Baguio, officially the City of Baguio, is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Cordillera Administrative Region, Philippines. It is known as the "Summer Capital of the Philippines", owing to its cool climate since the city is located approximately 4,810 feet above mean sea level, often cited as 1,540 meters in the Luzon tropical pine forests ecoregion, which also makes it conducive for the growth of mossy plants, orchids and pine trees, to which it attributes its other moniker as the "City of Pines".
Camp John Hay is a mixed-used development which serves as a tourist destination and forest watershed reservation in Baguio, Philippines which was formerly a military base of the United States Armed Forces.
Tomoyuki Yamashita was a Japanese convicted war criminal and general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. Yamashita led Japanese forces during the invasion of Malaya and Battle of Singapore, his conquest of Malaya and Singapore in 70 days earned him the sobriquet "The Tiger of Malaya" and led to the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill calling the ignominious fall of Singapore to Japan the "worst disaster" and "largest capitulation" in British military history. He was assigned to defend the Philippines from the advancing Allies later in the war. Although he was unable to prevent the superior Allied forces from advancing, despite dwindling supplies and Allied guerrilla action, he was able to hold on to part of Luzon until after the formal Surrender of Japan in August 1945.
The high commissioner to the Philippines was the personal representative of the president of the United States to the Commonwealth of the Philippines during the period 1935–1946. The office was created by the Tydings–McDuffie Act of 1934, which provided for a period of transition from direct American rule to the complete independence of the islands on July 4, 1946. It replaced the office of governor-general of the Philippines, who had direct executive authority. Under the commonwealth, executive power was held by an elected Filipino president. The executive power of the high commissioner was largely ceremonial, and its office is similar to that of an ambassador.
The Battle of Manila was a major battle of the Philippine campaign of 1944–45, during the Second World War. It was fought by forces from both the United States and the Philippines against Japanese troops in Manila, the capital city of the Philippines. The month-long battle, which resulted in the death of at least 100,000 civilians and the complete devastation of the city, was the scene of the worst urban fighting fought by American forces in the Pacific theater. During the battle, Japanese forces committed mass murder against Filipino civilians, while American firepower killed many people. The resistance of the Japanese and American artillery also destroyed much of Manila's architectural and cultural heritage dating back to the city's founding. Often referred to as "the Stalingrad of Asia", the battle is widely considered to be one of the most intense and worst urban battles ever fought, with it being the single largest urban battle ever fought by American forces.
The Manila massacre, also called the Rape of Manila, involved atrocities committed against Filipino civilians in the City of Manila, the capital of the Philippines, by Japanese troops during the Battle of Manila which occurred during World War II. At least 100,000 civilians were killed in total during the battle from all causes including the massacre by Japanese troops.
The Commonwealth of the Philippines was attacked by the Empire of Japan on 8 December 1941, nine hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Although it was governed by a semi-independent commonwealth government, Washington controlled the Philippines at the time and possessed important military bases there. The combined Filipino-American army was defeated in the Battle of Bataan, which saw many war crimes committed and the Battle of Corregidor in April 1942, but guerrilla resistance against the Japanese continued throughout the war. Uncaptured Filipino army units, a communist insurgency, and supporting American agents all played a role in the resistance. Due to the huge number of islands, the Japanese never occupied many of the smaller and more minor islands. The Japanese control over the countryside and smaller towns were often tenuous at best.
Artemio Ricarte y García was a Filipino general during the Philippine Revolution and the Philippine–American War. He is regarded as the Father of the Philippine Army, and the first Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines though the present Philippine Army descended from the American-allied forces that defeated the Philippine Revolutionary Army led by General Ricarte. Ricarte is notable for never having taken an oath of allegiance to the United States government that occupied the Philippines from 1898 to 1946.
The Embassy of the United States of America in Manila is the diplomatic mission of the United States in the Philippines. It is situated at Roxas Boulevard in Ermita, Manila. The Embassy has been representing the United States Government since the Philippines was granted independence on July 4, 1946.
