[0:07]The following documentary was produced by the Department of National Defense in cooperation with our sponsors and in line with its mandate to promote the welfare and to preserve the legacy of Filipino War Veterans. It tells the story of thousands of heroic young men who brave incredible odds in Bataan and Corregidor to defend their motherland. It brings us to a proud moment in our history when Filipinos from all walks of life closed ranks in the spirit of sacrifice and patriotism to fight a common enemy. May their story inspire us all.
[0:56]In 1941, just before World War II became a traumatic reality on our soil. Young Filipinos were having the time of their lives. After all, the Philippines then was a colony of the mighty United States of America. And it seemed like there was nothing to worry about. Little did these young Filipinos know that they would soon be called to defend their country. Virtually overnight, they would change from carefree boys to full-grown men the size of heroes. I'm Joel Torre. Join me in the next hour as we listen to their story. The story of the defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, and the legacy they left, you and me. Their story recounts a fight against hopeless odds, a saga of courage, of sacrifice, of duty to country.
[2:14]I'm a Filipino. Our enemy came. Naturally, we had to defend our nation. With or without the American help, we would have done it anyway.
[2:29]Somehow, we didn't quite realize how a war would be. Personally, I thought it was a picnic.
[2:46]We were faced with an enemy that was determined to eradicate you. They underestimated the Japanese and we paid the price for that.
[3:03]We felt that we will die. We had no idea that we were going to get no reinforcements.
[3:16]If we did not receive any order, we would not have surrendered. We were going to fight till the end like the Alamo.
[3:33]Why were we doing it? Who for? What for? The Filipinos did most of the fighting and most of the dying. If you truly love your country, you will surely remember.
[4:30]1941 marked the end of a nostalgic period called peacetime. After five years of the Philippine Commonwealth under American tutelage. Life in the islands rolled along blissfully with institutions, infrastructure and industry staking root. And the promise of independence just five years away, the atmosphere seemed full of gaiety and hope.
[5:27]They were the best years of my life, I would say. In UP, there were a lot beautiful girls.
[5:36]I was helping my parents vend food for breakfast. At Arellano High School, tuition was four pesos a year. The government is very efficient. There is no graft and corruption. I used to go with my grandmother to hear mass in Intramuros in the morning, and I used to stay for a while to watch these soldiers in the 31st Infantry...drilling. They call them the "thirsty" first (Infantry) because if they did anything, they drink a lot of beer and Ginebra gin, and a whole bit. One of the reasons why so many people wanted to be assigned to the Philippines is because it was considered good living for a soldier. And remained that way until spring of 1941, but began to heat up when we knew that this was no longer a pleasure cruise and there's something very serious. But elsewhere in the world, war clouds gathered as the European colonial powers and the United States braced to stem the march of fascism across their territories.
[6:56]After the US opposed Japan's invasion of China, it became clear that the two military powers were on a collision course. At some point, the Japanese would consider hitting US bases around the world, making the Philippines an obvious target. Despite the danger, many believed that Japan would not dare challenge the might of the United States. The myth of American invincibility gave Filipinos a false sense of security. Yes, we knew that war was coming, but we were so sure that it would only last for a couple of days. Principally due to the propaganda by the Americans through their movies.
[7:44]What can Japan do against Americans? That was the thing that we were thinking of. Nevertheless, the Philippine Commonwealth prepared its own defense plans, under the direction of its military adviser, General Douglas MacArthur. Young men were periodically called for training. In college there was the ROTC. But with scarce and obsolete weaponry, these drills were more like a right of passage in a venue for benign interschool competition. During maneuvers, we used firecrackers to simulate firing, and for artillery, we used the bamboo cannon.
[8:40]In July 1941, Japan took over Southern French Indochina. The US responded sharply, freezing Japanese assets and embargoing all oil to Japan. General MacArthur was placed in command of the USAFFE, the US Army Forces in the Far East. Reserve officers and men were called to duty and last-minute training commenced, even as equipment and weapons awaited shipment to the Philippines. It was, you might say, the fad at the time: to be seen, to be counted.
