UP prof: MacArthur first landed in San Fabian

NOT IN LINGAYEN OR DAGUPAN

WHILE the debate on whether General Douglas MacArthur landed in Lingayen or Dagupan City rages, comes the claim that the general landed first in San Fabian.

The new surprising twist in the history of Pangasinan was made by Professor Ricardo T. Jose, a professor at the University of the Philippines: “General Douglas MacArthur landed twice in Pangasinan, the first was in San Fabian when he and his troops began the liberation of Luzon from the Japanese on January 9, 1945.”

Dr. Jose tells his audience during his “Bakal tan Awaran,” lecture: MacArthur landed in San Fabian.  (Punchphoto by Cesar Ramirez)

During the lecture “Bakal Tan Awaran (Battles and History) forum, Jose stunned academicians and students including Lingayen Mayor Leopoldo Bataoil on January 8.

Jose was emphatic when he said that at 2:15 p.m. on January 9, 1945, Mac Arthur left his flagship “Boise: onboard a landing barge that took him to the shore of White Beach (San Fabian) located in the eastern sector of the Lingayen Gulf. 

In his slide presentation, Jose showed the photo taken by Carl Maidan, the official photographer of MacArthur being aided by two soldiers while disembarking from the landing barge in the shore of San Fabian.  He said that photo was suppressed as it was considered insignificant and had no historic value. 

When MacArthur could not proceed to Dagupan because there were many rivers to cross, he returned to “Boise” in the late afternoon of that day.

Jose’s research indicated that Mac Arthur made his second landing in Pangasinan at the Blue Beach (Dagupan City) on January 12, three days after setting foot in White Beach.

He said it was the photo of him walking in the sand dunes of Bonuan with his officers (also taken by Maidan) that was published by the American press in Washington D.C. that gave the impression that he first landed in Dagupan during the liberation of Luzon.

Supporting the Dagupan landing, he said, was the photo of Pedro Balolong of Bonuan rushing and waving at an American G.I. who came in with MacArthur.

From Bonuan, MacArthur boarded a military jeep that took him to downtown Dagupan and made the Home Economics building of the West Central Elementary School as his temporary command headquarters.

Among those he cited in his lecture were:

1) The landing of the liberation forces in the Lingayen Gulf was known in the U.S. military as “S-Day” while the Leyte Landing on October 20, 1944 was “E-Day”. The landing of the Allied Forces in Normandy, France on June 6, 1944 was designated as “D-Day”.

2) The “Longest Day” version in the Lingayen Gulf was preceded by the bombing of the shoreline that started on January 6, spearheaded by USS Pennsylvania and HMAS Shropshire, an Australian Navy ship. The bombings were made despite a signal from Filipino guerillas waiting in the shores that the Japanese forces had already left, Jose said.

3) The biggest threats to the ships were the Kamikaze planes that took off from Clark Field, joined in by some planes that came from China and mainland Japan, that sank and damaged some of the allied vessels among them the HMAs Australia that killed some 100 of her crew, including the captain.

4) Another serious threat was the 150 Shinyo suicide boats, unleashed by the Japanese from their base in Sual but all were later destroyed by American fires.

5) During the landing of the liberation forces, the western sector of the Lingayen was color-coded as green, orange, crimson and yellow beaches while the eastern sector was designated as blue and white beaches.

6) Though the Filipino guerillas signaled that the Japanese had already pulled out, there were skirmishes in Binmaley as well as in the Cabaruan Hills in Urdaneta.

7) The Provincial Capitol was destroyed by the heavy bombings from the allied ships. 

The lecture forum by Dr. Jose was the first in a series of lectures arranged by the National Historical Commission in places where big World War II battles took place.

According to Jose, Filipino boys as young as 18 or older did not hesitate to join the USAFFE and guerillas to fight the Japanese and those who survived and remained are now 95 years old or older, many of them wheelchair-bound.  (Leonardo Micua)     

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