60th anniversary of the Fall of Bataan

The Fall of Bataan was one of the saddest days in all of Philippine history. The problem began on December 8, 1941, when Japanese planes attacked US military installations in Pearl Harbor, Baguio, Davao and Clark Field, thus, extending the second World War to the Pacific. The very next day, Japanese troops landed at several points in northern Luzon, while bombing raids spread all over the Philippines. Manila, Nielsen and Nichols airfields and the 16th Naval Base in Cavite City plus Sangley Point were the main military targets. By December 11, the Kimura Detachment of the Japanese Imperial Army had landed in Legazpi, Albay. This was followed by a landing in Lingayen, Pangasinan and on Christmas Eve, invasions in Atimonan and Mauban, Tayabas compelling President Manuel L. Quezon to transfer the seat of the Commonwealth Government to Corregidor.

On the first day of Christmas, Gen. Douglas McArthur declared Manila an open city and on January 2, the Japanese entered and occupied the City of Manila and the reign of terror began. On February 20, 1942, Quezon, along with his family and War Cabinet, left Corregidor by submarine for Australia. General McArthur followed 19 days later. On April 3, Gen. Masaharu Homma unleashed an all-out offensive in Bataan. Six days later, Bataan fell. It wan Gen. Jonathan Wainwright who took over the command of the US forces in Bataan.

But the Filipino who played the most prominent role in the battles was Gen. Vicente Lim, who topped the USMA exams at West Point in 1910 and graduated in 1914 with Dwight D. Eisenhower as classmate. He was on his way home when the First World War broke out in Europe. His first assignment was as second lieutenant of the Philippine Scouts in Fort San Pedro, Iloilo. He became a major in 1923 and was sent to infantry school in Fort Benning, Georgia and moved to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 1928. He was the first Filipino to graduate from Army College in Washington and became a brigadier-general in 1934, heading the War Plans Division of the Philippine Army and named commander of the 41st Division of the US Armed Forces in the Philippines. It was his division that truly confronted the Japanese troops in Bataan. He was incarcerated in Capas, Tarlac. And he was a true military man. After his release, he led a national guerrilla movement that had contacts in Australia. He was captured by the Japanese when he attempted to take a US submarine in Mindoro to get to Australia, brought to Fort Santiago and beheaded with other guerrillas in the Chinese cemetery.

People today remember Bataan but not the individuals who actually took part in that great historical event. President Ferdinand E. Marcos even tried to change the commemoration from the Fall of Bataan to the Battle of Besang Pass, where he purportedly was the central figure. After his downfall, the Fall of Bataan was again commemorated but under a new name – Araw ng Kagitingan. So if the present generation does not participate in the celebrations, it is not their fault.

Today, 80 Bataan veterans will commemorate, not the Fall of Bataan, but the Death March that followed. There is no real public participation in all these celebrations. It is just like the EDSA anniversaries. A few public officials attend. The people could not care less. It is a case of history repeating itself, but in the wrong way.