Vicente Lim - Early Life and Other Career Details

Early Life and Other Career Details

Too young to get involved in the Philippine-American war, the fourteen-year old Vicente was reputed to have organized the children his age to serve as couriers for the forces of General Malvar operating in the Calamba area.

On 1908, Vicente completed his 2-year program in teacher education at the Philippine Normal School. The following year, however, he returned to the Philippine Normal School for further studies. His academic performance and athletic build impressed one of the supervisory teachers who encouraged him to take the entrance examination for the United States Military Academy at West Point which the Bureau of Civil Service would administer. He came out second but cleared the federal requirements as the first choice for the place at the Academy.

He claimed that he got the appointment not through the English portion, but rather the math portion of the exam, which he topped; he could hardly speak English that time.

At West Point, Lim became known as the “Cannibal” because of his dark complexion, his imperfect command of English, his origins as a colonial, and the general ignorance of his classmates about the Philippines. Vicente Lim was one of the 133 cadets who entered the Academy in 1910, but only 107 survived the course, with Lim occupying the 77th place. Upon his graduation on 12 June 1914 (Lim received a commission as a second lieutenant in the Philippine Constabulary), Manuel Quezon, then Resident Commissioner in Washington, advised Lim to stop by Europe on the way home to study the European armies. Lim was in Russia in August 1914, when World War I broke out. He managed to make his way back to the Far East via the Trans Siberian Railway.

Vicente Lim was a good bridge player, which he learned at West Point. In 1914, when Philippine High Commissioner Manuel Quezon visited him, he spent time touring the main square doing punishment tours for playing too much bridge.

In 1916, Lim was assigned to the faculty of the Philippine Constabulary School (later on Camp Allen) at Baguio City. Lim taught courses in Military Art, Military Law and Topography and also handled Equitation and Athletics.

Maj. Vicente Lim commanded the 45th Infantry Battalion, Philippine Scouts, that was based on Fort McKinley (now Fort Bonifacio).

For some time, Vicente Lim commanded the ROTC of San Juan de Letran.

American Prejudice Towards Filipinos

From his student days at West Point, Lim had always shown a sensitiveness to any form of racial discrimination. He was reflective enough, however, to recognize his tendency to regard any slur on the Philippines and the Filipinos as a personal insult and to respond in personal – and often physical – way. He was completely intolerant of American enlisted men failing to salute Filipino officers. In 1918, in behalf of the 11 Filipinos in the Philippine Scouts, he presented to Quezon a case for uniform retirement and pension policies for the institution. Lim pointed out the inequity and asked that the laws covering disabled Americans also apply to the Filipinos.

In 1922, he clashed for the first time with American General Douglas MacArthur, then, in command of the Philippine Scouts Brigade. Lim rejected a reassignment from Fort McKinley to Corregidor when it became apparent that the reason for the order was to free living quarters at the fort for incoming American officers. MacArthur relented and allowed Lim to remain in McKinley.