MikeLigalig.com

By Freddie G. Lazaro
PNA

VIGAN CITY - Hundreds surviving World War II veterans from the provinces of Ilocos, Cordillera and Cagayan Valley regions will commemorate on Monday, June 14, 2010, the 65th anniversary of the victory of Filipino and American soldiers in the epic "Battle of Bessang Pass" in Luna, La Union.

The ceremony will be held in the United States Armed Forces in the Philippines – Northern Luzon (USAFIP-NL) Memorial Monument and Shrine located in Barangay Darigayos, Luna, La Union.

The commemoration include a short program preceded by the floral offering at the veterans’ memorial shrine; a medical and dental outreach program dubbed as Oplan: Pagkalinga; presentation of diorama exhibit showcasing the event leading to the victory in the “Battle of Bessang Pass;” and the launching of a book that chronicles the Filipino and American WW II veterans’ victory in that epic battle.

Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) Region 1 head Maria Juanita Rivera said on Sunday that at least 250 pensioners, most of whom are real-life heroes of the historical Battle of Bessang Pass, are expected to attend the significant event.

Launched in 2005, the Oplan: Pagkalinga will now be on its fifth year and exclusively for the pensioners of PVAO. It will be held from 9 a.m. until 12:00 noon, offering free medical and dental consultations including free Digital Rectal Examination (DRE) and electrocardiogram screening (ECG) for patients.

The medical and dental mission is jointly sponsored by the PVAO Medical and Dental Unit, the La Union Provincial Health Office and the Abbott International drug company.

PVAO Administrator Undersecretary Ernesto G. Carolina, re-elected La Union Governor Manuel C. Ortega and Brigadier General Arnulfo Banez, the USAFIP –NL president are among the national dignitaries expected to grace the significant event.

Rivera said the book that chronicles the victory in the “Battle of Bessang Pass” featured testimonies, achievements and memories of the surviving heroes/veterans who courageously fought and led to the victory at Bessang Pass.

“Some of those heroes/veterans featured in the book are the late Dr. Godofredo S. Reyes, Colonel Gregorio Ufano, among others,” she said.

“The Battle at Bessang Pass was one of the world’s most ferocious battles in the history of war that was predominantly spearheaded by the Filipino soldiers, guerillas and bolomen, with the aid of farmers and haulers,” she said.

Rivera said the USAFIP-NL Memorial Monument and Shrine in Barangay Darigayos, Luna, La Union was the former Camp Spencer that used to be the base hospital of the wounded members of the USAFIP-NL during the battle in Bessang Pass.

In Phillipine history, Bessang Pass, which is a strategic gap at 5,250 feet above sea level traversed by Highway 4 located in the Barangay Malaya, Cervantes, Ilocos Sur - more than 260 kms north of Manila, was the last stronghold of the Japanese imperial forces under Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, known as the “Tiger of Malaya” and conqueror of Singapore.

Bessang Pass served as the backdoor to Yamashita's last ditch defense during the last stage of World War II.

It was part of the Yamashita's triangular defense in the north, namely the Balete Pass, Villaverde Trail and Bessang Pass, guarding the Ifugao-Benguet-Vizcaya borders.

The area is also known as a gateway to the Cordillera Mountains and Baguio City.

Its fall in the hands of the USAFIP-NL on June 14, 1945 paved the way to the entrapment of Yamashita’s forces in the Cordillera until the general’s surrender in Kiangan, Ifugao in September 1945.

The gun battle was then called "Battle of Bessang Pass" where the Filipino soldiers defeated the Japanese troop led by Gen. Yamashita.

There were about 3,400 men who were either killed or wounded in that epic battle for freedom and peace that ended on June 14, 1945.

The USAFIP-NL was composed of five infantry regiments and a field artillery battalion of 20,000 officers who were all Filipinos except for five American officers who included Col. Russell Volckman, its commanding officer.

The troops bore the brunt of the fighting, sustaining over 2,000 casualties, including 600 men killed.

