Photo of Admiral Shimamoto’s flag surrendered in Bessang Pass to author’s father, Maj. Conrado B. Rigor.
By Conrado “Sluggo” Rigor Jr.
(Editor’s Note: This article was submitted as a Letter to the Editor as a feedback to an article by CNN’s Bran Lendon on the infamous Bataan Death March reprinted in the April 7 issue of the Philippine Post.)
I READ with interest the article by CNN’s Brad Lendon and wish to add a few facts to his interesting story about Bataan and the Death March. I am thankful that there are recorders of wartime stories in the Philippines, which many of our fathers had hoped that such a legacy of patriotism, courage and gallantry are enshrined in our history as a freedom-loving people. My father passed away early at 46 but had been active as secretary general of the Veterans Federation of the Philippines (VFP). As a young reservist officer, he had led a battalion in the final battle that ended the Pacific War in the Philippines. I have had numerous opportunities, as an advocate of aging soldiers in Manila and in Seattle, to meet and speak to my father’s comrades-in-arms. They all spoke profoundly about their aspiration to leave a legacy to younger generations. Allow me to narrate briefly.
Filipino veterans of that war have ironically tagged Bataan, Corregidor and the Death March as “ignominious defeats,” a term used by a prominent military officer-turned-political leader. (My family keeps and treasures a clear MP-3 audio recording of a eulogy this leader had delivered in May, 1960). Filipino soldiers of the U.S. Commonwealth Army in WWII have lamented the fact that these infamous wartime events have become more prominently known, creating a sad impression of weakness of the Filipino’s military capability in war. They collectively pray that a serious assessment and true accounting to balance such tales of subjugation be undertaken by today’s historians, critics and journalists.
In the celebrated book written by the USAFEE-North Luzon Commander Col. Russel Volkmann, “We Remained,” he had paid uncommon tribute to the Filipino warrior as “among the world’s finest.” He had focused on the northern Luzon front where 4,800 troops and top Japanese officers led by the feared Tiger of Malaya, General Tomoyuki Yamashita, surrendered together with Vice Admiral Kyoguro Shimamoto who had led the triumphant submarine sneak attack on Pearl Harbor years earlier.
Indeed, shouldn’t it be time for military historians to focus on the glorious triumphs of the Filipino soldier in the Pacific War? And to place Bataan and Corregidor side-by-side with victorious battles like Bessang Pass, the rescue from the Cabanatuan Concentration Camp of 600 American and Canadian POWs by Filipino soldiers, and the Filipino’s brave underground guerilla operations?
Together with some colleagues, we have endeavored over the years, as a charter member of the Sons & Daughters of the Defenders of Bataan & Corregidor, to raise funds for a 2-year professorial chair in University of the Philippines’ Department of History and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. The academic project that we envision will support an academic research and study to respond to the query: “How and What Precisely Was the Role of the Filipino Soldier in Helping Win the Pacific War?”
We believe this is a key issue that has remained unanswered since the end of the war. It is a fact that WWII was fought at the height of racial discrimination in America so that After-Battle Reports in the Philippines, as Filipino military historians have noted, were mostly, if not all, written by U.S. soldiers. To the silent consternation of Filipino officers and men, this reportedly resulted in minimizing the role of Filipino soldiers. It is also an underplayed and hardly-known fact that the highest ranking Japanese officer in the Philippines, General Tomoyuki Yamashita, led 4,800 of his men in a bloody retreat rampaging through Manila, central and northern Luzon. In a three-month last stand, Yamashita was cornered and had surrendered with high-ranking Japanese officers to soldiers of a USAFIP-NL Filipino battalion in a fierce three-month long final battle at Bessang Pass in the rugged Cordillera mountain ranges. It was in this largely unknown, unheralded engagement, war veterans proudly relate, where the last shots in the Pacific War were fired. It was in this battle that gallant Filipino soldiers “wrapped themselves in glory,” as one surviving battalion commander shared.
This battle, in the homeland and even here in the US, has never been afforded enough attention. University of the Philippines historian-educator and WWII specialist of Asian Studies, Prof. Rico Jose, has researched extensively on various stages of the war with emphasis on the roles played by American, Filipino and Japanese forces. He and his late historian-educator wife had traveled several times to Japan to do in-depth research and validation of accounts about the invasion, occupation and eventual surrender of the invaders in the Philippines.
These largely unknown facts about WWII military history are important to us Army Brats because it was our fathers who carried the brunt in defending the country against invaders, a lesson that we feel is vital for patriotism to be sustained.
Thank you again for allowing us to share our sentiments and views about WWII and the forgotten Filipino warriors of freedom.
Conrado (Sluggo) Rigor, Jr.
Seattle, WA.
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