THE JAPANESE NAVAL HEADQUARTERS IN BAMBAN HILLS: A JOURNEY INTO LOST WWII HISTORY
THE JAPANESE NAVAL HQ IN BAMBAN HILLS
Historian Rhonie Dela Cruz has been gathering materials and conducts research in the past decade related to WWII in the region. In one of his discoveries, the Japanese Naval HQ of the 1st Combined Air Fleet was located in Bamban Hills during WWII. In 2000-2001, he met the only surviving members of the Imperial Japanese Navy 1st Air Fleet, Lieutenant Commander Moji Chikanori, while working in Japan. The 1st Air Fleet was the main naval air fleet command of the Japanese in the Philippines in the last quarter of 1944, then under the command of Vice-Admiral Onishi Takijiro. With the organization of the Kamikaze Special Attack Corps, and its initial success in October 25, 1944, the 1st and the 2nd Air Fleet were integrated into 1st Combined Air Fleet and moved into the Bamban Hills at Asahiyama, where the headquarters was established with the facilities and the two big tunnels that are still intact to these days.
Join the Historian, Mr. Dela Cruz, as he put up the video narrations in revealing the historical highlights and journey in time on the Japanese Naval HQ in Bamban Hills.
IN the pursuit of preserving and promoting this surviving WWII Historical Site, Mr. Dela Cruz and the whole organization of the Bamban Historical Society and the Bamban WII Museum endeavored for the Heritage Preservation and Tourism Development of the surviving tunnels and the former headquarters site. A Heritage Law should be enacted and implemented by the Local Government and the Municipal Council in order to preserve the sites and to help the land owners in the tourism development.
Today, with the efforts of the Bamban Historical Society led by Mr. Dela Cruz and in cooperation of the owners of the land where the site and tunnels are located, interest from among the public and tourists has been rising and visiting these sites.
INVESTIGATING HISTORY SERIES
Historian and Museum Curator, Rhonie C. Dela Cruz
Bamban Historical Society
Bamban WWII Museum
Center for Japanese Pacific War Studies
Provincial Government of Tarlac – Tarlac Provincial Tourism Office
Email: [email protected]
Cell No. +639630861513
