Henry Becker's Certification on the Gold Area Unit
[TRANSCRIPTION]
The Gold Area Unit was a guerrilla organization affiliated Free Luzon Intelligence Echelon of the 6th Military District on the island of Panay. This unit was ordered created in Bauan, Batangas by one Mariano A. Tibay, who would also be its commander. In this page is a transcription1 of a certification issued by one Henry Becker, supposedly an American intelligence operative, in support of the Gold Area Unit’s application for recognition by the United States Army.
C E R T I F I C A T I O N
I, Henry Becker, Intelligence Officer of the United States Army since 1935 and still active in the Philippines, do hereby state as follows:
That I personally and officially know ex-Captain Mariano A. Tibay, PA;
That in the middle part of 1943, Capt. Tibay contacted me in Manila and told me that he had organized a unit with a total strength of 1500 men, 500 of which were active, performing sabotage and intelligence activities with Manila and Rizal Province as its sectors of operation;
That I have knowledge of the fact that said Capt. Tibay and his unit were inducted into the service of the 43rd Division, IV Philippine Corps, later 6th Military District (Panay), operating in Luzon, sometime in 16 September 1942 under the overall command of Brigadier General Macario Peralta Jr.;
That upon induction of the aforementioned unit in the then 6th MD, Capt. Tibay was designated Commanding Officer of the Suicide and Sabotage Unit with the rank of Captain and subsequently promoted to the rank of Major in March 1943, by Major Ildefonso Fernandez, alias “H. J. Hocson,” CO, of General Peralta’s unit operating in Luzon and given Manila and Rizal as his sector of operation;
That during the period from the date of induction up to sometime in January 1944, the Suicide and Sabotage Unit under Major Tibay performed intelligence and sabotage activities in the sectors of Nielson Airport, Nichols Field, Ft. McKinley and other districts of the City of Greater Manila engaged in the destruction of gas and oil drums, smuggling arms and ammunition, pilferage of enemy communication lines and supplies, as well as furnishing [the] undersigned with periodical reports of intelligence activities;
That on 1 February 1944, I had also come to know that Major Tibay was assigned Commanding Officer of the Gold Area Unit, 6th MD, with station in Maricaban Island, Bauan, Lemery and parts of Mabini, Batangas Province, performing combat, intelligence and sabotage activities with an approximate strength of 1600 officers and men, 600 of which were active and equipped with arms of various categories, including bolos, operating simultaneously with the few members of the unit left in the City of Manila and Rizal Province who were engaged in intelligence and sabotage activities;
That I have known Major Tibay and the men under his command to be daring and relentless in the performance of guerrilla and underground activities in the sector assigned to their unit and have performed their duties to the best of their knowledge and abilities;
That I firmly believe that the unit under Major Tibay deserves recognition of its services and award for meritorious achievement in the field.
April 25, 1947.