Amazing! Mga babaeng guerilla: Isang Marinduqueňa at isang Waray

Isang 13-taong gulang na Marinduqueňa ang nagsuot lalaki at sumama sa mga guerilla para makipaghamok laban sa mga Hapon. Siya sa Virginia Weems, nakapatay ng limang Hapones ayon sa tala. Noong Agosto 12, 1945, ginawaran siya ng honorable discharge ni Maj. Gen. William Gill, pinuno ng 32nd Infantry Division. 

Sa kabilang dako naman, isang Waray-Waray mula sa Leyte ang namuno sa isang grupo ng mga guerilla na nakapatay ng 200 Hapones. Nagbigay ng pabuya ang mga Hapones ng 10,000 piso para sa kanyang ulo. Subalit natapos ang giyera, siya ay nanatiling buhay na may marka lamang ng naging sugat sa kanyang kanang braso.

Kopya ng The London Edition of Stars and Stripes, August 13, 1945,

kung saan lumabas ang tungkol kay Virginia Weems.

* VIRGINIA WEEMS

Marinduqueňa Girl na lumaban bilang isang Boy Guerilla!

Ipinanganak siya sa Marinduque, ang ama niya ay isang Amerikano, ang ina ay Filipina.

Ang kanyang nabalong ina ay isa sa mga binihag ng mga Hapon at ikinulong sa UST Interment Camp nang pumutok ang digmaan.

Nagdamit-lalaki ang 13-taong gulang na babae at sumama sa guerilla medical unit sa ilalim ng US 32nd Infantry Division. Kasama siya sa labanan sa Northern Luzon at nakapatay pa ng limang Hapones.

Siya si Virginia Weems. Binigyan siya ni Maj. Gen. William H. Gill, pinuno ng 32nd division ng honorable discharge noong August 12, 1945.

Nang araw na iyon ay nakasuot pa rin siya ng khaki uniform dahil hindi siya nakakuha ng kanyang damit sa isang kumbento sa Cagayan Valley kung saan nag-aaral siya noon para maging isang concert pianist.

Naibalita ang tungkol sa kanyang karanasan sa London Stars and Stripes, August 13, 1945. 

(Ang pinagbasihan ng artikulong ito tungkol kay Weems ay unang nabasa ng blogger sa UlongBeach Website. Ito ang nakasaad: 

From London Stars & Stripes August 13, 1945: 

Army 'Discharges' Girl Who Fought as a Boy Guerilla

MANILA; Aug. 12 Maj. Gen. William H. Gill, commanding the 32nd Infantry Division, gave an honorable discharge yesterday to 13-year-old Virginia Weems, who posed as a boy and served three years with Filipino guerrillas.

Virginia, whose father was an American, and mother a Filipino, was born on Marinduque Island, near Mindoro.

Her widowed mother was interned at Santo Tomas by the Japanese when the war broke out. Virginia donned boy's clothes and joined a guerrilla medical unit attached to the 32nd division.

Virginia served through fighting in Northern Luzon and was credited with killing five Japs.

She still wears a khaki uniform because she has been unable to get a dress at the convent in Cayagayen Valley, where she is studying to be a concert pianist.

Dumako naman tayo tungkol sa Waray mula sa Leyte na si Nieves Fernandez:

 

Ipinapakita ni Nieves sa isang sundalong Amerikano kung paano niya ginagamit ang kanyang mahabang itak sa pagpatay ng mga Hapones.

  * NIEVES FERNANDEZ

One of the several guerilla leaders during World War II, Captain Nieves Fernandez -- who also happened to be a schoolteacher in her native Tacloban, Leyte -- commanded a group of Filipino guerillas against occupying Japanese forces during the war.

Using mostly crude weapons such as homemade shotguns ("paltiks") and whatever else they could pilfer from the enemy, Nieves and her group made life hell for the Japanese, killing 200 of them during the resistance. It got so bad for the Japanese that they had to put a 10,000 peso bounty on her head.

