The Philippine Campaign
First published on September 16, 2007

While Manila was waiting for the American liberation forces, my grandfather died. It was January 4, 1945, a little over two months after General Douglas MacArthur landed at Leyte, and three weeks after American troops landed at Mindoro which was to serve as a jump off point for planes for the invasion of Luzon. A few days grandfather’s burial, the Americans stormed ashore Lingayen with 68,000 troops and drove on towards Manila.

A month after Lolo died, the U.S. Sixth Army attacked the Japanese in Manila. My mother is sad to think that Lolo Ciano never saw the liberation of Manila. To many Filipinos, liberation was associated with corned neef, Milky Way chocolates, Chesterfield cigarettes and other goodies that the G.I.s brought with them. Lolo did not get to enjoy these.

So many lives were lost during the war. Military war dead, anti-Japanese guerillas killed in action, POWs that died in captivity, victims of Japanese war crimes, civilians due to war related factors. The anxiety of the war and news of atrocities being committed by the retreating Japanese was too much for an old man. He suffered from a nervous breakdown which was the cause of his death.

I have no recollection of Marciano Noble as I was only a year old when he passed away. His parents, my great grandparents, were Petronilo Noble and Barbara de Jesus; he had a sister named Isidra whom my mother called Kakang Sidra. Lolo worked for Don Mauro Prieto at the Herminal at Marquez de Comillas Street which I suspect was really Tabacalera. The war deprived me of the joys a young boy gets from a grandfather.

March to Manila
First published on September 23, 2007

Some sixty miles south of Manila is Nasugbu, Batangas where the Central Azucarera de Don Pedro is to be found. Don Emiliano Gonzalez worked at the sugar central and his grand-daughters from Manila would spend their summer vacations with him. I met one of these girls on board an army truck going north from Manila to Pangasinan; in due course, I took her home as my wife. But that’s long after the war, and that’s another story.

Going back to 1945, it was at Pangasinan where the Americans established a 20-mile beachhead on January 9, from Lingayen and Dagupan to the west, and to San Fabian in to the east. And it was at Nasugbu on January 31 where the 11th Airborne made an amphibious landing.

From the north, the 1st Cavalry was committed to march to Manila, reinforced with armor and motorized artillery and support units. With the Cavalry at the left the 37th Division mopped up operations at the right. The Japanese destroyed many of the bridges to impede the progress of the invaders. The 556th Heavy Ponton Division built a treadway bridge to carry heavy equipment while the 530th Light Ponton Company installed seven bridges for the 37th Division.

The 1st Cavalry reached the outer edges of Manila on February 3 while the Japanese moved south of the Pasig River to defend the government buildings and the walls of Intramuros.From the south, the 11th Airborne Division landed unopposed at Nasugbu, seized a nearby bridge before the surprised Japanese had a chance to demolish it, and turned toward Manila. The division's third regiment, the 511th Parachute, dropped in by air at Tagaytay to join the advance. The convoy sped north along the paved highway to Manila with civilians cheering them along the way.

The 511th met some resistance at Imus, five miles south of Manila. By dawn on February 4 the paratroopers ran into increasingly heavy and harassing fire from Japanese riflemen and machine gunners. At the Paranaque River, just south of the Manila city limits, the battalion halted at a badly damaged bridge only to be battered by Japanese artillery fire from Nichols Field. The 11th Airborne Division had reached the main Japanese defenses south of Manila and could go no further.

The Battle for Manila
First published on October 2, 2007

We are from that part of Manila south of the Pasig River where the Japs took their last stand. Many lives have been lost as the retreating Japanese took their ire at civilians. The church at San Marcelino and the De La Salle College at Taft Avenue are some landmarks where atrocities have been committed. My father was hit by a shrapnel, presumably from friendly fire.

The 8th Cavalry Brigade north of the river successfully liberated the internment camp at the University of Santo Tomas after which they headed to cross the River but the Japanese destroyed all the bridges except one. Quezon Bridge spanned across the Pasig from Quiapo at the north to Plaza Lawton at the southern part of Manila. The 2nd Squadron of the 5th Cavalry tried to seize that bridge but were stopped at a roadblock at Quezon Boulevard. Japanese heavy machine guns from Far Eastern University stopped the Americans. The bridge was eventually blown up by the enemy impeding the deliverance of Manila.

While the troops from the north had the Pasig River to cross, at the south was the 11th Airborne coming from Batangas which encountered firmly entrenched Japanese naval troops at Nichols Air Base.

The Americans used heavy artillery to flush out Japanese hold outs and the continuous shelling was a threat not only to the Japanese but to us civilians as well. We joined other residents to safer places with my mother holding me close to her all the while.

Some of the troops eventually crossed the river. The most bitter fighting for Manila was at the Isla de Provisor at the center of the Pasig River. The Japanese garrison there managed to hold off the American infantry until 11 February. The Paco Railroad Station was another site where the enemy held out.

Manila was the most devastated city Asia during World War II, next only to Warsaw. Government buildings, universities.Manila was the most devastated city Asia during World War II, next only to Warsaw. Government buildings, universities and colleges, convents, monasteries and churches were destroyed. Our cultural heritage (including art, literature, and especially architecture) a mixing of Spanish, American and Asian was gone.

Was it the reckless bombardment by the Americans or the uncompromising Japanese who could have declared Manila an open city that is to blame? Manileňos will keep on asking this question without ever getting satisfied with any rationalization by the Americans nor by the Japanese.

Liberation
First published on October 10, 2007

The Battle for Manila from February to March 1945 was fought by American, Filipino and Japanese forces, part of the Philippines' 1945 campaign. The one-month battle, which culminated in a terrible bloodbath and total devastation of the city, was the scene of the worst urban fighting in the Pacific theater.

A ponton bridge built by Army engineers at Nagtahan enabled American troops and their heavy equipment started to cross the river. One of my father’s friends, Jacinto Ciria Cruz of the basketball team that made the fifth place in the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games (all time record of highest finish for Philippine basketball), came with the liberation forces in his army uniform.

My mother tells me of so many dead soldiers lining up the banks of one of the tributaries leading to the Pasig. I wonder what ever happened to the Japanese that were customers of the barber shop, particularly that one who gave us mongo beans.

Japanese money became known as Mickey Mouse money and peso bills marked Victory became the legal tender.