Finding Hope

On January 26th, 1942 in Manila, Philippines I was born to Karon and Carlos Diaz. My name is David Topacio but my birth name was David Jose Diaz. My father was in the military and my grandfather was a Supreme Court justice for the Philippines. When I was little I never got to know my real father and grandfather other than names and a few pictures so I had no memory of them. The reason I don't know anything about them is on an awful day during World War II there were groups of Japanese soldiers in town and some raided my house maliciously murdering all the men. My Father, Grandfather and uncles all sprawled out on the floor with pools of blood. I was young I didn't know what was going on but all of the women stood there thinking they were next but they werent. Later I found out that my family members were all killed because they could fight on behalf of the Philippines. Japan was an enemy so they wanted Filipinos killed. Because I was only three the next memory told to me was packing up and moving far from the warzone. My mom, sisters Carlota and Joann and I got ready to leave and find a new home. Our family helped us pack our belongings and we got on the next plane to the United States. We were told that the U.S. was the land of opportunity and we would have no trouble building back from the bottom. Two words that my mom told us that I have lived by for my life is all we are doing is finding hope. We caught a plane to New York and went to South Carolina. My mom met a guy that was

Spanish and Filipino just like my family. His name was Conrad Topacio. He was

a doctor in the United States Army. My mother fell in love with him and then got married. Since were young and he was going to be our new dad he legally adopted us. I always looked up to my stepfather who was really my dad. I was just like every five-year-old boy looking at my daddy and thinking he was a super hero the best in the world. I thought that the army amazing I wanted to do what he did. America brought me many opportunities I probably wouldnt have had. One thing I didn't know was I was going to grow up, be stationed around the world being called Sargent Kernel Topacio, and daddy. All you need to do is find hope.

~I dedicate this story to David Topacio the man I proudly called my grandfather. He passed January 23 in 2009. He was trying to find hope to battle kidney failure but he lost his battle. This story was the story of his life and if he never came to the land of opportunities I don't think I wouldve been able to call him my grandpa~
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