PLS. READ AND SHARE FEM on U.S : Maybe They Are Crazy Marcos Blasts U.S. Reports He Was a Phony War Hero Marcos Was A War Hero U.s. Awarded Him The DSC For Feats In 42 BY ADRIAN LEE POSTED: February 04, 1986 The medias been making such a hell of a racket blasting Ferdinand Marcos as a fake war hero that you can hardly hear the U.S. Army coming up behind to say it has documents asserting hes the genuine article after all. Not surprising. With pack journalism in full cry, what reporters going to split off to check out Marcoss U.S. medals and concede that maybe, just maybe, Marcos is the fighter he says he is? Or admit that he was awarded the U.S. Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism in action against the Japanese as they overran the Philippines in 1942? With the surrender that April, resistance shifted to guerrilla warfare. Its Marcoss role in the guerrilla effort thats currently in dispute, with the media drawing on later Army documents to say that Marcos was not, as he claimed, a guerrilla chieftain, and that the unit he said he commanded didnt exist. Whatever the final judgment on Marcoss guerrilla role, theres no questioning the impact of the controversy on his campaign for reelection; with Cory Aquino attacking him as a liar up and down the islands, Marcos is on the defensive. Curious, that the New York Times in its voluminous coverage of Marcoss guerrilla claims didnt see fit to enlarge on Marcoss earlier role, as U.S. defenses crumbled before the Japanese advance; it might have dispelled, or at least qualified, the impression the Times own stories conveyed - that of a lying, despicable Marcos passing himself off as a war hero. Without judging a controversy he doesnt know much about, this columns got to marvel at the certainty with which the media overrule Marcoss guerrilla claim. From this columns experiences in the Pacific, it was impossible to tell who was or who wasnt a guerrilla, and who had the look of a fanatic with a hand grenade taped to his body. It was a very fluid situation; and the question of whether a guerrilla was legit, whether he should be strip- searched or warned off at gunpoint, depended on an officers gut feeling of the moment. This columns also got to marvel at how the media invoke one Army document to say Marcos wasnt a guerrilla commander, and ignore a more positive Army document saying he got the DSC from Douglas MacArthurs embattled Corregidor command. But I guess when youre out to cut somebodys throat, you dont want anybody hanging on your arm to slow you down. In a 1946 memo to Army headquarters in Washington, USAFP (U.S. Army Forces Pacific) said the validity of then-Lieutenant Marcoss claim to having receivedthe DSC for heroism in early 1942 was confirmed and made a matter of record. The memo noted that the general or special 1942 order supporting the awards was not available in general headquarters, Pacific. Whether because it was lost or destroyed when Corregidor fell, or what, the memo doesnt say. But satisfied he had indeed been decorated for extraordinary heroism in an attack on a battery of four 70mm guns, USAFP asked that its memo be filed in Army personnel records. The Marcos medals file is apparently quite long. But subsequent to Congressional inquiries about the Marcos record, an affidavit by the World War II adjutant general of the Philippines 21st Infantry Division was copied from the file, and fowarded to Pentagon information officers for general release. In it, Marcos is reported to have volunteered to destroy the 70mm battery shelling the retreating Philippines 21st and 31st divisions and remnants of the 11th and 51st. With three volunteer scouts from 21st Division Intelligence, he charged with hand grenades, personally throwing three into confusedly running and crawling Japanese. Two Japanese officers, coming at Marcos and his men with machine rifles, were knocked out. As the Marcos party pushed the guns over a cliff, the Japanese rallied, with reinforcements. In a running (night) engagement, the Marcos patrol fought its way through groups of enemy soldiers, and swam a river to escape back through the lines. Marcos was awarded the DSC in orders, and his feat circulated throughout the whole command. articles.philly/1986-02-04/news/26087584_1_guerrilla-war-hero-marcos-s
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 15:33:39 +0000
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