The men behind the medals

Media

Part of Philippine Armed Forces Journal

Title: The men behind the medals
Language: English
Source: Philippine Armed Forces Journal Volume IX (No. 3) January 1956
Year: 1956
Rights
Fulltext: The Men the MED Inspiring the Recipient to Greater Achievements, Medals Are a Recognition of the Heroism or Meritorious Work of the lndivi- ·1 dual of Certain Organization, Encouraging Others. to Follow in the Same Spirit of His Example MEh~~;s an~r~iB~~::~:~nt;h:; symbolize the heroic or meritorious achievements performed by individuals of certain organization. Aside from being a reward or a souvenir, a medal, by its color and shape, inspires the recipient to achieve more. In turn he encourages others 1:<1 follow in the same spirit of his example. Earliest Medals The first form of medals to commemorate war service werp: recorded by Josephus in his "Antiquities of the Jews". It reveals that in the Srd century B.C. Alexander awarded Jonathan a golden button for successfully leading the Jews in battle.. The award was given as an hon01·ary reward accompanied by a testimony of hia { worth "in accordance with the custom of the King's kinsmen". ~n·;Behind fit D ALS • by first Lieutenant Horacio D. Burio Later Jonathan received another golqr:n button !or similat· ~ervice. The earliest medal in existence, for war service, was awarded tc John Kendal, an Englishman, in 1480. His medal is now in the British museum. A prior of the English Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, Kendal relieved Rhodes in 1480. From then on, the issuance of medals has been maintained by the rulers of England fot· <>ervice in naval, air or land battles. For gallant service the most famous award is the Victoria Cross, insti• \ luted in 1856. it canies with it a Jl{'nsion. Other countries throughout the wol'ld have their own medals. Some have a common medal, the Victory World War I medal which was adopted by them as victorious AI~ lies and associated Powers (i.e., Great Britaip. and her allies, F1ance, Belgium, Italy, Spain, ' U S.A., Japan, etc). This medal is generally issued to all who went i11to a theater of war in any capacity between the first declaration of war in 1914 and the date of the Armistice, Nov. 11, 1918. Antoher eommon medal was adopt~d for the vict,pt•y in World War II. P. I, Medals In the Philippines, medals were awarded for pre-war service. Today most of them are awarded for participation in Wodd War II, the Korean, Anti-Dissidence and Jolo Campaigns; the latte1· two campaigns fall under the peace and order drive in the country. In all these periods individual decorations covered by General Orders have been awarded. The rest of the veterans or Jlersonnel in the active service, after having met the required length of time for a service or campaign, are issued service or campaign medals, ribbons or badges. Of great interest are the decorations usually given for heroic St>l'vice. They are (1) l'>fedat for Valo-r - for action involving actual conflict with an enemy, distinguishing the doer conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty; (2) Distinguished Conduct Star - for acts of conspicuous courage in the face of an armed enemy; (3) Gold Cross - for gallantry in action not warranting the award of Medal for Valor or the Distinguished Conduct Star. World War II When the Japanese Forces landed in the Philippines the heaviest fighting remained for a number of months in Bataan. A few years later the American Liberation Forces came and the enemy cstab· \ished a stt'OJ¥hold in northern Luzon. In both of these places, the Filipino tlwps had demonst rated exemplary heroism as the f(·llowing examples will show: Distingui:<hed Conduct Star. - Lt. (then S/Sgt.) Jose Calugas, PS, was a USAFFE member in the defense of the Abucay Line in Bataan on January 16, 1942. His battery having retired to a gulley behind its former position after an intense enemy shelling which put all of its guns out of commission and resulted in numerous casual· ties, Lt. Calugas, without 1·egard fot· his life, reconnoitered the abandoned position, formed a gun crew with two officers, repaired one of the guns and with it con· tinued firing and succeeded in delaying the enemy advance. Meanwhile, the whole area was heavily shelled and continuously bombed by the enemy. Through sheer determination and extrao1 dinary heroism, he was able to destroy about 60 Japanese Vt'hicles and kill 2000 troops. The delay· ing action of this handful of die· hard