Photo courtesy of Captain Alfred Bruce Family.
INVESTIGATING HISTORY:
80th Anniversary of Liberation 1945 – 2025
THE AQUINO ANCESTRAL HOUSE AS HQ OF THE XIV CORPS, U.S. ARMY, LATE JANUARY 1945
In commemorating the 80th Anniversary of Liberation 1945 – 2025, we look back to the history of WWII especially in our area. Perhaps some of the places of historical importance has been forgotten already, or the site has not been written into popular history.
Just east of the Bamban, my hometown and where our Bamban WWII Museum is established, is another historic town of Concepcion, Tarlac. A neighboring town to the east, and while Bamban and Bamban Hills were major battlefields and as “focal point of Japanese resistance in the western area of Central Luzon”, it was at Concepcion that the headquarters of the U.S. Army XIV Corps was established.
Major General Oscar Griswold was in command of the XIV Corps, composed of the 40th Division (under Major General Rapp Brush) and 37th Division (under Major General Robert S. Beightler). These two divisions fought the major battles in Tarlac and Pampanga and in clearing operations from late January to February 1945. The 37th Division would be deployed to the south and participated in the major operations in the Battle of Manila, along with the 1st Cavalry Division and the 11th Airborne Division.
On January 25, 1945, General Douglas MacArthur was already established General Headquarters at Hacienda Luisita, San Miguel, Tarlac, Tarlac. The building he was using then as HQ was part of the facility of the administration of the old sugar mill, now the Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT), built by the Spanish-owned Tabacalera Company in pre-war years. With the advance of the Sixth Army from Lingayen to the south and entering the province of Tarlac, and the transfer of General MacArthur’s headquarters at Hacienda Luisita, it was necessary for the XIV Corps leading its 40th and 37th Division in the drive towards the Central Plains, particularly Tarlac and then Pampanga, to move close to the front lines.
The first choice for the site of the XIV Corps headquarters was actually my town of Bamban. But, as the location was being shelled by Japanese artillery based at nearby Clark Field and on the high ground to the west where light artillery where emplaced inside the tunnels of Bamban Hills overlooking the town, it was decided that the HQ be set-up at the grounds of the Aquino ancestral house in Concepcion, Tarlac.
The command operation of the XIV Corps were thus undertaken at the Headquarters at the Aquino ancestral house at the height of the combat operations of the 37th and 40th Divisions at Clark and Bamban area from late January until mid-February 1945. American USAFFE guerrillas from the Luzon Guerrilla Forces operating around Bamban Area (Clark Field, Stotsenburg and Mabalacat) came down from the hills and reported to the Headquarters of the XIV Corps.
IN THIS PHOTO:
Photo shows General Griswold in a ceremony with the American guerrillas led by Captain Alfred D. Bruce (Bruce Guerillas, South Tarlac Military District) and Captain Henry Clary Conner (Squadron 155, Pampanga North Military District) at the premises of the Aquino ancestral house, January 30, 1945.
Captain Conner handed-over the flag of the 26th Cavalry Philippine Scouts that he and his guerrillas saved and hoisted over their jungle camp during enemy occupation, to General Griswold.
This photograph, along with other images of the XIV Corps Headquarters taken at Concepcion were donated by the family of Captain Alfred Bruce and are now in the collection of the Bamban WWII Museum in an exhibit.
The Aquino ancestral house also holds WWII history, and this image is a testament of that forgotten account.
Rhonie Dela Cruz
Bamban Historical Society
Bamban WWII Museum
Center for Pacific War Studies
Consultant, Tarlac Provincial Tourism Office
Citation:
(1) XIV Corps Operations on Luzon.
(2) Griswold, Oscar W. XIV Corps M1 Operation, “After Action Report XIV Corps M1 Operation”.
