History of the 2nd Regiment Nasugbu FAIT
[TRANSCRIPTION]
The Fil-American Irregular Troops or FAIT was a large guerrilla organization that operated in Luzon during the Japanese occupation. It was founded by the retired US Army Colonel Hugh Straughn. It had many affiliated units in many towns of Batangas, including two regiments in the western Batangas town of Nasugbu. The 2nd Regiment is the second of these. In this page1 is a transcription of a history of the 2nd Regiment, Nasugbu Fil-American Irregular Troops.
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UNITED STATES-PHILIPPINE ISLANDS FORCES
NASUGBU FIL-AMERICAN IRREGULAR TROOPS
2ND REGIMENT HQ, NASUGBU, BATANGAS
H I S T O R Y
IN NASUGBU, BATANGAS – Just after General Lim hastily left with his crack 41st Division to encounter the Japanese Forces in Tayabas, a handful of twenty-five Filipino leaders drew blood from their veins, wrote their names into a blood compact and vehemently swore to fight for American and [the] native land against the invading forces of Nippon. These intrepid Filipinos, on that dark night of January 10, 1942, like silent ghosts stealthily hiked from the town proper up to Palico Bridge, Bo. Palico, seven kilometers away and gathered all the dangerous dynamites there while Japanese sentries stood guard. Like the way they entered the garrison, they left unnoticed carrying the precious load of explosives which, if not stolen, would have been used by the enemy against the American and Filipino forces in Bataan. They presented to the USAFFE Headquarters in Bo. Looc, Nasugbu, Batangas said dynamites under the command of Major J. P. Rueda. And these men became the guerrilla officers who gave birth to the 2nd Regiment Nasugbu Fil-American Forces.
As the Guerrilla Fil-American Forces 1st Regiment was born on December 1, 1942 and founded by Lt. Col. Gasilao, Major Jose Samaniego, Tomas Fernandez, Miguel Catapang, Roman Garcia, and original and old 2nd Regiment Nasugbu Fil-American Forces was founded on January 10, 1942 by Lt. Col. Marcelino T. Enriquez, Major Pedro Sabarte, Teofilo Sobreviñas, Clemente Rosalia, Nemesio Serrano, Pablo Yzar (deceased) and Major Sofio Ramos and 2nd Lt. Igmedio Barcelon. Under the leadership of Col. M. Enriquez, the 2nd Regiment Nasugbu Fil-American Forces rendered valuable assistance to the noble cause by coordinating its command with the USAFFE Forces. From that fateful day of January 15, 1942, that guerrilla outfit sent men to Batangas province, Southern Manila and Laguna, getting military intelligence reports despite enemy vigilance and known cruelty, and rushed their military findings to the USAFFE Headquarters in Bo. Looc, Nasugbu, Batangas, then under the command of Major Jose P. Rueda. That USAFFE Intelligence Command (G-2 USAFFE) was under General Simon de Jesus and General Willoughby. 15 February 1942, another patriotic assistance rendered by the Nasugbu Fil-American Guerrilla Force, 2nd Regiment, was the procurement and hauling of 3,000 sacks of rice, hogs, and cattle to chip “Kalusbugan,” all duly sent to the starving defenders of [the] Bataan Peninsula. Said food supplies gave help and relief to those valiant American and Filipino fighters in that well-known sector and those guerrillas under Col. M. Enriquez, Major Pedro Sabarte and Teofilo Sobreviñas with hundreds of their guerrillas were materially responsible in tat S-4 job.
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10 January 1942 up to March 28, the Guerrilla Headquarters were in Nasugbu, Batangas, City of Manila, 922 Prudencio St., Sampaloc, Manila and in San Esteban, Macabebe, Pampanga. Contact men had to be established as Japanese spies increased in number while all the staff officers were hunted for their intensive anti-Japanese activities. General Willoughby, thru Major Jose P. Rueda, promised the Nasugbu Fil-American Guerrillas 2nd Regiment 1,000 rifles and ammunition to counterattack the enemy in Batangas Province, but the plan failed to materialize due to the enemy’s fast advance and superiority in air power. In [the] Manila Headquarters, Capt. Martiniano Vivo, Capt. Clemente Rosalia and Capt. Lorenzo Rivera served as the staff officers who successfully contacted the USAFFE Headquarters in Bataan thru the good office of a patriotic operative, Mr. R. Constantino, who had a transmitter.
