During the three years interim, from January 1942 when the first servicemen club on Taft Avenue closed down to February 1945 just before the club reopened on Rizal Avenue, the Knight’s main preoccupation had been to help countless civilian war victims in Manila.  Declared an Open City on December 26, 1941 by General MacArthur, the Japanese, in complete disregard of the international law, subjected Manila to merciless bombings, inflicting havoc upon a defenseless people.

Santa Rita Hall, now transformed from a soldier’s center to a civilian refugee center, was again bubbling with activity.    As in earlier days when it was a soldier’s center, Santa Rita Hall was a place where everybody was welcome, where everything was free.  As Father Willmann recalled:

 Santa Rita now became a haven for fire refugees from burn-out sections of Manila, for students and other provincianos unable3 to return to their provinces, and for marooned sailors or survivors of ships lying in the bottom of Manila Bay.  At one time, early in 194`, it was sheltering refugees of ten nationalities, including even a picturesque and hard-headed Mohammedan from Egypt.

Brothers Jose Galan and Fernando Sison, Dr. Turla and family and about four other families made themselves available for service in the center.

Lack of food was the most serious problem encountered in the operation of the refugee center.  Seeking the isolation ofManila, the Japanese ordered a blockade, Father Willmann described its effect in the following words: “It was next to impossible to bring food past the encircling guards.”

Unfazed by the failed project, Father Willmann turned to hag-raising as a substitute resource.  Assuming it as a personal chore, the humble priest tended the hogs, feeding them with water lilies gathered from a nearby muddy canal and slops collected from the kitchen.  For his activities, Father Willmann was ridiculed and made fun by the Japanese which he did not mind.  What mattered to him was the sale of hogs “brought substantial financial return that was sorely needed.”