Post by Karl Welteke on Oct 12, 2023 17:15:39 GMT 8
URLs Villa Verde Trail and Balete Pass
An update of the URLs I know about!
NEWS | Sept. 9, 2020
The Red Arrow fought to the very end in World War II
By Vaughn R. Larson Department of Military Affairs
MADISON, Wis. – To commemorate the end of World War II 75 years ago, the Wisconsin National Guard is recounting the role of the 32nd Division. Consisting of the Wisconsin National Guard and much of the Michigan National Guard, the division spent more days in combat than any other American unit against a determined enemy and unforgiving terrain.
www.nationalguard.mil/News/Article/2341531/the-red-arrow-fought-to-the-very-end-in-world-war-ii/\
32nd INFANTRY DIVISION - Red Arrow
Activated 15 Oct 1940 • Entered Combat 16 Jul 1942 • Days of Combat 654 • Casualties 7,268
www.armydivs.com/32nd-infantry-division
Philippine Inquirer news story that the historic Villa Verde Trail will be open in 2016 for vehicular traffic, has nice picture of route and old hanging bridge. Our visit in Dec 2016 shows us that the road might open in 2018!
newsinfo.inquirer.net/722299/historic-road-linking-ilocos-cagayan-valley-to-open-next-year
Pacific Wrecks, Villa Verde Trail
www.pacificwrecks.com/provinces/philippines_villa_verde_trail.html
A good reference of the battle to clear the Villa Verde Trail is Chapter 26 of the US Army publication: “Triumph in the Philippines” by Robert Ross Smith. Here is the URL:
www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-P-Triumph/USA-P-Triumph-26.html
This Karl Photobucket album is about the 32nd Inf. Div. Markers.
The 32nd Infantry Division started their advance up the Villa Verde Trail, here in San Nicolas Town in Jan. 1945. It was a hard and long struggle. The Division built two Memorial Monuments in the San Nicolas, one in 1945 and the newer one later but I don’t know when. The Division must have made an impression on the local population because they named their High School the Red Arrow High School. This album is about the 32nd Inf. Div. Markers, 13 images.
app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/d878b447-c525-42cb-a70c-d2db8743c7f5?field=TITLE&desc=asc
and another album with 20 images about the markers:
app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/5b8ea54f-26f9-45e4-ae6e-379c35a0f65d?field=TITLE&desc=asc
When you view one of my Photobucket albums, when the album opens, click on the first picture or the one you would like to view, then click the icon “i” and that will open the title and description of the image or images.
A 1: 50000 topographic map help you get orientated in the San Nicolas Town and the Villa Verde Trail area.
This is the URL for the NAMRIA 1:50000 map (Sheet No. 7175-II San Nicolas) which covers San Nicolas, Villa Verde Trail, Balete Pass and Santa Fe:
www.namria.gov.ph/7175-IISanNicolas.html
Karl’s Aug. 2014 walk up Villa Verde Trail, about 8 km from San Nicolas:
At the 8km mark I turned around and got a good feel of the beginning of the Villa Verde Trail and considered the mission accomplished. During the walk I took pictures and uploaded 35 images into this, one of my albums:
app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/02095248-4bfd-43b0-a50a-ec3015fa5952?field=TITLE&desc=asc
EXPLORING THE VILLA VERDE TRAIL AND THE BALETE OR DALTON PASS. Karl’s entry into the Corregidor-Forum pages
Both locations are located in the Caraballo Mountains which connect the Cordillera Mountains with the Sierra Madre Mountains.
The Japanese Army had retreated into the Cordillera Mountains and into the Cagayan Valley. After Manila and Central Luzon was liberated the march after the Imperial Army in the north started at the end of Feb. 1945. The 33rd Div went towards Baguio. The 32nd Div. went to Santa Fe via the Villa Verde Trail and the 25th Div, advanced via San Jose, the Balete Pass also towards Santa Fe.
corregidor.proboards.com/thread/1694/villa-verde-trail-balete-dalton?page=1
BALETE OR DALTON PASSES BATTLES FROM THE ARMY.
This is probably the best and easiest to read written material about the Balete or Dalton Pass.
Triumph in the Philippines, Chapter XXVII, The Bambang Front—II, The 25th Division on Route 5
www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-P-Triumph/USA-P-Triumph-27.html
GENERAL DALTON AT THE BALETE PASS
Here is the Wikipedia page on the General with 3 images and this lead paragraph:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Dalton_II
Here is the Wikipedia page about the Dalton or Balete Pass::
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalton_Pass
WHERE WAS THE ARMY AIR CORPS AT THE BALETE PASS BATTLE?
