‘Our second pandemic year of 2021 is the 70th anniversary of Battle of Yuldong whose
significance is lost on yokels and defeatists.’
WHERE? At the Battle of Yuldong, the 10th Battalion Combat Team (BCT) of PEFTOK, situated north of Yeoncheon, “held their ground and resisted the attack of the 40,000-strong Chinese Forces. The Filipino soldiers repulsed wave after wave of enemy assaults, preventing a large sector of the United Nations from collapsing. Ultimately, Filipino soldiers emerged victorious…and impeded the advance of the communists.”
[https://pvao.gov.ph/peftok-brand-of-courage-bannered-in-battle-of-yuldong/]
The United Nations (via Security Council Resolution 82 adopted unanimously by the Security Council at its 473rd meeting on 25 June 1950) had determined that the armed attack on the Republic of Korea by forces from North Korea constituted a breach of the peace and called upon all Member States to render every assistance. The UN call was answered by the Republic of the Philippines with Republic Act No. 573 (An Act To Provide For The Organization, Equipping And Maintenance Of A Philippine Expeditionary Force For Service In The Enforcement Of United Nations Sanctions And Policies).
The President elaborated: “To the United Nations forces now embattled there, and by whose side you will fight, you will carry our Government’s, your country’s proof that its pledge is its bond…Wherever a Filipino warrior has died, there is a bit of the Philippines.
You will find such spots in Korea itself, whose free institutions we have helped to established…”
“For if the stage on which the issue between democracy and totalitarianism–between our freedom, and our enslavement–is to be tragically enlarged; if this enlargement will sweep onto the red-lit boards of our own country–then what you will do in Korea will show the world how great a role our Philippines can play on such a stage. The greater our sacrifice, the more respect we will command; the greater our share in the glory of achievement.”
[https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1950/09/02/speech-of-president-quirino-at-the-public-rally-for-the-tenth-battalion-combat-team-september-2-1950/]
SitRep in 1950. It was the Cold War and “the Philippines was fighting its own battle with the insurrection by Huk guerrillas. But in response to the United Nations request, by September 1950, it had offered 17 Sherman tanks, one tank destroyer, the 10th Battalion Combat Team (nearly 1,500 men), and a battery of 105mm howitzers. In addition, they supplied soap, vaccines, blood, and rice. The battalion was mistakenly attached to the 65th Puerto Rican Infantry Regiment in the belief that the Filipinos spoke Spanish rather than Tagalog.” [Paul M. Edwards. Historical Dictionary of the Korean War. Second Edition. Toronto: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2010]
Filipino participation (according to President Joseph Estrada) included elements of the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Air Force, humanitarian assistance from the Philippine National Red Cross and even “Philippine movie actors and actresses who served to entertain the troops” plus the “newspaper reporters who covered activities and combat operations.” And they “all braved the hazards of serving with PEFTOK troops in the field.”
[Proclamation No. 353 declaring September 7, 2000 as “Korean War Veterans of the Philippines Memorial Day”] The Navy sent RPS Cotabato (T-36), RPS Pampanga (T-37), RPS Bulacan (T-38), RPS Albay (T-39), and RPS Misamis Oriental (T-40), while the Fourth Estate sent the young Ninoy Aquino. [House Resolution 1413, 2nd Regular Session, 18th Congress]
Yes, this Filipino act merited mention in American history books like Gilberto N. Villahermosa’s Honor and fidelity: the 65th Infantry in Korea, 1950—1953 (published in Washington, D.C. by the Center of Military History of the United States Army, 2009): “Shortly after attacking the 2d Battalion, the Communists slammed into Allen’s 3d Battalion and the Filipino soldiers of Ojeda’s 10th Battalion Combat Team. Although the 3d Battalion held its position, Company B of the 10th Battalion had to pull back because of overwhelming Chinese strength. The commanding officer of the 10th’s Heavy Weapons (Tank) Company, Capt. Conrado D. Yap, ignored orders to withdraw and instead led a daring counterattack to regain a key piece of terrain. Though Yap was mortally wounded, his men succeeded in recapturing the objective. Yap posthumously received the Philippine Medal of Valor and U.S. Distinguished Service Cross.”
Better details have been provided by a Korean War veteran: “Of the many engagements in which the 10th BCT took part–under the command of then Colonel Mariano Azurin and then Colonel Dionisio S. Ojeda–Yultong was the most memorable. Yultong was a key town in the so-called Iron Triangle, formed by the cities of Chorwon, Kumhwa and Pyonggang.
On orders from Allied headquarters, the 10th BCT on April 22, 1951, took up its position in the center of the U.N. line in defense–which also covers the area of Yultong. The 10th BCT replaced a Puerto Rican regiment, which was redeployed to another part of the line that same afternoon.”
“Just after sunset on that same day, the enemy jumped off from their fortified positions–assaulting in force, simultaneously, every strongpoint in the battalion’s areas of responsibility. The fighting went on throughout the night and through the next day. After stubbornly defending his platoon perimeter for seven hours, then Lieutenant Tomas G. Batilo of Able Company was captured by the enemy. Then Captain Paulino Sanchez, commanding officer of Baker Company, was wounded–together with several other casualties among enlisted members of the line units.”
“The commander of the 10th BCT’s tank company, Captain Conrado Yap, held his men steady against the enemy attack. His gun crews fired as fast as they could. In Captain Yap’s sector, the attackers fell at the rate of 17 to 1. Despite orders to withdraw from Major General Robert Soule, commanding general of the 3rd Infantry Division, U.S. Army (to which the PEFTOK unit was attached) the 10th BCT–true to its motto of ‘Steady On’–stood fast up to the afternoon of the following day, the 23rd.”
“The 10th BCT would not withdraw, because one of its platoons–the one commanded by Lieutenant José Artiaga Jr.–had been overrun by the enemy. Artiaga and his men were defending a strategic hill in the village of Yultong–a key point in the whole battalion’s defensive network. Wave upon wave of assaults broke against Artiaga’s position–until finally the enemy prevailed. The Filipinos would not leave without their dead and wounded.
Captain Yap organized a mission to assault the hill now held by the enemy–to recover the bodies of the dead and to collect the survivors. The fierceness of the 10th BCT’s counterattack smothered enemy resistance and–for a brief while–the hill was back in Filipino hands.” [https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/1993/04/22/speech-of-president-ramos-on-the-42nd-anniversary-of-the-battle-of-yultong/]
Our second pandemic year of 2021 is the 70th anniversary of Battle of Yuldong whose significance is lost on yokels and defeatists.
