A Soldier and a Gentleman
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Col. Manzano in full uniform taken in 1946.
At a time in dire need of heroes, this little-known colonel was truly a larger-than-life figure and, as Chris Schaefer of the Philippine Scouts Heritage Society noted, “one of the most important characters to emerge from the Filipino side of the Second World War.” But sadly, the story of his extraordinary military career, his fascinating life, has virtually disappeared from the historical record.
His official military records had been destroyed in a devastating fire at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, Missouri on July 12th, 1973, which destroyed approximately 16 to 18 million Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF) documenting the service history of former military personnel discharged from 1912 to 1964. Manzano’s official war records were part of that loss.
But let’s retrace exactly how the young Narciso Manzano actually became one of the first Filipinos to be an officer in the US Army:
Young Manzano enrolled in the University of Santo Tomas. He was a brilliant student, graduated very young at 18 years old, and took a position in the faculty of the mathematics and engineering department. Soon after he assumed his faculty position, the US Army began recruiting engineers in the Philippines. Those selected would become commissioned officers in the US regular Army, equal in salary and rank to American officers. Manzano, given his early ambition to be an officer in the Spanish Army, immediately applied. He was turned down because he wasn't 21. He also didn't meet the Army's physical height and weight requirements. He looked and weighed much like a 16-year-old American. However, several weeks later, he applied again. This time he lied about his age. He also stuffed himself unmercifully with bananas to raise his weight. He passed the initial screening.
Photo of Manzano’s championship soccer team with its mix of players most members of the wealthy Manila elite and an interesting mix of other team mates. He is 18 years old and front and center holding what looks to be the game ball which may indicate he was the team captain. He was a civil engineering student at Santo Tomas Univeristy at the time. They had just won the tournament played at Luneta Park.
The US Army required all candidates who passed the initial screening to take a written exam. He took it and passed - No. 1. Time had passed, however, and the need for engineers had changed since the initial recruitment announcement was made. The U.S. Army decided it didn't need many more officer candidates and imposed another exam, a much more difficult and oral one to be conducted by a panel of three officers.
Now, this was a problem. Although Manzano read English easily, particularly mathematical and engineering texts, he had a very limited ability to speak the language. “Yes,” “no,” and “maybe” had been enough to get to where he was at. He was staring into the jaws of linguistic failure.
When Manzano presented himself to be examined, he was given an equation reflecting an engineering problem which most American engineers recognized and had the solution committed to memory. But he had no experience with this particular problem; he had not been taught it at university. He was asked if he knew the solution. He responded, "No."
They were about to send him out as a failed candidate, when he said in his primitive English, "I derive the answer." He proceeded to fill the chalk board with mathematical manipulations and ended up with the required solution. The examining officers were impressed. All of them knew the solution, but none of them would have been ready to work it out mathematically. His English may have been limited, but he was a brilliant mathematician and engineer. He passed.
His ambition was fulfilled. He would be a commissioned officer, not in the Spanish, but in the US Army, that juggernaut of power that had conquered the Philippines, built the Panama Canal, and made the difference in defeating Germany in WWI! Moreover, his status in the eyes of his Filipino peers soared out of sight! He loved it. He was an officer in the US Army and relished the opportunities to perform to the highest of expectations.
This photo shows President Quezon at Letran College, 1938 or ‘39 where he had asked Col. Manzano, standing behind Quezon’s right shoulder, to develop an ROTC program for the then new Philippine Army.
Always colorful and often controversial, Col. Manzano was the highest-ranking Filipino officer on active duty serving in the United States Army directly under Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s command in the Philippines during World War II.
At the end of the war, Sergio Osmeña, Sr., the last President of the Philippine Commonwealth government, and Maj. Gen. Basilio Valdes, Chief of Staff of the Philippine Army who was about to retire to private life as a professor of surgery at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, asked Manzano if he would agree to become the Chief of Staff of the Philippine Army. Manzano said yes.
However, in his 1983 memoir, Manzano stated that “It appears that MacArthur disapproved Osmeña’s recommendation probably based on the fact that one of MacArthur’s chief aides, Maj. Gen. Courtney Whitney, did not like me,” a reference to the contentious and challenging relationship they had throughout the war.
