MALAYAN COLLEGES LAGUNA

Academic Year 2015 - 2016

“A Glimpse of the Battlefield: A Hero from the Air”

Vincent Lorenzo F. NAVAL

SS016 / B09

Professor Mercy Ros

Brief Introduction
In searching for a story about our local history project in SS016. There I asked
my grandmother if she has any known veteran that it still alive up to this time,
yet she answered no, but she quickly gave me a suggestion, but her suggestion
is not a veteran, but a son of a veteran, no other than her closest friend, Mr.
Renato Aclan. His father is Lieutenant Geronimo Aclan, a Filipino fighter pilot
during World War II. There I interviewed him and asked about the life of his
father before, during and after World War II. Then, here which I will be making
a narrative account about the story of one of the heroes from the air.

Lieutenant Geronimo Aclan

This is Lieutenant
Geronimo Aclan, one
of the Filipino
pilots who fought the
Imperial Japanese
Forces during the invasion
of the Philippines. He is a member of the Philippine Army Air Corps 6 th pursuit
squadron of World War II under the command of Captain Jesus Villamor and General
Douglas McArthur of the United States Armed Forces in the Far East.

Early Years

Before the war, he is a student and studied high school at the Letran College
in Manila, in where he graduated in 1936 as a class valedictorian. Soon after,
he decided to take up medicine at the University of Sto. Tomas, but fate has
it that after two years, he decided to join the Philippine Army Air Corps.
During that time, the Philippine Army Air Corps was the only Air Force of the
Philippine under an American umbrella. So he was accepted by the air force
school and trained to become a fighter pilot. Their training was somewhere in
the province of Batangas.
 His classmates at the Air Force School in Batangas

World War II Era

On the 7th of December 1941, the Empire of Japan suddenly attacked the US
military base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, which led to the destruction of the
US Navy and led to America’s entry into the war. Ten hours after the attacked
on Pearl Harbor, Japanese Imperial Forces came and bombed US military bases in
the Philippines. The Americans where so unprepared for the attacked and that
leads to the destruction of their military bases. During the bombing of the
Japanese Imperial Forces to the airfields of the Americans. The group of
Lieutenant Aclan under the command of Captain Jesus Villamor were able to fly
and engaged the Imperial Japanese Air Forces in the Air. Firefights began to
erupt in the air zone of Manila and Southern Luzon Area.
Lt. Geronimo Aclan and his squadron were deliberately protect one of their
comrade who is in parachute after his warplane was shot by a Japanese warplane.
Despite of their poorly modernize warplane, the first attacked was repelled
and was praised by the Americans, especially by the American General Douglas
McArthur, for their strategy in repelling tailing Japanese Imperial Air Force
and protecting their comrades.

A photo that illustrates their P-26 warplanes of the Philippine Air Force
Corps engaging the modernized Zero warplane of the Imperial Japanese Air
Force.
The alarm once again ranged and alerted the Filipino pilots of the incoming
Japanese bombers. They were quickly fly into the air to engage the Japanese
Imperial Forces. This time, they were really no match for the Japanese Imperial
Air Forces, one of their first casualty who was gunned by the Japanese was Lt.
Cesar Basa, known to be the first casualty of the Filipino pilots. While the
others were engaging the Japanese, Lt. Aclan targeted a Zero warplane of the
Japanese to ram it, but he suddenly misses his strike that he decided to leave
the battlefield and gone to Nueva Ecija to enjoin his wife.

The P-26 warplane of Lt. Geronimo Aclan.

When he landed in Nueva Ecija to joined his wife, they quickly leave their
placed their and has fled to the mountains to escaped the Japanese hunt for
him.

During those times, Captain Villamor was already in Australia with Gen. Douglas
McArthur. Capt. Villamor then established a spy agency to the Philippines to
view the situation in the Philippines. There he joined that agency and was able
to report the activities of the Japanese in Manila, he was spying the Japanese
by being a cab driver. However, he was catch up by the Japanese Forces and
quickly declared him as a prisoner of war. In the march to Bataan, together
with some other men of the Philippine Army and spies of the Americans, he was
able to escape the march and again fled to the mountains to join his wife and
the guerillas. But after that, he just stayed in the mountains until the
submarines that delivers supplies to the Philippines was able to get him out
the country and together fled to Australia to join Capt. Villamor.
After in Australia, they were assigned to the United States mainland, to train
them to a modernize warplane in order to help the Americans to liberalize the
Philippines and invade the Empire of Japan. However, before they were sent to
war, the Japanese suddenly surrendered to the Allied Forces.

Post-War Period
After their training to the United States, they were able to go back to the
Philippines. But quietly they returned because of some Japanese soldiers still
roam the rural areas and they might suspected him. But during the time of
President Marcos, the Japanese were quickly caught and deported back to Japan.
Then there, Lt. Geronimo Aclan started to live in a private life and spend time
in teaching and educating his sons and daughters.

These men were not known to us all, except for their Captain, who is Jesus
Villamor. Until then, they did served well and sacrificed their lives for the
sake of our motherland. MABUHAY ANG 6TH PURSUIT SQUADRONS NG PHILIPPINE ARMY
AIR CORPS!!! MABUHAY SI LIETUNANT GERONIMO ACLAN!!!
 Personal Reflection
Last June 27, 2015 (Saturday), I interviewed the son of one of
the heroes of World War II in the Philippines. He is Mr. Renato Aclan, son of
Lt. Geronimo Aclan of the Philippine Army Air Corps.

During my interview to him, I asked him about what was his

father’s life then during the war, which that does not written in any history
book in our country. Then he answered me that only their commanders are the
only one recognized, no them. Because if they should be recognized, they should
be dead first. It is also not included there that some books written that some
of his comrades are dead are actually alive. There is really need to revise and
to ensure the fact to the people of what did really happened to them. As I
imagined while Mr. Aclan is telling me the story of his father, I just realized
that he sacrificed so much, even his life for his country. He sacrificed his
life with his family in order to serve the nation, to be free from the hands of
the enemy or the oppressors. Truly, in times like this, each Filipinos has that
patriotism in their hearts and ready to defend the motherland for whatever costs
might take. Mabuhay ang ating mga bayani! Mabuhay si Lt. Geronimo Aclan!