[9:23]On December 8, 1941, Philippine time, Japan launched a surprise attack on the big US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor. Within six hours, Japanese bombs hit Baguio and Davao without warning. The US and the Philippines have been dragged into the World War. Immediately after the mass, we were issued steel helmets and real war gear. The Cadet Corps cheered because to us we thought, no more academics, no more school. The Cadet Officers of the Cadet Corps were assigned to the 1st Regular Division and most of us were assigned as Commanding Officers of frontline Infantry Companies. Thousands of volunteers from all walks of life, many without any military training, rushed to enlist to defend their motherland. Some had to be sent home for lack of weapons. We felt then that it is a duty to do for the country. I told myself, I was very young then, "Oh! This is a good experience." As volunteers filled the recruiting stations, those already in uniform built defensive positions in selected beaches where the Japanese might land. There, MacArthur planned to stop the enemy. The beaches would be the front lines. From the first day of the war, the Phil-American defenders were at a disadvantage. Most of the planes of the USAFFE had been demolished by a surprise attack on Clark and Iba fields. Buildings on Fort Stotsenberg were blown up. It was awful and then about 10 minutes later came the Japanese zeroes strafing, firing and bombing. It was a catastrophe! Two days after the first wave of attack, Japanese planes destroyed the US Navy Base at Cavite. Filipino and American pilots, flying outmoded aircraft, heroically tried to challenge the swift and lethal Japanese air force. Among the most courageous was Captain Jesus Villamor, whose daring exploits earned him a distinguished Service Cross. With the Japanese in control of the air and sea, the defense of the Philippines would fall on the shoulders of ordinary foot soldiers, many of whom had no idea of what war was really like. We were singing the "Hail, Ateneo, Hail! On to the Fray" as if we were going to a basketball game. Many do not even have arms. In the beginning, they didn't have uniforms, many didn't have anything but tennis shoes. We have at that time, this Enfield rifle, the model 1917. Battle tested and armed with more efficient weapons, the Japanese landed in Aparri, Vigan, and Legaspi to seize airfields before arriving en masse in Lingayen Gulf on December 22. Few of these landings were seriously challenged because MacArthur initially thought that they were purely diversionary. They had anti-tank guns. They had flame-throwers. They had big artillery pieces. They had thousands of foot soldiers and we were not expecting that. But after the Japanese had established beachheads and began pushing inland, MacArthur was forced to implement War Plan Orange, an old defensive plan which he had previously discarded. This called for the withdrawal of all USAFFE troops in Luzon to the thickly forested Bataan Peninsula. There, together with the heavily fortified Island of Corregidor, they could deny any enemy the use of Manila and its strategic harbor. Entrenched in their positions, USAFFE troops were simply expected to hold out until reinforcements arrived. One of the things that Gen. MacArthur never planned for, he planned for the troops; he planned for Filipinos and Filipino Scouts, Philippine Army and the American Forces to come to Bataan, but, he did not figure that there would be almost 40,000 civilians that were going to come in to Bataan seeking security. He left enormous quantities of food, ammunition and medicines up north.
[14:30]To prevent further civilian casualties and damage to property, Manila was declared an open city and cleared of military personnel.
[14:43]President Manuel Quezon and his family, together with select members of his cabinet, were evacuated to Corregidor. By New Year's Day 1942, all USAFFE forces in Luzon were entering Bataan. Confident that it would only be a matter of time before reinforcements would come. But the question was, how long could the defenders of Bataan and Corregidor hold out? On January 2, 1942, the Japanese occupied Manila. General Masaharu Homma, commander of the Japanese 14th Army had been given 50 days to conquer the Philippines. But Homma knew that as long as the USAFFE Forces continued to hold Bataan and Corregidor, he could not accomplish his mission. To buy time for an active defense on Bataan, the USAFFE set up delaying lines on the main road leading to the Peninsula. The units manning these lines were tasked to stall the Japanese advance. And they did, in heroic fashion. We had a Major Donovan, and he found a way to get rid of them. He circled the sugar cane field and set it on fire. And Japanese came out of there in a hurry. And it was sort of a duck shoot at that point in time. Despite being tired from combat and a long withdrawal, the 21st Division in Porac and the 71st Division in Layac, supported by Philippine Scout artillery batteries, slowed down the enemy war machine.