USAFFEs working iffici· tntly and mechanically, lured th!' Japanese into believing that they were up against a potent force. This action gave the USAFFF. forces a breathing spell to reorganize successfully their already shattered lines and subsequently' to stage a terrific counter attack, which contributed to the delay of , . ( the sunende1· of Bataan, thereby enabling the Allies to establish their stronghold in the South Pacific, and return with victor;r. Distinguished Condvtt Star. - Pfc. Alejandz·o N. Arciga, Bulaoan, La Union, PA, at the age of 15 yean participated in the oper'ltions against i.he Japanese in thei1 sll·onghold in the mountain of San Fernando, La Union. In the final ' phase of the attack, the assaulting platoon of USAFFE riflemen were pinned down and forced to dig in by unusually heavy enemy fire. To advance the platoon any farther was deemed disaso·ous as the only route of , approach was covered with concentrated enemy fire; nor was it feasible to attack the flanks of the enemy positions as these were precipitous portions of the terrain. At 9 A.M., March 9, 1945, seeing the predicament of his platoon, Pfc. Arciga left his foxhole, climbed th(' precipice and cleared his way to the left flank of the enemy. After creeping cautiously to the rear and top of a cave pnsition, he lowered himself inside, killed aH the occupants and emerged with two carbines. Making his way to a neaz·by foxhole, he killed the enemy soldier inside and captured a machine rifle. Taking along the captured weapons, he went to the rear area to get a 5gallon can of gasoline. With this load he crept back to the Japanese cave positions and set them on fire. From a cave whose occupants were not previously accounted by Pfc. Arciga, four enemy soldiers with their uniftrms afiz·e, emerged but three were instantly shot to death by his companions. When small arms ammunition began to l.'xplode inside two burning caves. Pfc. Arciga, taking advantage of the confusion, dashed back to his platoon with a light machine-gun and two booby traps he picked up along the trail. /Jistingrtished Comluct Star. Sgt. Virgilio Mi!ana, PA, saw ac lion at Dain, Cervantes, llocos Suz·, at about 0100 hour, May 22,) !945, an enemy force of appmximutely 120 troops was observed following the trail leading to Dain, a banio situated on an upland and roughly 1800 yards WNW of Cervantes town. This enemy force, at about 0200 hours, opened fire with t:·ench mortars, rifles and several automatic weapons. Because of the limited visibility, however, Sgt. Mi\ana, Section Chief of the Cal. 50 MG, guarding the trail, hE:ld his fire until he could ascertain from an exposed portion of thE' trail that several enemy troops were already 150 yards near his emplacement. He ordered his security of six riflemen to fire at the approaching enemy and at the same time opened fire with his MG, killing instantly four l'nemy troops and forcing the rest to withdraw. An assault wave of 15 enemy troops rushed towards Sgt. Milana, during which he relieved his gunner and with the aid of his leader attacked this second assault wave, killing two enemy troops and fcrcing back the others. The enemy continued to fire frOm distant unobserved positions. TE'n minutes later, after the second assault wave was repelled, SO troops, who had in the meantimtcrept about 100 yards close to the MG emplacement, stood up and, protected by knee mortar and automatic-weapon fire, they rushed and threw hand gz·enades in the di!·eclion of Sgt. Milana. Holding on tenaciously to his ground, he again forced this assault wave to withdraw in utter conr'Usion. He ordered his 1·iflemen to take \·antage points faz·thez- to the left nnd right of the MG emplacement. A fourth assault wave of 50 troops rushed again but its leading elements were accounted for by the greater and deadlier' intensity of machine-gun fire from Sgt. Milana. Hostile fire from a more distant position increased to a new fury. Sgt. Milana stood his ground until the fourth assault wave was driven back. One enemy troop, however, who was able to get through the minimum range of the machine-gun, shot Sgt. Milana through his right bicep before being shot to death by one of the la.tter's security riflemen. Despite his wounds Sgt. Milana kept close vigil of the enemy. A fifth assault wave of 50 rush ed forward. A well-ranged and relentless hostile fire was now concentrated bn the MG emplacement, and although already bleeding profusely from his gunshot wound, Sgt. Milana remained on his post