Captain Emilio Soriano Liwanag (March 27, 1911 – April 12, 1967) was an officer in the Philippine Navy who served during the Second World War and the Korean War.
He started his military career as a 3rd lieutenant with the 3rd Light Infantry Regiment in the Philippine Commonwealth Army after graduation from the Philippine Military Academy. He joined the Offshore Patrol unit of the U.S. Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) as a 1st Lieutenant during the Second World War and was involved in the Battle of Bataan and during the country's liberation in the Battle of Manila.
During the Korean War, he served as a Lieutenant Commander - Artillery and Logistic officer in the Army's 10th Battalion Combat Team as part of the United Nations Forces - Philippine Expeditionary Forces To Korea (PEFTOK) during the first year of the war, which was the first deployment of Philippine combat forces under the Republic of the Philippines into foreign soil. Shortly after finishing his first tour in Korea, he immediately served a second tour as Liaison officer under the Philippine Navy for the UN Command and Philippine Diplomatic Representative in Tokyo, Japan.
Liwanag later served as the commander in the Navy's Service Force (NSF) during the 1960s and later became the commandant of the Naval Operating Force (NOF) which is the main fighting element of the Philippine Navy, till he was retired from active service.
Early life and education
Liwanag was born on March 27, 1911, in Dagupan, Pangasinan, Philippines, to Francisco Liwanag and Ana Soriano. He was sixth among seven children, three brothers and three sisters.
He attended the Philippine Military Academy at Baguio City, Mountain Province, Philippines from November 27, 1933, to May 31, 1935, under the academic program. Then entered the military program from June 1, 1935, to March 25, 1938, where he graduated from the Class of 1938 with a Bachelor of Science degree. With the Philippines under the American rule at that time, Liwanag spoke fluent English. After graduation he was appointed to the 3rd Light Infantry Regiment as a 3rd lieutenant in the Philippine Commonwealth Army.
On February 9, 1939, he graduated from the Army's Off Shore Patrol (OSP) Training School & Headquarters in Muelle del Codo, Port Area, Manila as part of the newly formed maritime element which he voluntarily joined. He was trained on seamanship, navigation and gunnery which were conducted with the Filipino USNA graduates as instructors.Alcaraz, Ramon A., Q-Boats: Heroes of the Off-shore Patrol, Magazine Title: Sea Classics. Volume: 36. Issue: 7. Publication Date: July, 2003. Retrieved October 7, 2011.
At Fort William McKinley (now Fort Bonifacio), he studied in the Advanced Infantry Gunnery Course (artillery) in 1950 before his deployment to Korea under the Philippine Army.
He attended the United States at the Naval Mine Warfare School (NSMW), in naval mine and countermeasures familiarization course in Yorktown, Virginia in 1957. The program was part of a foreign naval officials delegation visit to US Naval ship building facilities of Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company. Liwanag was one of nine allied foreign naval officers which included countries from France, Taiwan, Japan, Turkey, Spain, Norway, Greece and Germany.
Military career
World War II
At the outbreak of World War II, Liwanag was promoted to second lieutenant on March 26, 1940. Assigned as the supply officer of the Offshore Patrol (OSP). During 1941, the Offshore Patrol - the forerunner of the Philippine Navy – was the only Filipino naval force after the United States Asiatic Fleet which is in charge of the naval protection for the Philippines. He was temporarily promoted to first lieutenant, September 27, 1941. A few weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, his rank became permanent after he was inducted into the US Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) on December 19, 1941. Four days later, the Japanese planes bombed the Offshore Patrol two-storied headquarters in Muelle del Codo, Port Area, Manila where he was stationed;Off Shore Patrol., Philippine Navy: Four Fold Mission. Sept. 25, 2006 he was in Bataan when this incident happened. The Naval Headquarters was lightly staffed at that time, only 20 personnel, since all officers and personnel were located across Manila Bay in Bataan and Corregidor preparing its defenses for invasion. To spare Manila from destruction from the Japanese invasion force, Manila was declared an "open city". Since the military wasn't returning to Manila, the OSP Commander, Captain Enrique L. "Henry" Jurado, ordered the Headquarters to be burned down completely before the Japanese arrival into the city.Philippine Naval History, 1939-1941: The Off Shore Patrol (OSP), GlobalSecurity.org., Retrieved December 2010
Liwanag relocated and served in the Harbor Defense Force under the Offshore Patrol unit in Lamao, Bataan during the Battle of Bataan. Lamao was the new location of the OSP headquarters which was based at the Lamao Horticulture Center, Liwanag became the officer-in-charge of shore duty at the Lamao Headquarters and docking facilities after the OSP HQ was later moved. In total there were mostly 60 men in the OSP unit which was divided into 2 main groups: sea and shore duty. During the next three and a half months, his half of the unit was in charge of shore duty along the eastern coast way of Bataan. They created fortified defensive positions along the shores and harbors, supplied food, ammunition, medicine and provisions for the front lines. They used a supply point across southernmost point of Manila Bay and Corregidor Island, using 55-foot (17 m) and 65-foot (19 m) high-speed Thorneycroft Coastal Motor Boat (CMB), also known as Q-boats, available to them along with several converted civilian "fast" boats from the OSP - sea duty unit. When the sea duty unit is not transferring vital supplies, they were to engage the Japanese forces using their Q-boats by hindering or destroying any landing assaults on the country's shoreline.
