Archivist James Zobel gives Dagupan City Mayor Belen Fernandez a copy of his book containing archived photos of Gen. MacArthur landing site and his headquarters in Dagupan.  (Punchphoto by Ray Zambrano)

 

AFTER 80 years, a defining moment in history of the Philippines as to where General Douglas MacArthur landed when he began the liberation of Luzon on January 9, 1945, was finally established on February 24, 2025.

James Zobel, the American archivist and historian of the MacArthur Memorial in Norfolk, Virginia, told educators, students in Social Studies and History and officials of Dagupan that General MacArthur landed in Dagupan, not in Lingayen, in the afternoon of January 9, 1945 and bared World War II memoirs and rare photographs never before seen in the province.

Zobel made the revelation after he joined Senator Grace Poe, Mayor Belen Fernandez and Miguel Villa-Real, Vice President of the Veterans Bank of the Philippines during the groundbreaking rites for the construction of first phase of the MacArthur Memorial at Tondaligan Park, to be funded by the senator.

Until Zobel’s revelation during a lecture arranged by Mayor Fernandez at CSI Stadia on the night of February 24, local historians debated on where MacArthur landed in Pangasinan.

The late Dr. Baldomero  Pulido, founder of the Pangasinan Memorial College, claimed that MacArthur first landed in Lingayen, another historian said he landed on the beach of San Fabian. It was the late Restituto Basa who insisted the general first landed on the shores of Bonuan, citing a rare photograph taken by war photographer Karl Maidans, showing the General was  seen walking with his staff on the sand  dunes full of ‘cantaromas’ plants that were teeming in Bonuan at that time.

Using a power point presentation showing the beach areas of the Lingayen Gulf, he said General Mac Arthur landed in “Blue Beach”, which was Dagupan, with the white beach (San Fabian) to the left, and the orange beach (Lingayen) to the right.

He said the best testament that General MacArthur landed in Dagupan is his report in the preserved diary of General RJ Marshall, deputy commander of the 6th Division of the U.S. Army, that at 2:00 p.m. on January 9, 1945, MacArthur disembarked from his flagship ”Boise”, boarded a landing craft and headed to the ‘Blue Beach’, together with the 6th U.S. Army Division commander General Patrick.

Zobel added that during the liberation period, Dagupan served as the main supply depot of all U.S. forces that landed on Luzon.

He also showed photographs in Bonuan of MacArthur on board a military jeep, surrounded by U.S. Army officers, as he prepared to go to downtown Dagupan on January 9, 1945.

He said the general must have returned to his flagship “Boise” to spend the night and returned on January 10 after a temporary bridge was constructed across the Pantal River to establish his headquarters at the Home Economics building of the West Central School.

Zobel also presented photographs of downtown Dagupan which he sent to Mrs. Jane MacArthur in Australia, with annotations he wrote at that back of those photographs.

He also showed a letter of then-Mayor Angel B. Fernandez of Dagupan in 1948 to MacArthur who was in Tokyo, Japan inviting him to Dagupan to authenticate his landing in Bonuan, but MacArthur instead sent his official representative.

He only returned to Pangasinan on a sentimental journey in 1961, together with Mrs. Mac Arthur.

In welcoming Zobel to Dagupan, Mayor Fernandez said: “When General MacArthur set his foot on our shores, he did not only bring the forces that would liberate the Philippines, but he also restored faith in the resilience of our people. His return symbolized the triumph of justice, the power of perseverance, and the unbreakable bond between the Philippines and the United States in the fight for freedom.”

Zobel said as an archivist, he helps some 300 researches document the life of General MacArthur and his exploits during the war. (Leonardo Micua) 

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