and with usual calmne~ continued to fire at the onrul'lhing enemy with g1·eate!' intensity un til finally, he was able pin to thC' ,t:"round this fifth assaultin~ force. The enemy for a while was di,c;organized from making another conC'erted attack. Shortly after, two platoons of friendly riflemen arrived to reinforce Sgt. Milana and his men, and proceeded to chase the enemy, forcing the !at· ter to withdraw from his position. Di11tinguished Conduct Sta,., - SjSgt. Gervacio H. Gal\'ez, PA, enC'ountered the enemy at Hill 99\V, Bessang Pass, Cervantes, llocos Sur in May, 1945. As platoon leader of "D" Co, 12lst In!., USAFIP, NL, he took the initia' tive of counter-attaC'king against the C'harging enemy troops. He took a squad of his men and, in utter disregard of his own personal safety, dashed toward the enemy's assaulting !OI'Ce. When he had nearly exhausted the ammunition 1n his magazine, Ill! jumped into an enemy foxhole and, with his remaining bullet, shot and killed its Japanese occupant. He then grabbed the dead Japanese' bayonet in order to arm himself, but at this juncture, an· Qther Japanese soldier jumped into the foxhole and grappled with him. As the)' Wf'l'e wrestling, anS!S9! Ger~acio H. Gof•ez other <'ncmy rushed with a deadly bn.yonf't charge. Sergeant GalvPZ \\'as able to pany the thrust, thus causing thP Japanese to lose h1s br.lanC'e and fall to his death in the precipice. Meanwhile, Sgt. Galvez gained the upper hand in the wrestling. Three Japanese soldiers then charged at him, one at a time. By means of sheer physical strength he protect~d himself by using the enemy as his shield; the three Japanese, likewise, fell to thPir death. Although se1·iously wounded, Sgt. Ga\ve1 still had the uppe1· hand ovtr hi!! adversary. In a short time, o fifth Japanese cha1ged' at him with a ba,1•onet but he was able to pull the dead Japanese on top of him so that this human cover rec<'ived the bayonet thrust. Almost 'inml taneously, he kicked the remain· ing Japanese down the precipice. Sgt. Galvez sustained 4 bayunet wounds, one on his forehead, one on his left leg, another on the middle finger of his left hand, and the last between the fourth and fifth fingers on his right hand. He killed 7 Japanese soldiers !lingle· handedly. By this magnificent displa~· of leadership in the most trying days of combat in the last strongholds of the Yamashita Line, his company was immcasur· ably inspired and fought its wa~· totlafetr. Korean Campaign Tht> defense of Korea resembles the defense of Bataan in that both were fought in a peninsula, the enemy was numerically SU]Ierior, and the terrain is hilly. In Korea, the Philippine Expeditionary Force under the United ~ations Command fought from 1950 to 1954. During the height of the UN offensive, the Filipino troops n·ached a point near the Yalu rive\· in North Ko1·ea. Late1·, they met the "human sea" counter-offt'nsive uf the Communists. Medal for Valor (Postluwlull,<). -Capt. Conrado D. Yap, Coast Artillery Coros, AFP, led his men at Yultong, North Korea !l'Om :l2 tv 23 Apl"il 1951. As Commanding Officer of tht• Tank Company, Tenth Battalion Combat Team, Philippine Expeditionary Foree to Korea, at 2300 hours on 22 April I9f>l, he was executing a defensive action as an advance ell'ment ol the frontiine defense of the United States Army when overwhcl mingly superior enemy forces assaulted tht- PEFTOK positiuns. Upon being informed b~· his most .. r!Yance unit that the enemy was 1 ushing in to overrun their hill position and that the leader of this unit, 1st Lt. Jose M. Artiaga JL, 0-1966 lnf., was hit, ,_Capt. Yap, determined to hold their position at all CO!>t, reinforced the t1 apped unit of Lt. Aruaga and fought the enemy for one hour without success. Receiving a personal report from a member of the trapped unit, who succeeded in extricating himself, that the l'nemy had already captured the position and that Lt. Artiaga and many otheJ·s were either killed, captured OJ wounded, Capt. Yap, in a desper ate effort to rescue the lost unit, ordered foJ· cover suppoit from the other units unde1· his commanrl and p~rsona!ly Jed a furious counter-attack to rescue the trapped unit despite an authority that he may w1thdraw. He succeeded in recovering the body of Lt. Artia· ga and that or three enlisted men when, not being satisfied with this and acting above and beyond the T!Sgl Juon Gobtiel call of duty, he proceeded to as sault an enemy emplacement about 300 yards away despite the hail of encmr fire until