In November 1942, Major Rueda, our military adviser and G-2 contact with the AIB, was apprehended by the Japanese MP through Filipino spies so that we had to be careful and laid low for some time. Connections with him were lost but contacts with Gen. de Jesus, under whom Major Rueda was working, were made. Col. Enriquez was doing this all the time. After two months of imprisonment in Fort Santiago, where he was tortured savagely by the enemy, Major Rueda came out alive miraculously, weak and hungry but more determined to fight the enemy. He was contacted again. This time, he was already planted by Gen. Simon de Jesus in the Bureau of Commerce so that he could go out to the provinces under this camouflage. It would not [be] amiss to say that under this camouflage of Major Rueda, our guerrilla outfit was able to secure and pass rice and foodstuffs to and from the province through the Japanese sentries up to July 1944. He was apprehended again, this time [for] espionage and underground resistance, by the Jap MP. Since then, we lost contact with him. However, our activities continued more than ever.
With the fall of Bataan and Corregidor, the Guerrilla Headquarters of said Nasugbu Fil-Americans in Macabebe, Pampanga, became very busy. The Commanding Officer, Col. M. T. Enriquez, turned the house of Mr. Antonio Manansala as a hospital and helped all escaped USAFFE soldiers from the “Death March.” They were given food and medicine by the organization as most of them were suffering from inanition, dysentery and malaria. Money was also given to those poor but valiant heroes of Bataan when they were strong enough to travel for their homes. Those staff officers who maintained said humanitarian clinic were the commanding officers and their enlisted men, coming from Batangas as well as from Pampanga itself. A coordination of command existed then between the socialist guerrillas under Col. Vicente Viray and Col. M. T. Enriquez of the Nasugbu Fil-American Forces. Guerrilla activities sprouted throughout the whole length and breadth of Luzon, giving an excruciating headache to the short-sighted Japanese propagandists and administrators who were vainly exhorting the lies about [the] Greater East Asia Bugaboo.
As stated above, the old Nasugbu Fil-American Regiment under Col. M. T. Enriquez, was founded much earlier than the Regiment headed by Lt. Col. Gasilao and David. Both regiments existed separately in command but the members mutually helped and cooperated with each other in all activities
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against the Japs. The patriotic activities of the 2nd Regiment dating from 15 January 1943 up to December 28, 1944 were, to wit: (1)
1. In our Headquarters in Manila, the Fil-American Guerrillas sabotaged the huge sugar lines which carried hundreds of sacks of sugar to the different Manila distilleries. 1st Lt. Lorenzo Rivera was responsible for that job of sugar sabotage and a number of the Fil-American boys were caught and killed by the Japanese in [the] Port Area in Fort Santiago.
2. Thru contact men, coordination of command existed with other guerrilla outfits as with Gen. Simeon de Jesus’s Guerrilla Organization (1st Lt. Angel Romero, the General’s trusted man, could testify to this effect) North Manila Unit under Col. Hernandez Magtanggol and the vast unit of Col. Manuel Dikit, thru his Adjutant, Marcelo Kabautan.
3. Intensive whispering campaign against the Japs by spreading San Francisco shortwave news, extolling the speeches of the late President Quezon and Roosevelt as well as the lightning-like successes of General MacArthur in the Pacific Area.
4. Sending guerrillas to the Los Baños concentration camp and ambushing Japanese sentries and killing them.
5. Rescuing and helping American airmen, to wit: (a) Lt. (JG) William Elwood Miller, age 25, Vf-32, USN; 73 Tumalo Ave., Bend, Oregon. (b) Lt. (JG) William S. Rising, VB-15 USN 100SE, 42nd Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. (c) John Ward Montgomery ARM 2/c, Vb-15 USN 807 Brown Avenue, Shebyville, Kentucky. These American airmen were under the care of a Fil-American 1st Lt. Emilio Bauyon.