However, the hardy Fernandez later survived the war with nothing more than a scar from a bullet wound in her right forearm. The photo shows her demonstrating to an American soldier how she would kill Japanese sentries with only a bolo.

[Source: FilipiKnow]

Amazing story! 13 y.o. Marinduqueña fought as a Boy Guerilla in WW2

Kilala natin si Gen. Gregorio del Pilar na binansagang 'Boy-General'. Pero alam ba ninyo na nuong WW2 naman ay may isang 13-taong Marindukenya na nagpanggap bilang lalaki, sumama sa mga gerilya sa loob ng tatlong taon at nakapatay pa ng limang Hapones?

The London Edition of Stars and Stripes, August 13, 1945 where the news item titled 'Army 'Discharges' Girl Who Fought As a Boy Guerilla' appeared.

Girl who fought as a Boy Guerilla!

Ipinanganak siya sa Marinduque, ang ama niya ay isang Amerikano, ang ina ay Filipina.

Ang kanyang nabalong ina ay isa sa mga binihag ng mga Hapon at ikinulong sa UST Interment Camp nang pumutok ang digmaan.

Nagdamit-lalaki ang 13-taong gulang na babae at sumama sa guerilla medical unit sa ilalim ng US 32nd Infantry Division. Kasama siya sa labanan sa Northern Luzon at nakapatay pa ng limang Hapones.

Siya si Virginia Weems. Binigyan siya ni Maj. Gen. William H. Gill, pinuno ng 32nd division ng honorable discharge noong August 12, 1945.

Nang araw na iyon ay nakasuot pa rin siya ng khaki uniform dahil hindi siya nakakuha ng kanyang damit sa isang kumbento sa Cagayan Valley kung saan nag-aaral siya noon para maging isang concert pianist.

Naibalita ang tungkol sa kanyang karanasan sa London Stars and Stripes, August 13, 1945.

Ang English text ng artikulo tungkol kay Weems ay unang nabasa ng blogger sa UlongBeach.

Santo Tomas Internment Camp, also known as the Manila Internment Camp, was the largest of several camps in the Philippines in which the Japanese interned enemy civilians, mostly Americans, in World War II. The campus of the University of Santo Tomas was utilized for the camp, which housed more than 3,000 internees from January 1942 until February 1945. (Wikipedia)

(Above) Copy of the actual news item about Virginia Weeds, born in Marinduque, from ApolloHosting

From London Stars & Stripes August 13, 1945:

Army 'Discharges' Girl Who Fought as a Boy Guerilla 

MANILA; Aug. 12 Maj. Gen. William H. Gill, commanding the 32nd Infantry Division, gave an honorable discharge yesterday to 13-year-old Virginia Weems, who posed as a boy and served three years with Filipino guerrillas. 

Virginia, whose father was an American, and mother a Filipino, was born on Marinduque Island, near Mindoro. 

Her widowed mother was interned at Santo Tomas by the Japanese when the war broke out. Virginia donned boy's clothes and joined a guerrilla medical unit attached to the 32nd division. 

Virginia served through fighting in Northern Luzon and was credited with killing five Japs. 

She still wears a khaki uniform because she has been unable to get a dress at the convent in Cayagayen Valley, where she is studying to be a concert pianist.

WWII relic sa Boac: Marston Mat/Marsden matting

Marston Mat na napakinabangan bilang permanenteng bakod sa isang paaralan, Don Luis Hidalgo Memorial School.
Larawan: Eli J. Obligacion

Kung ikaw ay naging mag-aaral o naging guro sa Don Luis Hidalgo Memorial School o sa Marinduque National High School na karatig nito, tiyak na nadaanan mo na ang bakod na ito. Ito ay mga labi ng panahon ng World War II sa Marinduque.

