Steven Foster travelled to his Father's battleground of Negros, where he was able to take these THEN and NOW comparison shots in Dumaguete.

The Park Theater
Dumaguete

After leaving Corregidor 2003,  I flew to Negros to see the terrain the 503d PRCT operated in there and to find some sites shown in the Frank Foster collection.  I was on Negros from January 18 - 22, 2003.   My hotel clerks (pic) knew of the four structures I was looking for in Dumageutte, pictures 30, 31, 32, and 33.  The latter three still stand, remarkably all with the same function as in 1945.    picture 32 , and picture 33 Silliman University.  The building in picture 30 has been replaced with a commercial facility of similar design. 

Negros Oriental government building,

I next took a bus trip around Negros to see the terrain and find the surrender site near Fabrica that is extensively documented in the photo collection.  I first traveled from Dumaguette to Bocolod which required crossing the mountains.  I think little has changed in the mountains since 1945.  At Bocolod I transferred to another bus to get to Fabrica.

Silliman University

After arriving in Fabrica I showed picture 66 of the Insular Lumbar Company mill to a few people in stores to get a lead on how to get there.  Each time I displayed the picture I drew quite a crowd.  After about ten minutes I was directed to a tricycle which would take me near the site, about one mile north of town.  After dismounting the tricycle I again started showing my pictures around.  A young girl with excellent English volunteered to take me to a village elder, who knew exactly where the site was.  After he gave the young girl directions it took only a few minutes to get to the site by tricycle and foot.

She first took me to the spot where a boat can be seen under construction in the foreground of picture 66.  The boat visible in my photo (link) sits on the same place as the boat in picture 66.  She then took me up the hill to a sugar cane field where concrete from the lumber mill is still scattered about.  Many concrete footings for the columns are still in place and the farmers simply plow around them.  I asked some people to stand on a few of the footings for a picture (link).  I considered trying to recreate the birdseye view of picture 66, but that area is now heavy jungle.  It would have been a difficult hike through dense vegetation, with uncertain results.