6. Preservation of peace and order (a) preventing outlaws and thieves from harassing the innocent people in the countryside; (b) settling petty grievances among guerrillas and inculcating in them the virtues of patriotism and discipline.
7. Taking away cargoes of sugar from [the] Japanese launch “Erlinda.” (Under the personal charge of 1st Lt. Bauyon.)
8. Construction of command posts in the mountains for guerrillas and abodes for all innocent civilians wanted by the Japanese.
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(a) Supplied Major Jay D. Vanderpool with Intelligence Military Reports which he relayed to [the] S.W. Pacific Area Headquarters.
(b) Followed “sabotage and attack orders” by destroying Japanese communications and transportation lines.
(c) Holding and guarding transmitter positions of the Liaison Officer.
(d) Guarding the headquarters of the Liaison Officer.
(e) Tactical sounding of [the] Nasugbu breakwater, Nasugbu Bay, following orders from S.W.P.A. headquarters thru Major Jay D. Vanderpool. One of our Fil-American guerrillas was killed in this job helping guerrilla Domingo Angeles.
January 29, 1945. Col. M. Enriquez and Maj. Jose Samaniego were again ordered to proceed to [the] Panagsagan Site for an important conference. (Capt. Nemecio Serrano and 2nd Lt. Igmedio Barcelon were present.) And right ten and there, the “Sabotage” and “Attack Orders” from Gen. MacArthur were handed to us by Maj. Vanderpool, as there was an imminent landing on [the] Nasugbu shores, province of Batangas. They returned hastily to the town of Nasugbu, issued the “Sabotage” and “Attack Orders” while tersely advising the people to move one mile away from the shores of Nasugbu.
And in the bright morning of January 31, 1945, naval shelling rented and tore asunder the Japanese garrison in Wawa Point and San Diego Point. Airplane and dive bombers dropped lethal bombs on all Japanese key positions which we relayed to SWPA headquarters. The American forces of liberation landed on Nasugbu, Batangas. Every telephone wire was cut and collected while retreating Japanese soldiers were harassed by our Fil-American guerrilla boys. On the other hand, the evacuation center was built and donated by Maj. Jose Samaniego for that noble purpose.
At about 8:30 in the morning, Major Jose Razon, P.A., upon orders of the 11th Airborne Division Commander, sent for Col. M. T. Enriquez and his staff of the 2nd Regiment Nasugbu Fil-American Forces, to enter the town as quickly as possible.
Activities during the American Landing Operation in Nasugbu, Batangas:
(a) Labor Battalions of Fil-American Guerrillas were formed and unloaded the vast supplies from the American ships in Nasugbu Beach.
(b) Provided American spearheads with intelligent guides such
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The closing chapter of our guerrilla activities came after the total and complete annihilation of all Japanese forces in the Western Batangas Section, and Southern Manila. Our humble cooperation and coordination of command with the American forces goes a long way in the history of the fight, underneath which began during the intense battles of Bataan and Corregidor and ended with the complete annihilation of the enemy.
In passing, we appeal to the humanitarian spirit of the American authorities to recognize all the members, bona fide and worthy guerrillas of the 2nd Regiment, Fil-American Forces, composed of farmers, fishermen and the humble people of the countryside whose sacrifices were dedicated to the ideals of American democracy. For those few attached guerrillas who were recognized and inducted into the Philippine Army camps, the organization staff of the Nasugbu Fil-American Forces 2nd Regiment states that they possessed qualities which majority of the other unrecognized members have, to win recognition, too.
The Nasugbu Fil-American Guerrilla Organization 2nd Regiment is keeping faith and [the] memory of Gen. Charles Willoughby, G-2 USA, promised us 1,000 rifles thru Major Rueda – gave us deep inspiration for such patriotic intention strengthened our spiritual will in crusading against the cruel hordes of Nippon.
Commanding
Regimental Adjutant
| Military Advisers: |
: MAJ. JOSE P. RUEDA
MAJ. TOMAS CLEMENTE
|