Manuel Roxas succeeded Osmeña in 1946 as the first elected President of the newly independent Philippine Republic. For the first time, Filipino political leaders were no longer subject to American oversight. Roxas asked Manzano to leave his post in the US Army and head the Philippine Armed Forces. But Manzano turned Roxas down, deciding that he could not turn his back on his commitment to the US Army. He also had ambitious plans to return to the US and be assigned to command the US military forces in Central America, with headquarters at the Panama Canal. He was an officer with the US Army’s 14th Corps of Engineers starting before the outbreak of World War II and throughout the war he continued serving this unit. The Corps had been in charge of the Canal’s construction. He had it on good authority that because of his Spanish family bloodlines, his fluency in Spanish, his extremely distinguished service record, and the tradition of assigning an officer from the Corps of Engineers to the position, the post could be his for the taking. He also could get his promotion to full general. Tragically this never happened, apparently because of an unexpected health issue he suffered soon after the war, which forced him into early retirement.
These two photos were taken when Col Manzano was a young man in his 20’s and assigned to the 14th Corps of Engineers. Photo likely taken in Bataan at a studio while on maneuvers where he surveyed much of the Bataan peninsula used as the site of the retreat during the operation of War Plan Orange.
Before the war, as an officer with the US Army 14th Corps of Engineers, he oversaw the surveying and mapping of much of Central Luzon, Bataan, and Corregidor in what turned out to be preparations for the eventual implementation of War Plan Orange-3 (WPO-3), the US Army’s strategically ambitious plan not to fully engage the Japanese at the landing beaches but to retreat to Bataan and Corregidor and hold off the Japanese forces there until reinforcements arrived.
Manzano was one of the officers with the 14th Corps of Engineers in charge of surveying and building all the infrastructure on Bataan and Corregidor that would make the retreat possible. His last two assignments before the outbreak of the war were to map the Bataan Peninsula and then prepare it for the war—building docks, warehouses, roads, and a water supply. He was directly involved in pre-combat and combat activities throughout the war, putting his body and those of the men he commanded on the line time and time again. He was continually at the center of many of the war’s most important engagements.
Photo of a dinner party Col Manzano and his wife Charo gave for fellow officers of the 14th Corps of Engineers at the Officers Club at Fort McKinley, Manila, likely upon his promotion to Major. Manzano is at the front of the table looking at the camera over his left shoulder. His wife is at the other end of the table. This photo reflects the life style he enjoyed before the war.
James Zobel, Director/archivist of the MacArthur Memorial Museum, pointed out in a talk he gave at The Marshall Foundation (“The Strained Relations of Marshall and MacArthur,” September 14, 2017), the war was “an Engineers War.”
In Karl C. Dod’s book on the history of the Corps of Engineers in the war in the Pacific (The United States Army in World War II, the Technical Services, the Corps of Engineers: The War Against Japan, Washington), one of the most comprehensive and authoritative retellings of this crucial aspect of the war in the Pacific, Col. Manzano is cited no less than 14 times for conspicuous valor. In the last paragraph of the last page of the last chapter, “The Fall of the Philippines,” when the Corps of Engineers’ actions had come to an end with the surrender of the American and Filipino forces to the Japanese invaders, and the guerrilla movement had commenced, the last officer mentioned by Dod is Col. Narciso L. Manzano. “With the surrender on 6 May (1942) of the remaining USFIP forces on Corregidor and the Southern Philippine Islands, all organized engineer operations came to an end.... Within a few months, guerrilla warfare began. One of the leaders was Col. Fertig, who left Corregidor by plane on 29 April for Mindanao, where he helped organize the guerrilla forces.... Col. Manzano made his way to Manila and established an intelligence network. Information gathered by his agents was sent to Fertig on Mindanao and from there to Gen. MacArthur’s headquarters in Australia.”