Ang Marston Mat (may maling tumatawag din dito bilang Marsden matting), ay mga butas-butas na mga malalapad na bakal na ginamit noong panahon ng digmaan para sa mabilis na pagtatayo ng mga pansamantalang runway o landing strips. Marston ang tawag dahil unang ginamit ang mga ito sa Marston, North California na katabing airfield ng Camp Mackall.

Ehemplo ng kung paano ginagamit noon ang Marston Mat (hindi ito kuha sa Marinduque). Larawan mula sa Wikipedia

Humigit-kumulang 2 milyong tonelada pala ang nagawang Marston Mat ng mga panahong iyon (1940s). Nang matapos ang digmaan malaking bahagi ng mga ito ang nanatili sa bansa bilang mga labi ng digmaan. Iniwan ng mga US Forces sa ibat-ibang panig ng Pilipinas kung saan sila naging aktibo noong digmaan.

Ginamit naman sa iba’t-ibang pamamaraan ang mga ito para mapakinabangan tulad ng road and bridge construction. Dahil ang mga ito ay gawa sa bakal na may mataas na manganese content, hindi ito basta-basta kinakalawang o nasisira.

Hanggang sa kasalukuyan sa ating bansa kasama na ang Marinduque, ang mga natitira pang matting ay nananatiling ginagamit bilang permanente nang mga bakod.

Sa susunod na masulyapan mo ang mga bakod na ito, alam mo na ang bahagi ng kanilang kasaysayan.
Larawan ni Eli J. Obligacion

Battle of Manila and prior overtures in Marinduque

Plate No. 70
Mindoro-Marinduque

Battle of Manila (3 February – 3 March 1945).

The battle for Manila was the fiercest urban fighting in the entire Pacific War. Few battles in the closing months of World War II exceeded the destruction and the brutality of the massacres and savagery of the fighting in Manila. In Manila's business district only two buildings were not damaged.

Filipinos lost an irreplaceable cultural and historical treasure in the resulting carnage and devastation of Manila, remembered today as a national tragedy. Countless government buildings, universities and colleges, convents, monasteries and churches, and their accompanying treasures dating to the founding of the city, were ruined. (Wikipedia)

Prior to this, from 1943 to 1944, U.S. submarines and aircraft carriers had sank a total of 9 Japanese ships around Marinduque - these were transport ships MEIKAI MARU, INDUS MARU, ISUZU MARU MEIZAN MARU, fast transports T.6, T.10, T.9, escort destroyer TAKE and a recent still unnamed ship that was downed on November 15, 1944, in northern Marinduque.

Nov. 15, 1944. US bomber prepares to hit the Japanese ship that was later sunk by a US submarine. It was "sitting on the edge of a reef and did not sink right away". View of northern Marinduque in the background.
Photo and data contributed by: Curt Shepard

The name of this Japanese that sink in northern Marinduque on
November 15, 1944 has not been fully verified. Photo: Curt Shepard

Then exactly a month before the Battle of Manila, the US 21st Infantry on January 3, 1945, undertook ground operations in Marinduque for the establishment of radar installations. Excerpts from Reports of General MacArthur, Chapter 9:

The Legislative Building in Manila destroyed.

As the first step in the tactical deception effort, one company of the 21st Infantry of the 24th Division moved on Bongabong along Mindoro's east coast on 1 January. Other troops of the same regiment then advanced by shore-to-shore movement to Calapan, the main town on northeastern Mindoro, while enemy-held villages on the northwestern side were also cleared. In all of these actions substantial assistance was rendered by organized guerrilla forces. 

Occupation of Marinduque Island, situated close to southern Luzon's Bicol Peninsula, was the next operation undertaken. On 3 January, a small force of the 21st Infantry landed unopposed at Buenavista, on the island's southwestern shore, and consolidated positions for the establishment of radar installations.

Concurrently with these ground operations, additional steps were taken to conceal the Lingayen invasion plan from the Japanese. While United States bombers struck carefully selected targets on Luzon, other aircraft flew photographic and reconnaissance missions over the Batangas-Tayabas region and transport planes made dummy drops over the same area to simulate an airborne invasion. 

