Pearl Harbor & Camp John Hay Bombed
WORLD War II started when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. She fired the first shot on December 7, 1941. The next day 8 December, Camp John Hay in Baguio City suffered from the bombs of Japanese planes.
The diary of my late father, Dep. Governor Luis Pawid Sr. has this to say:
“There was a rush telephone message transmitted to me by the over-excited operator in Banaue at noon on December 8, 1941. The message is as follows:
“‘Baguio, December 8, 1941, the deputy provincial governor, subprovince of Ifugao, through the provincial governor, Bontoc; Camp John Hay bombed by Japanese planes early this morning. War is declared between the United States and Japan. Cooperate, call all reservists your jurisdictions. Report immediately to their mobilization centers.’ Sgd. Major Verzosa, P.A. District Commander, Mountain Province.”
“...Already the people in the poblacion were yelling the information. I had to think for a while how all the reservists in my jurisdiction could be called within the shortest possible time. I immediately relayed the message to all my Municipal Mayors, giving them some suggestions and directions.
“By the end of the month, majority reported and I had to rush to Bontoc to turn over my civil responsibilities to the Provincial Governor, before I would report to Camp Holmes (in La Trinidad, Benguet), my Mobilization Center.
“But the Governor told me the enemy occupied Baguio, and Major Verzosa and the defenders of the city are retreating already. Col. Green with his constabulary force retreated with the Provincial Officials to Banaue, Ifugao.”
The retreat of both American and Pilipino military officers and their men continued. Ironically, Kiangan town was convenient. Pawid continued:
“Col. Horan with sixty of his scouts retreated to Kiangan on Jan. 7, l942, having been cut off near Itogon, where he disbanded the rest of his command. He could not proceed to Manila, so he decided to come back to the Mountain Province with only the natives, mostly Ifugao Scout soldiers.”
Upon hearing the retreat of Col. Green in Banaue, Col. Horan asked for his presence in Kiangan for a conference. Both decided to “combine their forces, establishing their barracks at Kiangan.”
“Col. Horan became still the supreme commander of the United States Army in the Mountain Province, and Col. Green of the Constabulary his subordinate. It appeared that both Cols. retreated from Baguio when the enemy was entering the city.
Col. Green with his force retreated toward Bontoc while Col. Horan with his soldiers retreated to Nueva Vizcaya with the idea to proceed to the south. He passed via the Bokod-Ambuclao road and reached as far as the Bobok Saw Mill where he left most of the heavy army weapons and equipments, because the road from that point to Nueva Vizcaya was only a horse trail.”
During that conference, both officers decided that “a patrol must proceed to salvage some of the arms and ammunitions for the combined force at Kiangan.”
My father was selected by Col. Green to lead the patrol since he knew the terrain in the Bokod, Kabayan and Buguias towns in Benguet where he served as District Public Schools Supervisor before his appointment in l934 as the first civilian governor of Ifugao. Bobok Sawmill is located in the mid-western part of Mount Pulag.
The Dep. Governor called on Cpl. Alberto Puguon of the Constabulary to head a security squad for the civilian cargadores whom he planned to recruit near the boundary between Ifugao and Benguet.
Road laborers were included “...because, after taking the arms and ammunitions, we had to proceed to Suyoc and Mankayan Mines to get dynamites to help blast (sections of) the Mt. Trail (Halsema Highway) and bridges to slow the advance of the enemy from Baguio.”
The “Patrol” moved out of Kiangan on 9 January l942 following short cut trails through the jungles reaching Buguias after two days. “We learned that the enemy was already repairing the national road as far as Km. 42, and that (enemy) patrols use to come down as far as Ambuclao village,” he added.
Pawid’s patrol proceeded towards Bobok Sawmill avoiding the villages. “I had to keep the purpose of the patrol as secret as possible,” he wrote.
“The patrol succeeded to get rifles and ammunitions as many as we could carry. Corporal Puguon escorted back the cargadores to Kiangan ... while I proceeded to the Mines to get the dynamites. 50 cases were carried out and we helped to blast road sections from Km. 78 to Km. 90m,” Pawid added.
The “patrol” returned to Kiangan about the end of January l942 where he “...reported to the commanders and also to the Provincial Governor of our accomplishments.”
With additional arms at hand, Col. Horan moved his Headquaters to Mayaoyao and left behind Col. Green with Capt. J. Guitters of the Philippine Scouts in Kiangan.
To be continued...
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Note: The narrator is the youngest son of the late Luis I. Pawid of Kiangan, Ifugao and Angeline Laoyan of La Trinidad, Benguet. He is a journalist by profession, former Mayor of La Trinidad, Benguet, and former executive director of the defunct Cordillera Executive Board, Cordillera Administrative Region. He now resides in New Jersey, USA.