he !ell dead from an enemy bullet. Golrl c,.o,~ ( Postlnonous). - Cpl. Geronimo V. Naldnza Jr., acting squad leader of "B" Co, lOth BCT (PEFTOK), displayed conspicuous gallantry in action at ,Sang-gori North Korea, from 12 to 13 April I95l. Cpl. Naldoza, while leading his squad in an assault against a well-entrenched enemy on a hill, received instant burst of small arms and automatic fire from all directions, but he refused to seek cover. He instead zigzagged his way to an elevated ground and made a penonal hasty reconnaissance for a better position to observe the enemy emplacements, Tht·ough his keen and quick observation he spotted the exact enemy positions. He imme diately deployed his squad and dilected the fire by personally throwing hand-grenades which in a few minutes later .completely destroyed the enemy pill boxes. Leaving many of their dead comrades, the enemy withdrew. Again, Cpl. Naldoza, on April 13, 1951, with his squad, assaulted another enemr stronghold. This aggressive \earieJ· was on the lead as usual, inspil'ing his men to forge ahead with tenacity. Moments later, an enemy mortar shell hit him, rausing his instantoneous death. His personal heroism, skill, initiative and calmness under fire, greatly inspired hi~ men and made possible thf' l'uccessful rout of the numericallysuperior enemy from his we\1-entrenched position. It also enabled the battalion to advance with the least number of rasualtie~ on its ~ide. Gold Crolls (Posth1tmou~). - Pvt. Dionisio Sadang, machinegunner of 2nd Platoon, "B" Co., lOth BCT (PEFTOK), distinguished himself by const•icuous gallantry in action against the enemy at Sangri, North Ko1·ea. Cpl. Gero1timo V. Nolrlozo, Jr. On April 23, 1951, his company was in a defensive position against the massed attack of a numerical ly-superior enemy. Displaying great cou1·age in the face of continuous and heavy enemy fire, Pvt. Sadang stubbornly held his machine-g-un which was emplaced on the left flank of his company. Sensing that the greater bulk of the enemy forces was bent on destroying his machine gun, on his own initiative and at a great risk to his personal safety, he emplaced the gun on a strategic position at the rear and continued the fil·e with effective results. During the height of the fierce and savage fighting, he was seriously wounded by an enemy bayonet thrust. In spite of his wound, he tenaciously clang to his machine-gun and continued firing, causing more enemy casualties. The indomitable courage displayed by Pvt. Sadang contributed in a large measure, to the rout of the ('nemy who abandoned his "huPJIILIPPINES ARMED FORCES JOUR~AL man sea" advance. Peace and Other Campaign Years before the Korean Campaign began, the Philippine Government was already engrossed in the worsening peace and order condition in many provinces. The country had just risen from the ravages of war when the problem posed by dissidents and outlaws endangered the livea of many. After almost nine years of operations, the government troops considerably weakened the enemy. In solving the dissident and outlaw problem it was necessary to apply the policy of all~out-friend ship and all-out-force: .1/edal for Valor .- Lt. (then M/Sgt.) Funcisco M. Camacho (Posthumous) Virac, Catanduanes and StSgt. (then Cpl.) Weene Martillana, Guinobatan, Albay. - These enlisted men, members of the 1st Scout Ranger Regiment, posed as civilians and befriended Eddie Villapando, notorious Huk Commander who terrorized Cavite for many years. With it Cama· cho as leader, the two Scout Rangers established contact with Villapando in September, 1955. They skillfully and at great risk to themselves, cultivated th~- confidence of Villapando, Commander Guevan-a, and two Huk bodygual·ds. Then Lt. Camacho and S/Sgt. Martillana lured the Huka into taking ride with them in a jeep. ( Lt. Camacho who was at the wh~el, stopped at the vicinity of Barrio Tabon, Calauan, Laguna, on the pretense that the jeep needed some oil. He got out of the ,-ehiele to pour oil on the engine, while 8/Sgt. Martillana followed presumably to help him. At a pre-arranged signal they immediately opened fire on the H uks and, with concentrated fire, they were able to kill Commander VilJapando, Commander Guevarra and one Huk bodyguard. One of the H uks managed to shoot back, hitting Lt. Camacho, who died soon afterwat·ds. Distinguished Conduct S t a r (Posthumous). - On or about 0730 hours, October 26, 1951, S/ Sgt. Miguel Pastolero, after weeks of careful surveillance and employing