At the same time, Seventh Fleet motor torpedo boats patrolled the southern and southwestern coasts of Luzon as far north as Manila Bay from new bases on Mindoro, and mine sweepers cleared Balagan, Batangas, and Tayabas Bays. Landing ships and merchantmen also approached the beaches in these areas until they were fired upon by the enemy and then slipped away under cover of darkness.

CJ Jose Abad Santos biopic: Alternative learning experience on patriotism, heroic values

The Philippines World War Memorial Foundation (Philwar Foundation) educates the youth about our World War II History. This is done by providing alternative learning experiences through film and media. Values that may be lacking today such as bravery, delicadeza, moral integrity and patriotism are emphasized in these films. Learning activities are capped off by bringing together historians, descendants of heroes, veterans and biographers as resource persons.

Philwar’s latest project is "Honor: The Legacy of Jose Abad Santos", a documentary feature film on the life and times of the late patriot Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos. He is one of the greatest heroes of World War II, yet his name remains ambiguous to many and is probably best known as being one of the three figures in the P1,000 bill, or to whom that big street near Divisoria was named after. 

Other than that, very little is known of Abad Santos' life and his heroism, for it is not even written in history textbooks being used today - just like the exploits of Marinduque heroes during the two-phased Philippine Revolution and during World War II.

The docu-film highlights the many values and virtues that Jose Abad Santos possessed - such as love of God, of family, and of country. He exhibited moral integrity, resulting in 33 years of public service which was never tainted by any corruption or scandal. In the words of President Manuel Quezon shortly before he died, he said, "Abad Santos was one of the noblest and ablest men the government ever had in service."

A Gala Premiere and Book Launching of Honor: The Legacy of Jose Abad Santos awaits history enthusiasts, WWII researchers and students on February 24, 2018, 8:00pm, at the AFP Theater in Camp Aguinaldo. Pls click here for the movie trailer that stars Ricardo Cepeda.

In Marinduque, local historical commemorations provide alternative learning experiences.

More Guisian bombs and war recollections

Leaving Bagtasan. 

I requested to see the northern side of Susong Dalaga Hill from the water so the boatman maneuvered his small boat northward while towing our bigger boat.

Susong Dalaga Hill.

The sea remained calm. One couldn’t see the sea bottom here through deep blue, unlike the blue-green waters off the shore cliffs.

Pawikan!

The boatman suddenly shouted something to us while pointing a finger at the base of the rocky hill. What did he say, I asked my company. Pawikan daw... ayun ngani o, Cora said. (He said sea turtle... and there it is!) I was almost breathless with excitement, imagining a large sea turtle, but wondering why there of all places.

It was huge! Not a live sea turtle, unfortunately, but a stone formation suggesting a pawikan ready to go down to the water – with head, eyes, a flat back and flipper-like legs. We were all appreciating the wonderful likeness as our boat passed by. Then we headed back to Guisian, making a turn eastward where we could see sitio Manlumod from a distance.

With team member Al in foreground. To the left is Mataas na Bundok, site of Datum Station Balanacan, and Susong Dalaga Hill to the right.

Back in Guisian, we were met by a friend asking how our trip was. We first met him during an earlier visit. I assured him that all of us extremely enjoyed the trip. But also remembering an earlier story mentioned to me by another fellow who left for Camarines Norte earlier that morning, I asked the guy if he had ever heard of an empty bomb shell picked up ashore in Lastre (a place in Guisian), after a typhoon years ago.

I live there, I know of one myself, I could show it to you, he replied. How could we be so lucky, I thought. We agreed then to meet later in the day after our late lunch.

View from Lastre.

It was getting dark when we met again as agreed upon. He at once led me to his place in Lastre going straight to the beach, even straight to the water, then he pointed at something there. There it is, he said. I was in disbelief, another bomb in the water? Where, I couldn’t see it, I asked.

