CSU professor’s book on Philippines coming in 2017

The naval officer writes about his first time in battle, about how it was not what he had imagined from pictures, and how men did not behave in ways he thought they would.

He recalls expecting great excitement but not seeing any. The men around him seem to be laboring under an intense strain. They are quiet and in complete control, doing their work efficiently just as they had drilled.

A shell explodes not far from him throwing out flame and smoke. He wonders how many it killed or maimed.

The episode is from a book to be published in 2017 called “Forgotten Under a Tropical Sun: War Stories by American Veterans in the Philippines, 1898-1913.”

The author is Joseph P. McCallus, a professor of English at Columbus State University since 1994, and a noted authority on the Southeastern Asian country. He recently signed a contract with Kent State University Press for the book’s publication.

It will be McCallus’ fourth book about the Philippines, a place where he has a summer home and where he met his wife, Juliet.

Other books by McCallus are: “The MacArthur Highway and Other Relics of American Empire in the Philippines,” “Gentleman Soldier: John Clifford Brown and the Philippine-American War,” and “American Exiles in the Philippines, 1941-1996: A Collected Oral Narrative.”

He is excited about his latest work.

“Anyone with an interest in history, an interest in the military, should find it a good read,” he said.

McCallus, 61, got the idea for the book while working in a library in the country. He came across a journal in which American veterans had written articles. The memoirs were of those men living in a home there called the Pioneers’ Club of Manila in a publication called “The American Oldtimer.”

Finding the memoirs fascinating, McCallus did further research and added to the collection.

“It is not just the stories the soldiers tell, but the way they tell them,” he said.

Especially, the way they describe being in combat and how they describe the enemy.

“They were all proud of their service,” he said.

And, they felt they were doing what was best for the people living in the Philippines.

While the stories tell much, McCallus warns memoirs do not always the whole truth. He said there are inaccuracies because a writer is depending on his memory. In some cases, many years have passed.

The older the memoir, he remarked, the more self reflection. Those written within 10 years of an event tend to read more like a report.

He said one thing about a war memoir is the writer considers the work authoritative.

“I was there and you were not. I am telling you the truth. That’s what they all say,” McCallus said.

McCallus is a native of West Hazelton, Pa. He has an undergraduate degree from Penn State University and two graduate degrees from Catholic University of America. He first visited the Philippines in 1986 for work on his doctoral dissertation on propaganda during the regime of Ferdinand Marcos.

McCallus loves the hot weather there and finds the people friendly.

“There is a lot of history there, a fort from the 1600s,” he said.

But there is also the new, such as Starbucks.

The country was ruled by Spain for 400 years and was a colony of the United States for 40. He said both Spanish and American influences may be found there. English is the main language used in the schools and in newspapers. Christianity is the primary religion.

He said there are many places named MacArthur honoring the U.S. general who liberated the Philippines from the Japanese in World War II.

The author’s primary interest is in the American influence on the country through the years.

In his second book, McCallus retraced the route of MacArthur as he led the liberation and uses the past and present to explores America’s influence.

He said many Americans in the early 20th Century saw themselves as pioneers such as Kit Carson and Daniel Boone with the Philippines as a new frontier now that the wild west in the U.S. had been settled.

In his book about John Clifford Brown, McCallus explored the U.S. annexation of the Philippines and the development of the country as an American colony.

“I hope this new book will not only please lovers of history, “ McCallus said, “ but that it will be used in college classrooms, as well.”

This story was originally published March 14, 2016 at 5:43 PM with the headline "CSU professor’s book on Philippines coming in 2017."