all means of deception possible under the circumstances, succeeded in passing through dissident outpost guards and infiltl·a ted right into an enemy headquarters where ranking officers of the HMB organization were in a conference at Sitio Taroytoy, Barrio Manica, Libacao, Capiz. S/Sgt. Pastolero and his men, unmindful of the suspicious glances of the dissidents and pretending to be members of the group, mingled with this enemy freely, but began placing themselves in commanding positions to be able to deliver the greatest volume oi fire, if and when occasion for it arose. The dissidents, in the meanwhile, were talking about the plan of reorganization and indoctrina'tion of new members to replace those who deserted their ranks. The presence of the MIS Cornman,, ••. "' , - ,, ,;.f f M CAMACHO se4735 U. Frond"o M Comocho do Team was finally detected and the dissidents began to fire at the members of the Team, killing instantly Agent Jose Pasrorate and wounding S/ Sgt. Pastolero. Rec<>vering from the initial impact of the shot and in utter disregard of his personal safety, he loaded his Browning Automatic rifle and immediately fired at the dissidents, singling them out from the mass of humanity, then engaged in a mortal hand-to-hand struggle. S/ Sgt. Pasrolero was able ro empty his magazine before he expired and in his dying moments accounted for eight Huks out of the 22 dissidents killed during the melee. Distinguished Conduct Star. - On February 23, 1948, T/Sgt. Juan D. Gabriel volunteered as leader of a six man team in Huk-infested territory of Candaba, Pampanga. Disguised as Huk Commander Maya, he presided over a barrio meeting where he revealed his plans to attack government troops, thereby winning the confidence of a Huk supply officer who pointed out the headquarters of the Huk:o in the vicinity. In utter disregard of his persona! safety, T/Sgt. Gabl'icl contacted and brought three Huk commanders and the supply officer, one after the other, to a certain prE'-ananged plac<'· ~~~rl killed them single-handedly. The shooting of one of the Huk commanders with a carbine precipitated a retaliation by a strong H uk force of some 150 wellarmed men. T/ Sgt. Gabl"iel fought and held his ground from a lone advanced position until the Huks retreated with an additional loss of 12 men killed and 3 submachine guns, 1 Japanese machine-gun, 2 pistols, 1 typewriter and valuable enemy documents captured. By his ingenuity, tact end intrepidity, T/Sgt. Gabriel weakened the H uk forces, as well a!' put an end to the dissident activities of Commander Bundalian, who was responsible for 62 vari~ ous crimes. Gold Cross. - Sgt. Maximo Salazar led a squad of seven men against the numel"ically superior outlaw band under Kamlon at Su\':a-Suwa, Luuk, Sulu on August 12, 1952. There being no l"einforcements a\•ailable at the time, Sgt. Salazar was forced to order his men to hold their ground in spite of the enemy's advantageous position. At this cl"itical point, Sgt. Salazar fearlessly fired his weapon, retrieved g1·enades hurled at them and threw these explosives back to the outlaw band, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy and saving the lives of his wounded men whom he ordered to withdraw while he covered their withdrawal. He also saved the life of one Private First Class Manalang, a Dog Trainer, who was mortally wounded, by evacuating him to the rear during the heat of the fight. Three days after the encounter, Sgt. Salazar returned to the Command Post, crawling· on his belly, wounded at the back and foot. This daring feat performed by Sgt. Salazar was an inspiration to his comrades and has again demonstrated the sterling traits and qualities of the Filipino "fighting men in the field of batt!~. \Vhatever awards wer~ given to the heroes of Bataan and Corregidor, the Korean and the Peace and Order Campaigns bring credit to them and the country as well. But more than just awards, is the spirit of love for country tht\t the sacrifices of all veterans instiU into the people. Those under lesser privations and risks are expected to follow in the same spirit of their example. The Armed forcet ho~e the reoponoibility of molding their train••• into on etlecto~e fighting machine. In coorying out thi1 reoponoibiUty. we mull not for·' 9•' that a ,.rvicemon"o combat eftuti•enen i1 meooured not only in phyoicol fit· neu and military tkill but in willingneu to fight under the moll dioheortening conditionoond tootick itouttothe end. -MojorGentroiJohnM.De•ine ...