Shell under water.

There, he said, firmly pointing at something about two meters away. With knees bent I moved my face closer to the surface of the water. It was large, maybe not exactly empty, but it wasn’t a bomb. It was a clam shell! Not wanting to embarrass the guy, I took a picture though it was really getting dark. That was also interesting, said I, poker-faced.

Empty bomb shell.

He must have misheard me. So I told him about our trip and the unexploded bomb story. He responded by taking me to his relative’s house, just a few houses away, as the old man, Mang Celso, in his late 70s might know something, he said. It turned out that, in fact, he knew about the empty bomb shell I asked about; in fact he was keeping it in that same house, so he said, and disappeared to look for it in the backyard; and returned to us holding the rusty thing.

And another bomb shell.

There are two of these here, the old man said, I used to make use of the other one as anchor for my small banca. He said he might find the other one in another relative’s house just a few steps away so could we please wait. He disappeared for a while, coming back holding another bomb shell that appeared heavy, having been filled with hardened cement. 

The Sayao Bay war theater. 

The old man was eager to share his own story about the war, the things he knew: He knew about a ship called ‘Maru’, he said, it docked near the area in Sayao Bay where a port was constructed years later for a mining operation. That ship, he said, was covered with so, so many trees to hide it from the sight of the Americans. The Americans were in the vicinity of Susong Dalaga, he said, and the Japanese panicked upon seeing the flashing signal lights from their enemy. The Americans waited for the Japanese ship to escape and when it did, the Americans struck the enemy and sank their ship. He had actually seen a torpedo, he said, (made a drawing on the soil with a stick), and remembered that as a young boy he also toyed, together with friends his age, with a Japanese helmet too big for their small heads. They had found it on the beach in Paye while swimming, he said, and played a toss and catch game with it.

The unexpected.

 That was the old man's brief account of what had occurred in this picturesque landscape, the theater for a significant WW2 operation. Evening had finally set in, we bid goodbye and conveyed my appreciation for sharing his story with us. But when I got to Cora's place she had something totally unexpected to tell me this time:                          


Kuya, may katapat daw pala yung pawikan sa kabila, at hindi raw yun natural na porma kundi sadyang ginawa, katulad din nung katapat nun na araw daw na may sinag at inukit sa batong pader, kasing taas din nung pawikan!

San dun yung araw na may sinag?

Minsang bumagyo daw na may kasabay na lindol ay gumuho yung itaas ng cliff at natabunan ng mga gumuhong bato yung araw na inukit, pero nandun pa rin daw…

A live WW2 mortar, a narrow isthmus to the conical hill and some Guisian stories

The trip being unplanned, we didn't bring any food or drinks with us to Bagtasan, a special spot in Brgy. Guisian, Mogpog.  But there was a sari-sari store located south of a rocky isthmus where we all headed to upon disembarking from the boat driven by our friendly guide. The narrow Bagtasan isthmus separates two bodies of water, Sayao Bay to the east and a smaller, more quiet bay to the west they call Tabia.

There are coconut, talisay and other trees growing there keeping the houses pleasantly cool. Some ten families live there. By the time we arrived, the men have returned from their early morning fishing and have parked their boats ashore on the smaller bay.

Bagtasan is part of sitio Manlumod in Guisian which, just like the main coastal village on the east side, is located in a narrow strip of land between mountain and water. The two villages are separated by a steep mountain that makes it somewhat difficult for villagers from both sides to interact with each other more frequently. An elementary school, however, is located atop that mountain where children from the two villages meet and study.

While having a snack of biscuits and soft drinks, we engaged in lively chatter with the friendly local folks: No, one woman claims, this Bagtasan never goes under water.  Yes, there have been occasions when young people from sitio Manlumod studying in Mogpog invited their schoolmates to camp out here for a day or two. Climbing the summit of Susong Dalaga Hill is always a part of their activities aside from swimming, and that happens only during the Lenten season. Otherwise, only local residents come here from time to time to swim or to just have fun, she said.