Justin Tylan from Pacific Wreck tabulated a lot of air support missions as shown below! Here is his URL:
www.pacificwrecks.com/provinces/philippines/nueva_vizcaya/missions-balete.html
Pacific Wrecks also found a park with a gun (and I did not see it-next time) and here is that URL, the text and the image. This park is about 3 km or so down towards Santa Fe from the Balete Pass Park:
www.pacificwrecks.com/gun/105mm/dpwh.html This is a dead link!
Karl’s Balete or Dalton Pass album: Balete or Dalton Pass has become a shrine to remember all fallen, all casualties in this long battle for this pass to break the Imperial Japanese resistance to the Cagayan Valley and Ifugao Mountains in 1945. It is located on Highway 5 and thousands of travelers know about it and many stop to learn.
This URL is for a group of three albums 2014 visit has 47 pics; 2017 visit has 30 pics and the 2019 visit with 11 pics:
app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/fc2068d2-20e7-4636-8d57-52934d336501?field=TITLE&desc=asc
Karl’s Imugan Town and road album, a 2014 album about Imugan and the road to it:
app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/16e52824-33ca-4ed1-867f-045177441857?field=TITLE&desc=asc
Karl’s 37 pictures album of my march from Imugan to Malico 2014 are presented in this album:
app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/1a9f8362-3d74-4fe4-81ca-9c1786613eed?field=TITLE&desc=asc
Karl’s album of the Salasac Passes Battle area 21 images, at the year 2014. This album tries to explain the geography of the battle area of the Salacsac Passes. The Villa Verde Trail went thru this pass from Pangasinan to Nueva Viscaya and from San Nicolas to Santa Fe. These are the actual passes where most of the fighting occurred for almost 2 month. To me the place is holy, soaked with the blood of thousands of soldiers.
app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/ad1eef6c-f902-4792-aae8-efb1c6c9efc9?field=TITLE&desc=asc
Karl’s album of the Japanese Monument on top in Malica, 2014 with 22 images. On my 3rd day I finally reached the Salacsac Passes. After I looked around and got orientated and had visited the WWII tank on the Villa Verde Trail I looked for the Japanese Memorial. I took these pictures and made this album. That completed my exploration of the Villa Verde Trail for this year, I Shall Return.
app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/07443330-fd28-4dea-b646-c14f70e1d1f2?field=TITLE&desc=asc
Villa Verde Trail, Balete or Dalton Pass Jun 23, 2016 at 10:07am
Quote Edit
Post by Karl Welteke on Jun 23, 2016 at 10:07am
VILLA VERDE TRAIL REVISITED, FROM RODEL SOTTO MALLILLIN
He found that the WWII 32 Inf. Div. Villa Verde Trail Monument was severely damaged during road construction work.
The big news is that work has started on the Pangasinan side to build the new highway from San Nicolas, Pangasinan to Santa Fe in Nueva Vizcaya. This road will eliminate the long drive around the Caraballo Mountain Spur and driving thru Nueva Ecija. The road follows the old and historical Villa Verde Trail. Based on my visit to Santa Fe, Imugan and Malico in 2014 the road on the Nueva Vizcaya side should be finished by now or nearly so!
Mr. Rodel Sotto Mallillin is a resident of San Nicolas and revisited the trail on the 18th June 2016. H e took some great pictures and shared them in his Face book page. This is the URL with 17 images:
www.facebook.com/rodel.mallillin.3/media_set?set=a.1252675731409510.1073741890.100000012853603&type=3&pnref=story
He, like me, contributes entries to the Corregidor Forum page and we both have trouble linking our Facebook images to this forum. He gave me permission to do that and my first step was to upload his pictures into my Flickr account with all the credit to him of course! This is the URL:
www.flickr.com/photos/44567569@N00/albums/72157670093594015
Karl’s album about the tank on the Villa Verde trail: When I reached Malico I went straight for the school, it was the closest structure. A leading teacher addressed me and I explained what my purpose was. She assigned three young boys to be my guides and off we went. It was a little over 2 km distance and 100 meter lower in elevation. I did not start taking picture until the return march. I returned the boys and made an offer, they suggested I donate to their feeding program which I did.
app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/dd238ee7-085e-4ea3-a90d-c9bd8a8faf65?field=TITLE&desc=asc
Update, as of Oct. 2023, under this URL, Villa Verde Trail No 1, in my Photobucket account, you can click 18 albums now about the Vila Verde Trail; it is located in the Philippine Historical Places Group No 1:
app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/9d0a67f6-eed1-441b-b044-a45975ad5fdc?field=TITLE&desc=asc
My 2023 update visit to the Villa Verde trail is located in the Philippine Historical Places Group No 1, sub group Villa Verde Trail No 2:
app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/3c8ece99-e218-483b-83ab-d35aa5681fa7?field=TITLE&desc=asc
When you view one of my Photobucket albums, when the album opens, click on the first picture or the one you would like to view, then click the icon “i” and that will open the title and description of the image or images.
