BAGUIO FETES SURVIVING WORLD WAR 2 VETERANS

BAGUIO CITY: Amid the coronavirus global pandemic, 17 surviving World War 2 veterans were honored with commemorative medals on Thursday, alongside the remembrance of the end of the war 75 years ago. Pre-recorded congratulatory messages from United States Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim, retired general Ernesto Carolina, Rep. Marquez Go and Mayor Benjamin Magalong will be delivered together with tokens and the medals to veterans in the

comfort of their homes. Among the living veterans are: Angelo Viloria Andrada, Epifanio Besuayan, Timoteo Boado, Filomeno Caburao, Francisco Bogalon Castillo, Romeo Marcelino de Guzman, Gregorio de la Paz Lopez, Ernesto Luis, Dominador Madarang, Carlito Millado, Diego Opena, William Pasiwen, Eduardo Peralta and Orlando Pimentel. Women veteran awardees are Sixta Favila, Florence Marasig and Cecilia Torres. All served fearlessly in the military, medical and auxiliary forces during critical years of the war, with reminiscences recorded in diaries, notes and memoirs, now used as history materials. In Baguio, simple wreath-laying ceremonies at Veterans Park on Harrison Road were held early Thursday in coordination with the City Tourism and Special Events Office and Philippine Veterans Affairs Office. Camp John Hay was carpet-bombed on Dec. 8, 1941 by Japanese forces. In 1942, US-Filipino forces surrendered and joined the Bataan “Death March,” which claimed thousands of soldiers’ lives.