By mid-February during the Battle of Bataan, Japanese forces managed to breach the battle line north of Lamao forcing droves of American and Filipino soldiers trying to escape capture by any means. Some of these soldiers found their way to Lamao, at the mouth of the Alangan River, knowing that boats were located there. During a cargo drop-off, Liwanag noticed a small number of armed and unarmed soldiers, about a dozen, were trying to board the docked Q-boats which was strictly ordered to carry ammo and supplies only, not indigenous personnel. Without the knowledge that the battle line had been breached, he threatened many of the soldiers who board any of the Q-boats will be shot. Liwanag escorted the off loaded Q-boats to their supply point. As he returned from the supply trip back to Lamao, his harbor and shoreline was overwhelmed by a larger crowded chaotic scene of desperate troops eager to escape the Japanese advance. He realized the battle line has finally failed and understood the peril of these men and the danger of his own unit's position. He ordered all Q-boats on dock to dump their cargo and prepare to take on passengers for an immediate evacuation mission. Then he organized the harbor evacuations because the retreating troops were endangering the Q-boats by overloading and capsizing them, at the same time restore some form of order to the chaotic mess. From his dock, he sent out an urgent radio order and a general distress call for more needed boats from across Manila Bay. While all types of civilian boats were volunteering to assist in the evacuation, as more retreating troops kept flooding in. He ordered a number of these troops to create a guard perimeter, which a group of volunteers took the task to provide a security buffer outside the dock facilities from enemy incursions while the evacuation took place. As the daylight fell, the Japanese were slowly closing in, he ordered a number of the waiting troops with demolition skills to assist in preparing the harbor and the oil refinery facilities nearby for destruction by using the ordnance from their last supply run and available on-site supplies so it would not be useful to the Japanese. They used as much of their harbor's fuel resources to fill the tanks of all the incoming boats and any portable fuel canisters, since Lamao with its oil refinery facilities was also a fuel & supply depot.
When all the troops and non-essential personnel were safely shuttled off, he ordered all remaining boats to start loading the full fuel canisters on board to be dropped off at a friendly port. The fuel was mainly used for sea duty's Q-boats to remain functional since they didn't know where another fuel depot would be located. He continued coordinating the incoming and outgoing boats for the fuel removal. When a small group of retreating American and Filipino soldiers approached the perimeter guard's position, warning that the Japanese were just several minutes behind them. They relayed back that the Japanese were approaching their security perimeter. He ordered all of them to withdraw along with the entire harbor personnel to evacuate in any available boats. Since most of the docked boats were loaded with extra fuel tanks, the remaining harbor personnel had to sit on top of them as they departed. Liwanag along with several Q-boats remained and waited for all the volunteer perimeter guards and remaining soldiers to arrive. They all came running in and immediately jumped onto the now overloaded boats, saying the Japanese were behind them only by several minutes. He finally gave the order to activate the timed delayed explosives for the destruction of the oil refinery tanks, facilities and harbor. As his boat departed, some the perimeter guards on board started firing at the direction of the Japanese to keep them at bay, but ordered them to cease fire to prevent the Japanese from locking onto their position from their weapon's muzzle fire flash which would endangering themselves further since they were all sitting on top of portable fuel tanks. They used the night's darkness to conceal their departure with only the sounds of their boats motors indicating their departing presence. The harbor's total destruction took place late during the night with their withdrawal punctuated by a tremendous explosions of the oil refinery tanks which was seen across the Manila Bay.
They moved down further south to their new OSP HQ further down to Alasasin Point along the mouth of the Dinginen River, Bataan.Wartime Coastal Patrol - December 1941, USNA Memorial Hall, June 24, 2008, Retrieved August 5, 2011. Some the fuel resources they were able to salvage was relocated at this location and Corregidor. They remained at this location by early April until Japanese forces overran the beach defenses and were forced to evacuate to Corregidor.