Brigadier General Vicente Lim
Brigadier General Vicente Lim is a most noteworthy Filipino. In the previous entry we learned that the 41st Inf. Div. Philippine Army under the United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) was garrisoned in Cavite and Batangas. He was the Commanding General of the 41st Inf. Div. PA under the USAFFE.
V241. Brigadier General Vicente Lim from Wikipedia Common. Here is the URL:
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brigadier_General_Vicente_Lim.jpgBrigadier General Vicente Lim has a lengthy Wikipedia entry and this is the URL:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicente_LimHere are some bullet line entries about General Lim’s. Life from the above Wikipedia page:
Vicente Podico Lim (February 24, 1888 – December 31, 1944) was a Filipino Brigadier General and hero during World War II.
Lim was the first Filipino graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point (Class of 1914).
Upon graduation from the United States Military Academy, Vicente Lim was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Philippine Scouts. Prior to returning home to the Philippines, the young Lieutenant was sent to Europe to observe and study the set-up of the armies there. At the outbreak of the First World War, Lim was marooned in Berlin. To make his way back to the Philippines, Lim had to travel via the Trans-Siberian Railway, and had "quite an adventurous time making his way across Siberia.
During the Battle of Bataan, Lim was the Commanding General of the 41st Infantry Division, Philippine Army (USAFFE).
He and his division played important parts in the defense at Abucay, the Orion-Bagac Line and the Battle for Trail 2
General Lim survived the Bataan Death March and incarceration at Camp O'Donnell.
V242. After the fall of the Philippines he contributed to the Filipino resistance movement until he was captured and subsequently executed. His name is the 2nd one at the Cabanatuan Memorial for all the West Point graduates who fell in the defense and recapture of the Philippines but it says he is from the 1915 class when he really was from the 1914 Class. The 1915 Class is called the class the stars fell on, Gen Eisenhower and Gen, Abrahams and others are from this class.
V243. The West Point Memorial (at right) at the Cabanatuan American Memorial with all the names of the West Point graduates who fell in the defense and recapture of the Philippines.
In June 1944, General Lim was ordered to make his way to Australia to join General MacArthur in planning the re-capture of the Philippines. He was captured. Lim and his companions were imprisoned in Fort Santiago for the duration of the investigation and interrogation. There, Lim was reportedly tortured. Richard Sakakida, who had actually witnessed General Lim’s death, told the family that General Lim, together with some 50 or so guerrillas were brought over to the Chinese Cemetery where a long trench had been dug. They were all made to kneel down, and were subsequently beheaded. Their bodies were then thrown into the trench and covered.
General Lim's body was never found.
He is memorialized in the Philippines' 1,000-Peso banknote together with two other Filipino heroes who fought and died against the Japanese during the Second World War.
His Great Grandson Vicente Lim IV is maintaining this Facebook page for his Hero General, Great Grandfather, this is the name and URL, and it has many pictures including historical ones:
Brigadier General Vicente Lim.
www.facebook.com/generalvicentelim/V244. Here is a capture of a picture page from the Brigadier General Vicente Lim Facebook page and the album named Brigadier General Vicente Lim. I believe it says it was shot at the official birth of the Philippine Army.
V245. Here is the picture proper from the above Brigadier General Vicente Lim Facebook page and it includes President Quezon and Old Mac. with a cigar. Two Filipino Generals including Brigadier General Vicente Lim are standing in their uniform.
V246. On the 16th Sep, 2012 the Great Grandson of Brigadier General Vicente Lim, Vicente Lim IV, his teacher friend Kevin and I visited the Abucay Defense Line. His Grandfather with his Division was positioned here.
V247. Then Vicente Lim IV, his teacher friend Kevin and I visited the former village of Caput (Kaput/Capot) in Orion, Bataan is now named Barangay General Lim. Part of one of the more important battles during the Battle of Bataan, the Battle of Trail 2, took place here.