Emilio S. Liwanag - Military Career - World War II

World War II

At the outbreak of World War II, Liwanag was a 2nd Lieutenant supply officer in the Offshore Patrol (OSP). During 1941, the Offshore Patrol - the forerunner of the Philippine Navy, is the only Filipino naval force after the United States Asiatic Fleet which is in charged of the naval protection for the Philippines. He was temporarily promoted to 1st Lieutenant, Sept. 27, 1941. A few weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, his rank became permanent after he was inducted into the US Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) on Dec. 19, 1941. Four days later, the Japanese planes bombed the Offshore Patrol Headquarters in Manila where he was stationed, fortunately he was off-base when this incident happened. The Base Commander ordered the OSP Headquarters to be burned down before the Japanese arrival into the city.

Liwanag relocated and served in the Harbor Defense Force under the Offshore Patrol unit in Lamao, Bataan during the Battle of Bataan. Lamao was the new location of the OSP headquarters which was based at the Lamao Horiculture Center, until mid-February they moved the HQ further down to Alasasin Point along the Dinguinin River, Bataan. In total there were mostly 60 men in the OSP unit which was divided into 2 main groups, sea and shore duty. During the next three and a half months, his half of the unit was in charge of shore duty along the eastern coastway of Bataan. They created defensive positions along the shores and harbors, supplied ammunition, medicine and provisions for the front lines. They used a supply point across southern most point of Manila Bay, using a 55-foot (17 m) high-speed Thorneycroft Coastal Motor Boat (CMB) available to them, along with several converted civilian "fast" boats. The other half the OSP unit were in charge of sea duty, which was to engage the Japanese naval forces using their Q-boats by hindering or destroying any landing assaults on the country's shoreline.

When the Fall of Bataan occurred as the last line of defense was breached by the Japanese forces, droves of American and Filipino soldiers tried to escape capture by any means. Some of these soldiers found their way to Lamao, knowing that boats were located there. During a cargo drop-off, Liwanag noticed a small number of armed and unarmed army soldiers, about a dozen, were trying to board his boats which was strictly ordered to carry ammo and supplies only, not indigenous personnel. Without the knowledge that the last battle line had been breached, he threatened many of the soldiers who board any of his boats will be shot. As he came back for another supply trip back to Lamao, his harbor was overwhelmed by a chaotic scene of more panicked troops eager to escape the Japanese advance. He realized the last battle line has finally failed and understood the peril of these men and the danger of his own unit's position. He ordered all boats on dock to dump their cargo and prepare to take on passengers for an immediate evacuation mission. Then he organized the harbor evacuations because the retreating troops were endangering the boats by overloading and capsizing them, at the same time restore some form of order. From his dock, he sent out an urgent radio order and a general distress call for more needed boats from across Manila Bay. While all types of boats both military and civilian were volunteering to assist in the evacuation, more unarmed panicked troops kept flooding in. He ordered a number of these troops to create a guard perimeter, which a group of volunteers took the task to provide a security buffer outside the dock facilities from enemy incursions while the evacuation took place. As the night fell, the Japanese were slowly closing in, he ordered a number of the waiting troops with demolition skills to assist in preparing the harbor and facilities for destruction by using the ordnance from their last supply run so it wouldn't be useful to the Japanese. They used as much of their harbor's fuel resources to fill the tanks of all the incoming boats and any portable fuel canisters, since Lamao was also a fuel supply depot.

When all the troops and non-essential personnel were safely shuttled off, he ordered all remaining boats to start loading the full fuel canisters on board to be dropped off at a friendly port. The fuel was mainly used for his unit of OSP boats to remain functional since they didn't know where another fuel depot would be located. He coordinated the incoming and outgoing boats for the fuel removal, when the perimeter guards warned the Japanese were approaching their security perimeter. He ordered all of them to withdraw along with the entire harbor personnel to evacuate in any available boats. Since most of the docked boats were loaded with extra fuel tanks, the remaining harbor personnel had to sit on top of them as they departed. Liwanag along with several boats remained and waited for all the volunteer perimeter guards to arrive. They all came running in and jumped on to the boats, saying the Japanese were behind them only by several minutes. He finally gave the order for the destruction of the fuel tanks, facilities and harbor. As his boat departed, some the perimeter guards on board started firing at the direction of the Japanese to keep them at bay, but told them to cease fire to prevent the Japanese from locking on to their position from their weapon's muzzle fire which would endangering themselves further since they were all sitting on top of portable fuel tanks. They used the night's darkness to conceal their departure with only the sounds of their boats motors indicating their presence. The harbor's destruction took place late during the night with their withdrawal punctuated by a tremendous explosions of the fuel depot tanks which was seen across the Manila Bay.

His unit was forced to surrender after the declaration was broadcast from the Malinta Tunnel in Corregidor through the Voice of Freedom, for all USAFFE forces immediate surrender to the Japanese. At that point his unit was low on ammunition and fuel getting scarce, since they had been cut off from additional supplies and reinforcements by better trained and equipped, front-line Japanese forces. They surrendered in Nasugbu, Batangas on April 9, 1942 while transferring evacuating troops by boat from a withdrawal point off the most southern point of Bataan. Before they turned themselves over to the Japanese, he ordered the immediate destruction of their boats once they docked, which some burned from lighting the portable fuel tanks and shot out the bottoms to sink them. He was transferred by truck along with his unit to San Fernando, Pampanga, then crammed to standing room in train box cars as the Japanese overloaded them to more than double its capacity to Capas, Tarlac. Once they were offloaded in Capas, they marched the last three kilometers to the internment camp to be detained as POWs.

Liwanag was interned in Camp O'Donnell which was used as an internment camp for both American and Filipino prisoners of war in Capas, Tarlac from April 9 to August 4, 1942. The Japanese occupying force released a very small number of Philippine military personnel to return back to civilian life, of which he was one of the fortunate few. Their aim was to integrate them back to society but kept some of them under Japanese surveillance by Filipino collaborators loyal to the Japanese in the hope they would lead them to any Allied dissident forces. He could not return to his family for fear of endangering them by using them as leverage against him. He did not acknowledge any one of his civilian friends who recognized him, knowing that the Japanese might interrogate them. One of his friends knew the predicament he was in and notified the family of his whereabouts, which at that time believed he was still interned in Camp O'Donnell. Liwanag's wife doubted their friend that the Japanese were releasing Filipino military personnel, until she travelled to Capas and confirmed it on a posted form on the POW camp bulletin board of the 1,400 prisoners that were released. With so much time in his hands, he would take long walks to discreetly gather intelligence on Japanese positions, personnel, equipment and strength. Knowing that the US General Douglas MacArthur would return from Australia, the information will be useful in the re-take of Manila and its surrounding towns.

Once the US Forces returned to the Philippines and started driving back the Japanese forces, he sought out to rejoin the Allied forces but was recognized by a fellow POW who was interred with that had connections to the guerrilla forces. With their help, they both got back to Allied hands. Liwanag was processed and placed back in the USAFFE and reinstated to his rank of 1st Lieutenant on Jan. 28, 1945. What was left of his Offshore Patrol unit was mainly dismantled by the Japanese, the main portion were still interned in Camp O'Donnell, the unit's boats were scuttled or burned so Japanese forces won't have them. Only a small group of surviving personnel of the Offshore Patrol conducted guerrilla hit-and-run attacks. With the enemy intelligence he gathered along with his knowledge of the layout of Manila, he was assigned to assist US Army units preparing to enter the city. Five days later, his unit fought in the liberation of Manila.