The Chick Parsons report covered also other aspects, guerilla activities, personalities etc. Very recently I came across another bit of historic news that A MEMORIAL WAS ERECTED and it was inaugurated on the 21st April 2007 in the province of Ilocos Norte.
The memorial is also called: “The Stingray Memorial”.
Chick Parsons, a member of General MacArthur’s Command, organized secrete submarine re-supply missions to the Philippine guerillas. The USS Stingray landed here on 27th April 1944 with Special Forces personnel and supplies for the local Guerillas, called the “Bolo Men” here in Ilocos Norte.
It was sponsored by the Philippine Veterans Bank, in cooperation with the Stingray Friendship Foundation, the National Historical Institute, the Departments of Tourism and Education, and the Ilocos Norte provincial government.
Three US WWII Veterans came from the States for this event and met their Filipino counterparts.
Dr. Ricardo Jose of the NHI was the guest speaker.
Main proponents of the even were Pol Bautista, Lucky Guillermo and Peter Parsons, all scions of people who were involved in the resistance.
“If not with the guns and ammunition delivered to us by the Stingray through the order of Gen. Douglas McArthur, we should not have been able to liberate Northern Luzon,” recalled Col. Ramon Miranda, an 84-year old World War II veteran.
The images of the memorial is from Peter Parsons:
Here is the write up from the -The Ilocos Times of 27th April 2007:
Stingray memorial unveiled
US, Filipino WWII vets meet after 62 years
Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte—After 62 years, the living witnesses and instruments in the liberation of Northern Luzon from the clutches of the Japanese Imperial Army met again as they commemorated and unveiled the Stingray memorial at Caunayan Bay in this town, the site of the delivery of war materiel for the guerillas which they used to repel the foreign invaders, on April 21 in honor of the unsung heroes of the nation.
Sponsored by the Philippine Veterans Bank, in cooperation with the Stingray Friendship Foundation, the National Historical Institute, the Departments of Tourism and Education, and the Ilocos Norte provincial government, the memorial was unveiled in a 10-hectare coconut grove, along the white beach of the said bay.
The marker, made up of marble, stone and pebble topped by a 500-kilo anchor, stands tall in paying tribute to the bolomen and guerillas of the Philippine and the crew of the 20 American submarines who bravely delivered arms, ammunition, medicine and other supplies needed by the guerillas amidst the tight security implemented then by the Japanese soldiers, paving the way for the Filipino veterans’ selfless endeavor as they fought for freedom.
The commemoration and unveiling of the Stingray memorial was held as the national anthems of both the Philippines and the United States were played, putting tears into the eyes of Ilocano veterans, mostly from the Bangui and Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte and members of the Ablan-Madamba guerilla unit of Northern Luzon, who took time to attend the ceremony dubbed “A Reunion of Heroes: Anchored in Freedom, Enshrined in Friendship.”
The Ilocano veterans later shook the hands of two US servicemen who were also at the said location 62 years ago, Basil Wentworth and Albert Montague, who flew in accompanied by USS Blackfin crew Al McCoun, as they exchanged war mementos—a sharp bolo, a .45 caliber pistol and memories—with their counterpart, the guerillas and bolomen.
In narrating the event leading to arms landing, Dr. Ricardo Jose of the NHI recalled that based on historical research, in the early morning of April 27, the USS Stingray offloaded 15 Fil-Am commandos lead by Capt. Joe Valera and six tons of arms and supplies for the guerillas and bolomen. Jose added that the site was the last of the major submarine landings, just six weeks prior to the Leyte invasion.
“If not with the guns and ammunition delivered to us by the Stingray through the order of Gen. Douglas McArthur, we should not have been able to liberate Northern Luzon,” recalled Col. Ramon Miranda, an 84-year old World War II veteran, who later became a lawyer and the regional vice president of the Federation of Veterans in the Philippines and a director of the Philippine Veterans Bank.
During the war, Miranda, who was then 18 years old, recalled that the bolomen and guerillas, which included himself, fought the Japanese Imperial Army using the weapons delivered by the Stingray.
Despite the presence of pro-Japanese locals in the area, Miranda said the resistance movement succeeded with bravery and strong determination for peace and freedom, forcing the Japanese forces to surrender in September 2, 1945.
For the Americans, Montague said in his speech that as the Americans and Filipinos bring back memories of history, he expressed the Americans’ great deal of feelings for Filipino who were tortured during the war and they are sympathizing with those who they have left behind.
Though the commemoration is not meant to be anti-Japanese, but pro-freedom, the main proponents of the event—Pol Bautista, Lucky Guillermo and Peter Parsons, all scions of people who were involved in the resistance, in cooperation with various government agencies, they noted that “It is always fitting to pay tribute to the gallant men and women who braved unspeakable odds, not so much to fight the Japanese invading forces, but more so to regain the freedom and liberty that is rightfully theirs.
“Theirs is a universal aspiration—a story in which everyone can relate to: Filipino, American, Japanese and all freedom-loving people,” the organizers concluded.
Leilanie G. Adriano