The units of the USAFIP-NL that fought at the battle were the 121st, 15th, 66th and the Provisional infantry regiments. During the three long years of Japanese occupation, almost all of the forces of this command served as guerillas. Most of them also fought in Bataan and Corregidor.

For them, this battle was a payback for all the dishonor they suffered during the surrender of the Philippines and for the atrocities the Japanese implicated on them.

They faced the crack 73rd Tora (Tiger) Division, the 79th brigade and the 357th Battalion led by Lt. General Yoshibaru Osaki. The Japanese forces fortified the hills and the ridges to stop any American offensive on their way to Baguio City and the Cordillera stronghold of Yamashita.

The Japanese forces withdrew from Manila and other areas of Luzon after sacking and destroying Manila with a pogrom of atrocities. The stay-behind-force of Japanese marines and Korean conscripts massacred more than 300,000 residents of south Manila and destroyed the city.

Manila became the most devastated city after Warsaw gaining the moniker “The Warsaw of Asia.”

The initial fighting in the Battle of Bessang Pass started in February 1945 around the town of Cervantes. At the same time, the 121st Infantry was driving out the Japanese in Tagudin, Ilocos Sur on the western lowlands of the Pass; the other guerilla forces were clearing Ilocos Norte, the rest of Ilocos and Abra around the Tangadan area. By March, the harder part of the battle commenced.

After liberating San Fernando, La Union, on March 29, the USAFIP-NL forces started the all-out assault for Bessang Pass. Their advance was steady, gradual and costly. Without air support at first, they attacked persistently armed only with rifles, sub-machine guns and their sheer guts until the first week of April when air and artillery support became available.

On June 14, the units of 121st launched a final assault on Buccual Ridge and planted a symbolic flag made from a dirty green face towel.

The battle was the crowning glory of the battle exploits of the all-Filipino USAFIP-NL forces. The battle lasted for four months of protracted, fierce, relentless blood hand-to-hand combat with suicidal enemy.

After the victorious “Battle of Bessang Pass,” the American officers in the Cordilleras during the siege issued statements with glowing praises for the Filipino soldiers.

General Walter Kruger, then commanding general of the U.S. 6th Army where the USFIP-NL belongs, in his memoir and official report, described the Battle of Bessang Pass as:“ one whose magnitude and decisiveness far surpasses the U.S Army 32nd and 25th Divisions’ battle for the Villaverde Trail and the Balete Pass, respectively.”

Gen. Douglas Macarthur, the U.S. Supreme Commander in the Pacific, also paid tribute to the victors of Bessang Pass: “The work of the Northern Luzon guerillas alone was equal to a front line division”, he then said.

General Russel W. Volkman, USFIP-NL commanding officer, said: “With such courageous spirit as the motivating force behind USFIP-NL, together with the whole-hearted cooperation ad willingness on the part of the officers and men of the USFIP-NL, to undergo sacrifices and hardships, the seemingly insurmountable obstacles through the dark days of the Japanese occupation were overcome. Your devotion to duty, to the cause, to your country, and to the United States of America has been rightly blessed with commendations of highest order.”

After the WW II, the USAFIP-NL was not disbanded as it became the 2nd regular Philippine Army Division. Many of its top officers became army chiefs of staff like Generals Calixto Duque and Eulogio Balao, who later became the secretary of national defense and a senator.

On June 14, 1952, President Elpidio Quirino officially declared the Fall of Bessang Pass as a military holiday to be commemorated in the Philippines.

Quirino declared during the 7th Anniversary of the Battle: “…to win the liberation of Northern Luzon in which the USFIP-NL played a major role, you accomplished extra-ordinary achievement. Your battle for Bessang Pass in eastern Ilocos Sur in 1945 for instance stands out prominently as one of most decisive battles of the Philippine liberation campaign.”

Thus, to honor the Filipino and American veterans living in the United States and in the Philippines who fought in this great battle; we remember the Filipino victory at Bessang Pass.

Meanwhile, the Bessang Pass became a national monument and landmark in Cervantes town as prescribed by the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 1992. It is now managed and developed by the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) under Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). (PNA)

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