The Battle of Bessang Pass was a major battle during the Philippines Campaign of World War II. It was fought from 9 January through 15 June 1945, Cervantes, a municipality in the province of Ilocos Sur, located 382 kilometres (237 mi) north of Manila. The area serves as a gateway to the Cordillera mountains and the city of Baguio. Bessang Pass was a stronghold of the Japanese imperial forces under Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, known as the “Tiger of Malaya” and conqueror of Singapore. It was part of the triangular defense of General Yamashita in the north, namely the Balete Pass, Villaverde Trail and Bessang Pass, guarding the Ifugao-Benguet-Vizcaya borders. Its fall at the hands of the United States Army Forces in the Philippines - Northern Luzon (USAFIP-NL) on June 14, 1945 paved the way for the entrapment of Yamashita’s forces in the Cordillera until the general’s surrender in September 1945.
Richard Motoso Sakakida was a United States Army intelligence agent stationed in the Philippines at the outbreak of World War II. He was captured and tortured for months after the fall of the country to Imperial Japan, but managed to convince the Japanese that he was a civilian and was released. Employed by the Japanese Fourteenth Army, he gathered and passed along valuable information to the Philippine resistance. He also planned and participated in the mass escape of about 500 Filipino prisoners.
Santo Tomas Internment Camp, also known as the Manila Internment Camp, was the largest of several camps in the Philippines in which the Japanese interned enemy civilians, mostly Americans, in World War II. The campus of the University of Santo Tomas in Manila was utilized for the camp, which housed more than 3,000 internees from January 1942 until February 1945. Conditions for the internees deteriorated during the war and by the time of the liberation of the camp by the U.S. Army many of the internees were near death from lack of food.
Shigenori Kuroda was a Japanese lieutenant general of the Imperial Japanese Army and the Japanese Governor-General of the Philippines during World War II.
The Battle of Baguio occurred between 21 February and 26 April 1945 and was part of the greater Luzon campaign during the Allied liberation of the Philippines at the end of World War II. During the battle, American and Philippine forces recaptured the city of Baguio on the island of Luzon from a Japanese occupation force. One of the last tank engagements of the Philippine campaign took place during the battle. Baguio later became the scene of the final surrender of Japanese forces in the Philippines in September 1945.
Camp Holmes Internment Camp, also known as Camp #3 and Baguio Internment Camp, near Baguio in the Philippines was established in World War II by the Japanese to intern civilians from countries hostile to Japan. The camp housed about 500 civilians, mostly Americans, between April 1942 and December 1944 when the internees were moved to Bilibid Prison in Manila. Camp Holmes was a Philippine Constabulary base before World War II; it was later renamed Camp Bado Dangwa and became the regional headquarters of the Philippine National Police in the Cordillera region. It is located near what is now the Halsema Highway.
Mateo Mananjaya Capinpin was a brigadier general in the Philippine Army and commanded the 21st Division (Philippines) under the United States Army Forces in the Far East during the Battle of Bataan.
The Kiangan National Shrine also known as the Yamashita Shrine is a war memorial in Kiangan, Ifugao, Philippines. It commemorates the surrender of the top commander of Japanese Imperial Army in the Philippines General Tomoyuki Yamashita to the Allied forces, which led to the end of the Japanese occupation of the archipelago during World War II.
The Philippine War Crimes Commission was a commission created in late 1945 by General Douglas MacArthur as Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers to investigate the war crimes committed by the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during the invasion, occupation, and liberation of the Philippines. The investigation by the Commission led to the extradition, prosecution, and conviction of Class A, Class B, and Class C defendants in Manila, Tokyo, and other cities in East and Southeast Asia through the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.
Valeria "Yay" Panlilio (1913–1978), known as Colonel Yay, was an American/Filipina journalist, radio announcer, and guerrilla leader during World War II in the Philippines. After the war she married the commander of Marking Guerrillas, Marcos Villa Agustin. She was awarded the United States Medal of Freedom for her wartime activities.
United States 