At the beginning of the war, as the Japanese forces were advancing faster than the American and Filipino forces could safely retreat, Gen. Wainwright had to rely heavily on his engineers. It was they who had to keep open roads and bridges ahead of the retreating columns—not an easy task in view of the Japanese supremacy in the air. It was the engineers, too, who had to prepare all bridges for demolition and assure their destruction after friendly troops had passed over. Col. Manzano was one of the commanding officers of the engineers involved in all these activities. And it was Manzano, along with his American co-commander, Lt. Col. Skerry, who led their engineers in setting the explosives to blow up the bridge at Calumpit, the last and most vital bridge in Central Luzon.
“At a time in dire need of heroes, this historically little-known colonel in the US Army in the Philippines was truly a larger-than-life figure.”
“The story of the 14th Corps of Engineer’ work at Calumpit is one of the most dramatic of the Philippines campaign,” notes Dod. When Gen. Wainwright ordered that the bridge had to be destroyed, the Army engineers led by Manzano who were assigned this task were on the wrong side of the bridge, the Japanese side. Manzano requested that Skerry wait to blow it up until he and his men could get across to their side. Skerry assured him he would, but Wainwright had no choice: the bridge had to be blown as the Japanese were advancing too fast in order to save the entire American and Filipino forces. Skerry, despite his concern for Manzano and his men’s safety, had no choice but to destroy the bridge. But somehow Manzano and another of his American officers were able to evade the Japanese on their own, making their way with all their men to Bataan.
During the Battle of Bataan, then-Lt. Col. Manzano was appointed G-2 (intelligence officer) of Brig. Gen. Simeon de Jesus, Military Intelligence Service (MIS) because of his extensive knowledge of the entire terrain of Bataan and Corregidor. As G-2 Manzano was in charge of organizing and commanding intelligence operations. Although other military organizations on Bataan and Corregidor had their organic intelligence staffs, MIS was MacArthur’s primary intelligence outfit throughout the battles in Bataan. Chris Schaefer of the Philippine Scouts Heritage Society noted that in Bataan, “Manzano fought side by side with his men to the bitter end.”
Manzano was bunkmates with Carlos P. Romulo (future President of the United Nations General Assembly) who eventually was evacuated to Australia along with MacArthur.
Manzano was finally captured along with all the other American and Filipino forces upon their total surrender to the Japanese forces commanded by Gen. Masaharu Homma. It was the single largest defeat of American military forces in the history of the US military. Manzano was captured on April 9, 1942 near Gen. King’s headquarters and was driven—most US Army officers were driven in vehicles and did not have to endure the horrors of the Death March—along with Gen. Wainwright’s staff, to Camp O’Donnell, arriving on April 10. He was not released until August 3.
About 60,000 Filipino and 9,000 Americans were housed at Camp O’Donnell. During the few months in 1942 that it was used as a POW camp, about 20,000 Filipinos and 1,500 Americans died there of disease, starvation, neglect, and brutality. As the highest-ranking Filipino officer, Manzano was appointed personnel officer for the Filipino side of the camp. He was in charge of burials, and he risked his life falsifying records to cover up the escapes of large numbers of Filipinos soldiers.
With the surrender of such unexpectedly large numbers of American and Filipino forces on Bataan and Corregidor, the Japanese had no concept of how to logistically support such an overwhelming body of prisoners. Manzano’s son Jaime reveals how his father got himself released with many other Filipinos and not held as an American Army officer: “The Japanese head of the prison assembled the prisoners and announced a policy to send Filipino soldiers 'home to die.’’ They were dying in huge numbers because most of them were deathly sick, be it from dysentery, malaria, or were just starving to death.”
Jaime Manzano continues: “Reducing the numbers by turning the Filipinos free must have sounded reasonable to them. They may have hoped that their release would gain them some political advantage from the Filipinos who, they may have thought, were not inclined to be loyal to the American rulers. While announcing the ‘home to die’ policy, the prison commander called for the Filipinos to step out from the assembled formations. I think one of Dad's fellow officers nudged Dad to step forward. He did to ask a question from the prison commander. He informed the commander that he was a US Army officer, but also a Filipino. He asked which group he should stand with. The prison commander gruffly motioned him to stand with the Filipinos, which he did.”