[17:19]For this exceptional act of heroism, Sergeant Calugas was awarded the US Congressional Medal of Honor, the only Filipino to win this award in World War II. After a long withdrawal to Bataan, the defenders now felt it was time to stand fast and face the enemy squarely. If this line were to be broken, the defense of Bataan would collapse. The first main line of defense in Bataan stretched from Mauban in the West to Abucay in the East. The Western section was defended by the first corps, while the Eastern section was guarded by the second corps. A raid against the 80,000 strong Filipino-American forces were some 60,000 battle-hardened Japanese troops. Although outnumbered, the Japanese held the upper hand because of superior arms and logistics, and control over air and sea.
[18:32]Amidst shelling and firing, the Japanese were secure. They controlled the air and the sea. There was nothing we could do.
[18:44]But Corregidor fired all the guns they had. Half an hour, air-sea battle between nine planes and two Q-Boats, and we hit three of them, we shot down three.
[19:08]However, the gallant stand of the 41st Division and the other USAFFE units could not stave off a Japanese breakthrough on the Western side of the Abucay line. Facing a road block which threatened to cut off the USAFFE frontlines, the Bataan defenders were forced to move back.
[19:50]When the Japanese launched their main attack on the East side of the Abucay line, they failed to break the 41st Division, commanded by General Vicente Lim, the first Filipino graduate of West Point. Eventually, the front lines collapsed in the face of the relentless assault. When we ran out of bullets, we would dig out boulders atop of Mt. Samat and rolled them toward the invaders. It was only after the fighting stopped that the Japanese realized that they had more than 66,000 Filipino soldiers, and over 10,000 American troops as prisoners of war. The Death March took its toll on the rest of the POWs. Given meager rations and deprived of water, many died by the roadside. It becomes a question of time before you just want water so bad, you'll do anything to get it.
[20:56]In a show of solidarity, town's people along the road pitched in their support, tossing food and water to the prisoners and helping some escape. I don't remember who they were but I remember a Filipino girl who used to give me a bibingka (rice cake). At the San Fernando rail station, those prisoners who had survived the march, found out that their ordeal was far from over. Those prisoners who had survived the march found out that their ordeal was far from over.
[21:49]Eventually, the defenders of Corregidor were taken to Camp O'Donnell to join their comrades from Bataan. Life (at Camp O'Donnell) turned out to be hopeless. Because in our barracks where we were assigned, we were about 200 in a barracks that can accommodate only about 100. So, it was terrible.
[22:30]I got sick with malaria and beri-beri. And chicken lice stuck to our bodies.
[22:40]When you wake up in the morning, it's still dark, you can faintly see this long convoy carrying the dead. Even after the sun sets, the line is still long. Imagine that.
[22:59]The rate would be as high as 500 deaths a day, so obviously there were a lot of people that were not even discovered to be dead and be in the barracks for quite some time.
[23:15]We had to put up cemetery nearby, we buried them ourselves. Life at Camp O'Donnell turned out to be hopeless. Because in our barracks where we were assigned, we were about 200 in a barracks that can accommodate only about 100. So, it was terrible. It was hell! It was summer, April and so hot! They took my watch, they took my ring, they took my wallet, they took everything I have. We were eating iguana, we were eating snakes and I must tell you that once we got back into Bataan, the Philippine Scouts did not need the horses anymore, we started to eat horses. We ate rice porridge, later sweet potato with rice porridge and later on potato vine with rice porridge. 50% casualties and the Philippine Army was just sitting in their foxhole with malaria.
[24:39]When you woke up in the morning, it's still dark, you can faintly see this long convoy carrying the dead. Even after the sun sets, the line is still long. Imagine that.
[24:59]When you woke up in the morning, it's still dark, you can faintly see this long convoy carrying the dead. Even after the sun sets, the line is still long. Imagine that.
[25:58]The rate would be as high as 500 deaths a day, so obviously there were a lot of people that were not even discovered to be dead and be in the barracks for quite some time.
[44:34]I hope you enjoyed watching Legacy of Heroes. It is more than just a historical video documentary. The story of the defenders of Bataan and Corregidor reminds us of the price of the freedom that we take for granted today. It also provides us to remember what a united, gallant and patriotic people can achieve. And us march forward in the footsteps of our heroes to create the strong Republic we have longed for all these years.
