autographed copy of his book which

mentions the latter's name in the acknowledgment page.

Gruenfeld wrote: ''In the Philippines, thanks to those civilian

thousands who, during World War II, often risked their lives to

provide information that reduced our casualties... More recently,

thanks to those who were especially helpful in 1995 when I

returned to Luzon for the 50th anniversary of the beachhead

and to rewalk some of our battles... Romeo Bauzon of Manila

who now owns part of Hill 600... a bloody bit of 43rd Division

history.''

Bauzon has still grander plans to develop Guernica Hill 600 into

a natural recreation park. ''Whenever Gruenfeld feels like coming

over again, the hill will always welcome him. It is as much his as

mine, a greening testament to the courage of American soldiers

and Filipino civilians on a mission then to liberate Luzon. I

planted all these trees in the hill in their memory.''