This is an album of about 150 pictures from NARA. They are images in the Record Group 111. U.S. Army Signal Corps Photographs of Military Activity During World War II and The Korean Conflict
National Archives Identifier: 80681919 Local Identifier: 111-SCA-2968
Creator: Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Chief Signal Officer. (9/18/1947 - 3/1/1964). This is the NARA URL:
catalog.archives.gov/id/80681919
catalog.archives.gov/search?q=Villa%20Verde%20Trail
Other Corregidor Forum pages:
Battle of the Villa Verde Trail from NARA:
corregidor.proboards.com/thread/2295/battle-villa-verde-trail-nara
These pictures can be downloaded in high resolution at this Flickr album, click here:
www.flickr.com/photos/44567569@N00/albums/72157716393732587
Villa Verde Trail and the Balete Pass, click here, 7 pages now:
corregidor.proboards.com/thread/1694/villa-verde-trail-balete-dalton
Rodel S. Mallillin from San Nicolas, Guest:
corregidor.proboards.com/thread/1946/hello-member-interested-battle-villa
My Father, Staff Sergeant Donald C. Boyd, fought on the Villa Verde Trail, serving with the 32nd "Red Arrow" Division, 128th Infantry Regiment, Cannon Company. He also fought on Leyte, Luzon, and the Villa Verde Trail where he drove an M7 Priest, carried an M1 Garand, and was awarded the Bronze Star for heroism. He is currently recovering nicely at home in Swanton, Ohio from triple bypass surgery in August, 2009. I have an application for an "Honor Flight" to the WWII Memorial, but the waiting list is long. God is pretty cool, he will take care of it. A short interview and recent images of my remarkable Dad may be viewed at this link:
corregidor.proboards.com/thread/949/villa-verde-trail
An update of the URLs I know about!
NEWS | Sept. 9, 2020
The Red Arrow fought to the very end in World War II
By Vaughn R. Larson Department of Military Affairs
MADISON, Wis. – To commemorate the end of World War II 75 years ago, the Wisconsin National Guard is recounting the role of the 32nd Division. Consisting of the Wisconsin National Guard and much of the Michigan National Guard, the division spent more days in combat than any other American unit against a determined enemy and unforgiving terrain.
www.nationalguard.mil/News/Article/2341531/the-red-arrow-fought-to-the-very-end-in-world-war-ii/\
32nd INFANTRY DIVISION - Red Arrow
Activated 15 Oct 1940 • Entered Combat 16 Jul 1942 • Days of Combat 654 • Casualties 7,268
www.armydivs.com/32nd-infantry-division
Philippine Inquirer news story that the historic Villa Verde Trail will be open in 2016 for vehicular traffic, has nice picture of route and old hanging bridge. Our visit in Dec 2016 shows us that the road might open in 2018!
newsinfo.inquirer.net/722299/historic-road-linking-ilocos-cagayan-valley-to-open-next-year
Pacific Wrecks, Villa Verde Trail
www.pacificwrecks.com/provinces/philippines_villa_verde_trail.html
A good reference of the battle to clear the Villa Verde Trail is Chapter 26 of the US Army publication: “Triumph in the Philippines” by Robert Ross Smith. Here is the URL:
www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-P-Triumph/USA-P-Triumph-26.html
This Karl Photobucket album is about the 32nd Inf. Div. Markers.
The 32nd Infantry Division started their advance up the Villa Verde Trail, here in San Nicolas Town in Jan. 1945. It was a hard and long struggle. The Division built two Memorial Monuments in the San Nicolas, one in 1945 and the newer one later but I don’t know when. The Division must have made an impression on the local population because they named their High School the Red Arrow High School. This album is about the 32nd Inf. Div. Markers, 13 images.
app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/d878b447-c525-42cb-a70c-d2db8743c7f5?field=TITLE&desc=asc
and another album with 20 images about the markers:
app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/5b8ea54f-26f9-45e4-ae6e-379c35a0f65d?field=TITLE&desc=asc
When you view one of my Photobucket albums, when the album opens, click on the first picture or the one you would like to view, then click the icon “i” and that will open the title and description of the image or images.
