Panay Liberation Day

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Panay Liberation Day
18 March
Next time18 March 2025 (2025-03-18)
Frequencyannual
Map of U.S. operations in Southern Philippines, 1945.

Panay Liberation Day, alternatively Panay Landing Day and Victory (Liberation) Day on Panay is an annual event that commemorates the landing on Panay during the

Battle of the Visayas in World War II. It is a public holiday on the islands of Panay and Guimaras in Western Visayas and Romblon in Mimaropa
.

In 1989, then-President

Iloilo province
in 1989.

Background

On December 8, 1941, several hours after the Empire of Japan launched the Attack on Pearl Harbor, they attacked the American colony of the Philippines, eventually defeating the combined American and Philippine forces and beginning nearly four years of Japanese occupation.

On October 20, 1944, American and Filipino forces led by General

Philippines campaign of 1944–1945
.

As part of that campaign, the Battle of the Visayas began on March 18, 1945 with the Allied landing at

Tigbauan, Iloilo
on Panay.

Panay landing

Map of Panay before the landing of US forces on March 18, 1945.

The area of operations for the

503rd Airborne Regimental Combat Team
in reserve. Panay Island was the first objective.

On 18 March 1945, after two weeks of aerial bombardment of Japanese positions, the 40th Infantry Division, spearheaded by the 185th Infantry Regiment, landed unopposed at Tigbauan, several miles south of

Army Pictorial Service shows the unopposed landing and march into Iloilo City. The regiment proceeded to seize airfields at Mandurriao, Iloilo City, and at Cabatuan, Iloilo[4] which was located in the now Iloilo International Airport at Cabatuan, Iloilo
.

The Japanese were concentrated in Iloilo City proper, and the 40th Division in two days easily defeated these Japanese outposts. Mopping up operations by the guerrillas and 2nd Battalion of the 160th Infantry Regiment continued, and at war's end, some 1,500 Japanese troops surrendered.

Inampulugan islands
, between Panay and Negros, were seized on the same day that Iloilo fell, 20 March, and the next day, respectively with no opposition.

Overall, the Visayas operations of the U.S. Eighth Army suffered relatively light casualties in comparison to Japanese figures. The 40th Division on Panay and northeastern Negros suffered 390 killed and 1,025 wounded with the Japanese sustaining 4,080 killed with another 3,300 succumbed to disease and starvation.

Lt. Col. Ryoichi Tozuka, the commander of the Imperial Japanese Army in Panay Island, signed the document of surrender at Cabatuan Airfield,[5] located in Cabatuan, Iloilo, Panay Island, Philippines, on September 2, 1945, the same day as the surrender signing in Japan aboard the U.S.S. Missouri. This was accepted by Col. Raymond G. Stanton, comdg the 160th U.S. Infantry regiment, and was attended by Rear Admiral Ralph O. Davis, comdg the U.S. Navy's 13th Amphibious Group, and by Brig. Gen. Donald J. Myers, comdg the 40th Infantry Division. The 13th Amphibious Group was tasked to transport the 40th U.S. Infantry Division to Korea.[6]

Celebrations

Most years the main ceremony is at the Balantang Memorial Cemetery National Shrine in Barangay Quintin Salas, Jaro, Iloilo City, a veterans cemetery and the burial place of the guerrilla leader Col. Macario Peralta. The cemetery is the only military cemetery established outside Metro Manila.[1] The celebrations are organized every year by the Sixth Military District World War II Veterans Association, Inc..

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "March 18 Holiday Recalls Panay Guerrillas' War Heroism". Bayanihan. PNA. 12 March 2010. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  2. ^ "Proclamation 430 Declares March 18 as Holiday in Panay, Romblon". The News Today Online Edition. 12 March 2009. Archived from the original on 26 August 2011. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  3. ^ "Mindano and Panay Islands, Philippines March-April 1945". USS Cleveland CL-55 Reunion Association. Archived from the original on 15 January 2011. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  4. ^ "Imperial Japanese Army Surrender to the California National Guard's 160th Infantry Regiment: Cabatuan Airfield, Barrio Tiring, Cabatuan, Iloilo, Panay Island, Commonwealth of the Philippines, 2 September 1945".
  5. ^ "Imperial Japanese Army Surrender to the California National Guard's 160th Infantry Regiment: Cabatuan Airfield, Barrio Tiring, Cabatuan, Iloilo, Panay Island, Commonwealth of the Philippines, 2 September 1945".
  6. ^ "Imperial Japanese Army Surrender to the California National Guard's 160th Infantry Regiment: Cabatuan Airfield, Barrio Tiring, Cabatuan, Iloilo, Panay Island, Commonwealth of the Philippines, 2 September 1945".

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Battle of the Visayas.
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