Mayoyao commemorates battle that ended WW II

MAYOYAO, Ifugao — This municipality recently held its first celebration commemorating one of the most furious battles in the Eastern Ifugao Campaign and which helped trigger the surrender of the Japanese Army in the Philippines thus ending the Second World War in 1945.

This first celebration called “Lenong Ad Majawjaw-An Adventure for Peace Festival” was held recently the days the Battle at Mayoyao Ridge finally ended between the 1,000 Japanese soldiers led by General Toguzuma and under the overall command of General Tomoyuki Yamashita and the Joint Forces of Filipino Soldiers and the United States Armed Forces in the Philippines (USAFIP) which lasted from July 25 until August 8, 1945.

The battle led to the capture of the Japanese stronghold in the community, their eventual withdrawal from the area in August 9 of the same year and the resulting liberation of Mayoyao from the hands of the Japanese Imperial Army based at the Mayoyao Ridge.

The account of this historical battle at Mayoyao Ridge called “Mt. Nagchajan” by the Mayoyao natives are contained in the diaries of Lt. Col. Donald Blackburn who commanded the 11th Infantry with elements of the 14th Infantry of the USAFIP in Northern Luzon and the Book authored by CeledonioAncheta entitled the “Liberation of Northern Luzon.”

Ancheta quoted in his book that it was at the Mayoyao Ridge (Mt. Nagchajan) that the “fiercest battle in the Eastern Ifugao Campaign” was fought between the Japanese Imperial Forces and the combined Filipino American soldiers characterized by weeks of furious fighting, aerial bombings with incendiary bombs and intense land battles spilling countless blood and sacrificing the lives of men.’

This is the last battle fought before Japan surrendered through Japanese Imperial Army Commander General Tomoyuki Yamashita at Kiangan on Sept. 2, 1945.

However, this battle and event of WWII was never included as part of the National Victory Day celebration held every Sept. 2 to commemorate the end of World War II at a site in the Municipality of Kiangan where Yamashita informally surrendered to the US Armed Forces.