A 1: 50000 topographic map help you get orientated in the San Nicolas Town and the Villa Verde Trail area.
This is the URL for the NAMRIA 1:50000 map (Sheet No. 7175-II San Nicolas) which covers San Nicolas, Villa Verde Trail, Balete Pass and Santa Fe:
www.namria.gov.ph/7175-IISanNicolas.html
Karl’s Aug. 2014 walk up Villa Verde Trail, about 8 km from San Nicolas:
At the 8km mark I turned around and got a good feel of the beginning of the Villa Verde Trail and considered the mission accomplished. During the walk I took pictures and uploaded 35 images into this, one of my albums:
app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/02095248-4bfd-43b0-a50a-ec3015fa5952?field=TITLE&desc=asc
EXPLORING THE VILLA VERDE TRAIL AND THE BALETE OR DALTON PASS. Karl’s entry into the Corregidor-Forum pages
Both locations are located in the Caraballo Mountains which connect the Cordillera Mountains with the Sierra Madre Mountains.
The Japanese Army had retreated into the Cordillera Mountains and into the Cagayan Valley. After Manila and Central Luzon was liberated the march after the Imperial Army in the north started at the end of Feb. 1945. The 33rd Div went towards Baguio. The 32nd Div. went to Santa Fe via the Villa Verde Trail and the 25th Div, advanced via San Jose, the Balete Pass also towards Santa Fe.
corregidor.proboards.com/thread/1694/villa-verde-trail-balete-dalton?page=1
BALETE OR DALTON PASSES BATTLES FROM THE ARMY.
This is probably the best and easiest to read written material about the Balete or Dalton Pass.
Triumph in the Philippines, Chapter XXVII, The Bambang Front—II, The 25th Division on Route 5
www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-P-Triumph/USA-P-Triumph-27.html
GENERAL DALTON AT THE BALETE PASS
Here is the Wikipedia page on the General with 3 images and this lead paragraph:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Dalton_II
Here is the Wikipedia page about the Dalton or Balete Pass::
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalton_Pass
WHERE WAS THE ARMY AIR CORPS AT THE BALETE PASS BATTLE?
Justin Tylan from Pacific Wreck tabulated a lot of air support missions as shown below! Here is his URL:
www.pacificwrecks.com/provinces/philippines/nueva_vizcaya/missions-balete.html
Pacific Wrecks also found a park with a gun (and I did not see it-next time) and here is that URL, the text and the image. This park is about 3 km or so down towards Santa Fe from the Balete Pass Park:
www.pacificwrecks.com/gun/105mm/dpwh.html This is a dead link!
Karl’s Balete or Dalton Pass album: Balete or Dalton Pass has become a shrine to remember all fallen, all casualties in this long battle for this pass to break the Imperial Japanese resistance to the Cagayan Valley and Ifugao Mountains in 1945. It is located on Highway 5 and thousands of travelers know about it and many stop to learn.
This URL is for a group of three albums 2014 visit has 47 pics; 2017 visit has 30 pics and the 2019 visit with 11 pics:
app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/fc2068d2-20e7-4636-8d57-52934d336501?field=TITLE&desc=asc
Karl’s Imugan Town and road album, a 2014 album about Imugan and the road to it:
app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/16e52824-33ca-4ed1-867f-045177441857?field=TITLE&desc=asc
Karl’s 37 pictures album of my march from Imugan to Malico 2014 are presented in this album:
app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/1a9f8362-3d74-4fe4-81ca-9c1786613eed?field=TITLE&desc=asc
Karl’s album of the Salasac Passes Battle area 21 images, at the year 2014. This album tries to explain the geography of the battle area of the Salacsac Passes. The Villa Verde Trail went thru this pass from Pangasinan to Nueva Viscaya and from San Nicolas to Santa Fe. These are the actual passes where most of the fighting occurred for almost 2 month. To me the place is holy, soaked with the blood of thousands of soldiers.
app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/ad1eef6c-f902-4792-aae8-efb1c6c9efc9?field=TITLE&desc=asc
Karl’s album of the Japanese Monument on top in Malica, 2014 with 22 images. On my 3rd day I finally reached the Salacsac Passes. After I looked around and got orientated and had visited the WWII tank on the Villa Verde Trail I looked for the Japanese Memorial. I took these pictures and made this album. That completed my exploration of the Villa Verde Trail for this year, I Shall Return.
app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/07443330-fd28-4dea-b646-c14f70e1d1f2?field=TITLE&desc=asc
Villa Verde Trail, Balete or Dalton Pass Jun 23, 2016 at 10:07am
Quote Edit
Post by Karl Welteke on Jun 23, 2016 at 10:07am
VILLA VERDE TRAIL REVISITED, FROM RODEL SOTTO MALLILLIN
He found that the WWII 32 Inf. Div. Villa Verde Trail Monument was severely damaged during road construction work.
