BAGUIO CITY– World War II veterans, all nearing 100 years old, joined the 74th Baguio Liberation Day celebration on Saturday (April 27) where they were given honors for freeing the summer capital from the occupying Imperial Japanese Army in 1945. Yamashita’s formal surrender at Camp John Hay on September 3, 1945, was also symbolic because war began there in Baguio, when it was bombarded by Japanese fighters on December 8, 1941. A day earlier, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, which drew the United States into the global conflict. Most of the members of the 66th Infantry were from Baguio and Benguet and “their knowledge of the terrain was an advantage” against the occupying Japanese forces that governed from their headquarters at Camp John Hay, he said. Tuba celebrated its own 74th Liberation Day on April 26, offering accolades to the same regiment.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer April 27, 2019 04:07 UTC