February 1945: The Massacre of Civilians After the Famous Rescue of Los Baños POWs
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Filipino guerillas
Lying between these towns was another internment camp for American and Allied Civilian POWs at the University of the Philippines College of Agriculture in the town of Los Baños, next to Calamba. These towns are adjacent to two lakes, Laguna de Bay and Taal Lake, the rendezvous rescue points for downed American aviators. The guerrillas in these areas as well as the civilians provided protection, medical care and sustenance to these aviators and even to some of the civilian POWs who escaped the prison camp to whom they smuggled food. Harboring the “enemy” meant death not just for an individual, but also for an entire family or village.
Baker Hall, UP College of Agriculture in Los Baños
Colonel Masatoshi Fujishige was the Commanding Officer of the Fuji Heidan Group, which had jurisdiction over these areas. Orders for suppression were given as early as November 1944 by his superior, Lt. General Yokoyama who reported to General Tomoyuki Yamashita, Commanding General of the Imperial Japanese Forces in the Philippines. Among the instructions to the unit commanders of the Fuji Heidan Group were as follows (translated from transcripts during Fujishige’s trial by the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section or ATIS, comprised mainly of Japanese Americans):
1. No man must die an honorable death until he has killed 100 enemy soldiers and destroyed 10 enemy tanks.
2. Kill American troops cruelly. Do not kill them with one stroke. Shoot Guerrillas. Kill all who oppose the emperor, even women and children.
Colonel Masatoshi Fujishige
During the early morning of February 12, 1945, the town of Calamba was taken over by the forces of the Kudo Unit of the Fuji Heidan group under commander Captain Ginsaku Saito. Civilians were rounded up in the town church and then loaded into trucks for execution. Civilians were also bayoneted and burned inside their houses. It is estimated that over 2,000 civilians were killed. For the Allies, the rescue of the 2,147 civilian POWs in Los Baños became a top priority.
On February 8, General Robert Eichelberger of the 8th Army and Major Jay Vanderpool, who served as General MacArthur’s link to the Filipino American guerrilla groups in Southern Luzon, drew up the rescue plans. On February 12, General Eichelberger ordered Major General Joseph Swing of the 11th Airborne Division to coordinate with Vanderpool. Hundreds of Filipino guerrillas from President Quezon’s Own Guerrillas (PQOG), the PQOG 25th Red Lions Unit, the Chinese 48th Squadron (Wha Chi), the Hukbalahaps and the Markings participated in the rescue led by Colonel Gustavo Ingles of the Hunters ROTC Guerrillas. During the planning at the home of Romeo Espino (aka Col. Price) of the PQOG 25th Red Lions Unit, the Filipino guerrillas harshly argued over the safety of the Los Baños civilians, but Ingles was able to pacify them.
General Robert Eichelberger
On the evening of February 21, Lieutenant George Skau of the 11th Airborne’s Provisional Reconnaissance Platoon (also known as the Ghost Platoon) left Laguna de Bay’s north shore with 31 men. The rescue took place before the designated hour of 7 a.m. on February 23. But this textbook rescue operation was not perfect. There were several casualties from Sergeant Terry Santos’ Reconnaissance platoon, two members of the 188th Glider Infantry Regiment were killed after they left the camp, and a handful of guards from the Filipino Guerrilla Groups were also killed.
Romeo Espino (Col. Price)
The worst came for the civilians of Los Baños who were left to fend for themselves after the rescue, with only a handful of guerrillas to protect them. After the American troops left on February 23, Captain Saito and his troops descended on the town. The guerrillas had warned townspeople to escape to the mountains, but not everyone was able to do so. The marauding troops were enabled by members of the Makapilis, Filipinos who collaborated with the Japanese, and ransacked the houses. Men, women and children were bayoneted by Saito’s troops and set on fire in their houses, in the churches and inside the Agricultural College. Many were beheaded at the coffee plantation on campus. In the end, approximately 1,500 civilians of Los Baños were mercilessly killed. Thousands more perished under similar methods in adjacent towns in Laguna and Batangas.
After the war, Colonel Fujishige was convicted as a class A war criminal and hanged. But many innocent civilians of Laguna, Batangas and many other provinces paid with their lives so that others could be set free. Such was the steep price of freedom.
Cecilia Gaerlan is a member of USSTTC. She is the founder and Executive Director of Bataan Legacy Historical Society, which worked successfully with the California Department of Education to include WWII in the Philippines in the Grade 11 U.S. History (approved on July 14, 2016). For more information, visit www.bataanlegacy.org.
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