The big news is that work has started on the Pangasinan side to build the new highway from San Nicolas, Pangasinan to Santa Fe in Nueva Vizcaya. This road will eliminate the long drive around the Caraballo Mountain Spur and driving thru Nueva Ecija. The road follows the old and historical Villa Verde Trail. Based on my visit to Santa Fe, Imugan and Malico in 2014 the road on the Nueva Vizcaya side should be finished by now or nearly so!
Mr. Rodel Sotto Mallillin is a resident of San Nicolas and revisited the trail on the 18th June 2016. H e took some great pictures and shared them in his Face book page. This is the URL with 17 images:
www.facebook.com/rodel.mallillin.3/media_set?set=a.1252675731409510.1073741890.100000012853603&type=3&pnref=story
He, like me, contributes entries to the Corregidor Forum page and we both have trouble linking our Facebook images to this forum. He gave me permission to do that and my first step was to upload his pictures into my Flickr account with all the credit to him of course! This is the URL:
www.flickr.com/photos/44567569@N00/albums/72157670093594015
Karl’s album about the tank on the Villa Verde trail: When I reached Malico I went straight for the school, it was the closest structure. A leading teacher addressed me and I explained what my purpose was. She assigned three young boys to be my guides and off we went. It was a little over 2 km distance and 100 meter lower in elevation. I did not start taking picture until the return march. I returned the boys and made an offer, they suggested I donate to their feeding program which I did.
app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/dd238ee7-085e-4ea3-a90d-c9bd8a8faf65?field=TITLE&desc=asc
Update, as of Oct. 2023, under this URL, Villa Verde Trail No 1, in my Photobucket account, you can click 18 albums now about the Vila Verde Trail; it is located in the Philippine Historical Places Group No 1:
app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/9d0a67f6-eed1-441b-b044-a45975ad5fdc?field=TITLE&desc=asc
My 2023 update visit to the Villa Verde trail is located in the Philippine Historical Places Group No 1, sub group Villa Verde Trail No 2:
app.photobucket.com/u/PI-Sailor/a/3c8ece99-e218-483b-83ab-d35aa5681fa7?field=TITLE&desc=asc
When you view one of my Photobucket albums, when the album opens, click on the first picture or the one you would like to view, then click the icon “i” and that will open the title and description of the image or images.
This is an album of about 150 pictures from NARA. They are images in the Record Group 111. U.S. Army Signal Corps Photographs of Military Activity During World War II and The Korean Conflict
National Archives Identifier: 80681919 Local Identifier: 111-SCA-2968
Creator: Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Chief Signal Officer. (9/18/1947 - 3/1/1964). This is the NARA URL:
catalog.archives.gov/id/80681919
catalog.archives.gov/search?q=Villa%20Verde%20Trail
Other Corregidor Forum pages:
Battle of the Villa Verde Trail from NARA:
corregidor.proboards.com/thread/2295/battle-villa-verde-trail-nara
These pictures can be downloaded in high resolution at this Flickr album, click here:
www.flickr.com/photos/44567569@N00/albums/72157716393732587
Villa Verde Trail and the Balete Pass, click here, 7 pages now:
corregidor.proboards.com/thread/1694/villa-verde-trail-balete-dalton
Rodel S. Mallillin from San Nicolas, Guest:
corregidor.proboards.com/thread/1946/hello-member-interested-battle-villa
My Father, Staff Sergeant Donald C. Boyd, fought on the Villa Verde Trail, serving with the 32nd "Red Arrow" Division, 128th Infantry Regiment, Cannon Company. He also fought on Leyte, Luzon, and the Villa Verde Trail where he drove an M7 Priest, carried an M1 Garand, and was awarded the Bronze Star for heroism. He is currently recovering nicely at home in Swanton, Ohio from triple bypass surgery in August, 2009. I have an application for an "Honor Flight" to the WWII Memorial, but the waiting list is long. God is pretty cool, he will take care of it. A short interview and recent images of my remarkable Dad may be viewed at this link:
corregidor.proboards.com/thread/949/villa-verde-trail