Yes, many people have experienced strange things here – fireballs, apparitions of ghostly creatures pointing to a supposed buried gusi here or there with treasures, like this very spot where we are sitting now, but no gold was ever found in spite of attempts by many to dig their way to riches. But, fireballs, I’ve seen it myself, the lady tending the store said, but that was many years ago...

And many years ago, in the early 1950s, I had an uncle, she said, who found a live mortar shell under the water. For some reason he wanted to take the explosive powder out; got a hand saw, went to the beach and started working on the unexploded bomb with the object submerged so it would not heat up, he thought. He was wrong, the mortar bomb exploded - together with him, and all parts of him were blown up into countless tiny pieces and we mourned his loss!

And there’s another bomb right there under the water now (she went on, pointing to the water), but at low tide you could see it and even touch it, the children used to take turns lifting it but they always gently put it back. But now, my father has given strict orders to the small kids not to touch it anymore, it’s still there.

I was thinking, an unexploded WW2 mortar shell has been sleeping in the shallow waters here and getting exposed to all the elements during low tide for some seventy years! I was conjuring images of very strong waves causing it to be tossed violently into the rocks and boom! 

A boy, the storekeeper's nephew, happened to be swimming in that nearby area she pointed at.

She called the attention of the boy, show the bomb, she said quite confidently. The boy couldn’t seem to find it right away. With curiosity growing I wanted to take a picture of the mortar bomb the moment he finds it but he was some fifteen meters away. Larry, our guide, was quick to drag a boat and he said, come! By this time, I saw that the boy had the thing in his hands. In an instant he was carrying the object, it was corroded, part of the outer layer actually had peeled off. Then he held on to the boat with his right hand, his left hand steadily holding the bomb so I could take a good look (above photo).

After a couple of hurried shots with my cellphone camera I said, put it back boy, very, very carefully, and the boy did.  I said they should still report it to the local authorities for proper disposal as it might cause harm.

The unexpected live mortar shell seemed to confirm that, indeed, something dramatic transpired right there during WW2. Then I asked them if anyone had ever heard of a Japanese ship that might have sunk in the area somewhere north or northwest.

Yes, they said. But they referred to the bombing in 1944 of Japanese ships in the harbor of Balanacan, a neighboring barangay. Not that one, I said, I am talking about a Japanese ship that was torpedoed and sunk more than one year before that, in 1943?

Maybe that’s the one that sank in a location about four miles away from Susong Dalaga Hill that fishermen refer to as Kantong Bahura, one elderly lady suggests. It's just about 15 to 20 fathoms deep and big fishing vessels are careful in that particular location because their nets could get entangled in that sunken vessel, as had been the case in the past with some commercial fishing vessels. It's also in a spot nearby where the depth suddenly plunges to 40 fathoms but where it's safe to cast their nets, she adds. (She said she had worked with fishing vessels in her younger days and therefore knew what she was talking about).

Shallow cave on the western side of Susong Dalaga (Maiden's Breast) conical hill - or is it really a pyramid? I have not uncovered its tightly guarded secrets.

More information came forth from that lively conversation, like the northern side of Susong Dalaga Hill being cantilado (from acantilado, cliff), having a depth of from 15-20 fathoms. Two other fishing vessels have reportedly sunk in that area in recent years because of major typhoons.

After further sharing, it was time to go back and we were glad our patient guide did not seem to mind at all our tarrying, apparently finding himself the subjects new, even interesting.

A fisherman’s wife approached us to ask if we might want to buy some of her husband’s catch. We paid Php 250.00 for an octopus that weighed 1 ½ kilos and half a kilo of fish (above). That’s too much for us, our host said. No, we’ll eat all of it, I said jokingly. Truth is, I had a feeling we were not about ready yet to go back home to Boac...