If he had remained with his fellow American officers, he would have been faced with the horrible fate of spending the rest of the war as a prisoner of war. The story of the American prisoners of war and how they suffered under the Japanese are some of the most horrendous of the war. In the Philippines, they were used as slave laborers and lived under the most inhumane of conditions. Even worse, many were shipped off to Japan or other locations in Asia on the infamous “death ships” where very few survived.
Jaime Manzano goes on to explain how an even odder twist of fate probably saved his father’s life: “While being processed for release, the Japanese interviewer checked my dad’s name against a list he had before him. He asked if Dad was Capt. Manzano. My guess is they were looking for him since his name appeared on survey maps of Bataan. My dad responded that he wasn't Capt. Manzano. He was Col. Manzano. Dad had been promoted (from captain to lieutenant colonel and then full colonel) in the field by one of his commanders. So he was passed for release.” If they had realized he was the Capt. Manzano whose name appeared on all the survey maps, he would have surely not been released and most likely have been brutally tortured and then executed.”
Upon Manzano’s release from Camp O’Donnell, Gen. MacArthur appointed him head of intelligence for the Central Luzon area through orders signed by Gen. Willoughby. Before the surrender he had already been charged with an official mission by Gen. Wainwright: “To develop an intelligence net on Luzon as soon as possible.” A memo to the Chief of Staff and signed by Gen. Willoughby, included a “Revised General Intelligence Plan for the Philippines.” It stated that “The area not now adequately covered for intelligence at the present time is Luzon.... The establishment of independent intelligence nets has in fact been encouraged in the past.... These nets can well be preserved, but the time has come to coordinate their activities.... Manzano has the best contact with the Luzon guerrilla units and is well known to them.” The memo recommended that Manzano be appointed director and coordinator of Luzon intelligence activities and directed area and military district commanders to assist Col. Manzano as much as they could.
As a result, Manzano was at the center of many of the most important and crucial intelligence activities during the war. Col. Manzano and his operatives were under extreme danger. As the officer in charge of intelligence in the Central Luzon area, Manzano was tasked with the coordination of all guerrilla units, and was then privy to information and operations dealing with spies, traitors, war profiteers, and collaborators in this area. These were highly sensitive and controversial operations which had to be handled with extreme caution, secrecy, due diligence, and discretion.
When Gen. MacArthur landed on Leyte, the Army Service Command (ASCOM) was set up at the request of President Osmeña. This group had the task of going into an area after it was occupied by US troops and pacifying it as soon as possible by settling civilian claims, constructing roads and bridges, setting up medical clinics, and so on, and turning the area back over to the Philippine government as quickly as possible. Gen. Hugh G. “Pat” Casey was appointed head of ASCOM. He, in turn, appointed Col. Manzano head of all civil affairs.
Col. Manzano was first and foremost a patriot of the highest order, a superb officer, a leader of men, whose exploits earned him a recommendation for the Medal of Honor. He was always more than fair in his judgements of those he served with and who served under him, but he could also be brutally honest and harsh with assessments of not only those he fought against, but also those he fought with.
Forced into early postwar retirement because of medical issues directly related to his war activities Col. Manzano first went to live and study in Spain. The cost of living was more favorable to his limited military retirement benefits and he actually did go back to school, studying along with one of his sons.
Photo above taken in about 1922 on his return from Fort Belvior, Virginia, probably taken in Spain after his training at the Army Engineering School. FYI, he journeyed around the world three times over the decades by ship, the other trips were in 1935 and 1952.
He eventually returned to the US, settled in San Francisco and discovered he had a knack for buying and selling real estate. Just like everything he did during his long and distinguished military career, Col. Manzano rose to the top again in the real estate business.
Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in the Philippines on September 21, 1972. For many this was historically a very traumatic event. For Col. Manzano it was particularly and personally upsetting. He had put his life and those of so many valiant men and women on the line fighting to make the Philippines, the first Asian democracy, free. In private conversations, Manzano unabashedly expressed strong enmity towards Marcos, a person he referred to as a “poser, a phony, a fake, a war profiteer.” In his position as an officer in the US Army and as head of intelligence for Central Luzon during World War II, Manzano had firsthand knowledge of those men and women who truly performed heroic acts. He knew Marcos was not one of them. Manzano knew Marcos had falsely claimed he was a war hero, fabricated stories to substantiate this myth, and actually given himself fake awards, medals, and honors. Knowing this for a fact, Manzano could not stand idly by.
He proceeded to wage a one man-campaign to make the US government stop funding the Marcos dictatorship. This would be his last stand, his one-man battle against Marcos. He took this fight extremely seriously, almost personally. Using his connections as a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1972 and 1976, he was well acquainted with a number of high-ranking Democrats. As a retired US Army colonel, he had also become acquainted with a number of Washington politicians, especially his local congressional representatives and his two California senators. Soon after Marcos’s declaration of martial law, Manzano started personally lobbying the US Congress to end US funding of the Marcos dictatorship.
I met Col. Manzano in 1975. I took the job as his personal secretary to assist him in his anti-martial law efforts. I recall to this day the first time I met him.
His address was 1333 Jones Street, the Comstock Apartments, Nob Hill, a rather fashionable location, one of the most exclusive addresses in San Francisco. His was in one of the penthouse apartments. I remember that when he opened his door and welcomed me into his more than well-appointed home, he had on dress slacks and wing-tipped shoes, a very well-starched and pressed white dress shirt, no tie or jacket, but a cardigan sweater. It was old-school formal casual.
The apartment had spectacular views of San Francisco, the Bay, both bridges, sitting as it did atop Nob Hill. I was immediately introduced to his wife, Charo, one of the most handsome and elegant elderly women I had ever met. The Colonel was polite, a bit formal, with old-world charm, impeccable manners, and was direct to the point. He showed me around, highlighting his own personal artwork handsomely framed and hung around the apartment. He was an accomplished painter in the Greco-Roman classical tradition. He spoke seven languages and as he would share with me later he was also a rather accomplished devotee of the tango. As I came to know this fascinating man it all made perfect sense.
Col. Manzano, center with his wife Charo and daughter Elena, taken at Fort Belvoir, Fairfax County, Virginia on Dec. 15, 1945 with some visiting Filipino officers.
It didn’t take long to realize that he came from a Filipino mestizo Spanish upper-class background, often interjecting a Spanish word, phrase, or idiomatic expression into his conversation, spoken with a perfect native Spanish accent. However, soon upon meeting him, I immediately became aware of the fact that he did not suffer fools gladly. Col. Manzano was a man of very firm beliefs, highly opinionated, and not one to pull his punches when it came to people and things he had a low opinion of. In his memoirs, he is quite vocal about his contempt for certain personalities whom he felt betrayed their country or performed below expectations.
Col. Manzano with fellow members of the Casino Espanol, Manila, circa 1937, a very exclusive social club with Filipino membership very limited. He is center right with the striped tie, holding his glass up for a toast in his right hand.
Col. Manzano’s life reflects many of the grand themes of Filipino history, especially throughout the American colonial period and particularly during WWII. He made valuable contributions as a member of a prominent ilustrado family that played an eminent role in that history. As the highest-ranking Filipino officer in the US Army during the war, he had to transcend both the colonial and racist attitudes that prevailed during that period. He showed his commitment to his country and the US military he so proudly served and to the men and women who served under him by putting his life on the line for freedom. As a commanding officer, he not only fought the enemy with courage and dedication, but he also did not shy away from speaking truth to power with his commanding officers, especially Gen. Douglas MacArthur.
This is a revised excerpt from the Introduction of the soon-to-be published biography of Col. Narciso l. Manzano.
Co-author of “Philip Vera Cruz, A Personal History of Filipino Immigrants and the Farmworkers Movement” (University of Washington Press) plus he has written numerous articles about the Philippines for such publications as The Far Eastern Economic Review, BusinessWorld Magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle and Examiner and The Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars. He lives in the Philippines and NYC.
