Snippets of Zamboanga Life

Snippets of Zamboanga Life

Heretofore, we will bring to you any and all interesting snippets of specific articles we find pertaining to life in Zamboanga City. It is a measure of our city's interaction with the outside world. We hope you can contribute to this effort. Sit back and enjoy the ride...

The Original Miss Columbia

September 11,1901
On board the ship T. Buford
Manilla Bay, Phillipines

          "Do you want to know how I came aboard?
          They opened one of the large port-holes and I was hauled up through it. There were several ladies too, who came up in the same way. There had been some mistake about my "pass" so Maj. Jones, the commanding officer said I must be called a dead-head.
          Dear me! What a dreadful, name, but they treat me royally so I shant worry about what my ticket says."

Finally in July 1901, Miss Columbia secured passage for the Philippine Islands on the U.S. Army Transport Thomas, popularly known as the "Teachers' Transport". After the Spanish-American War, the Philippines had been ceded to the United States, and the U.S. government was transporting schoolteachers, as well as soldiers, to the islands. One of these adventurous teachers, Miss Cora E. Fay of Colorado, was to be Columbia's constant companion for the next year.

Before going aboard, Columbia's face and hands had to be thoroughly cleaned because, as recorded in her journal, "I had been kissed by so many big folk as well as little ones. At Denver over 600 children kissed and shook hands with me at one reception... However my face and hands have been well washed for my start over the sea."

ACROSS THE SEA

After a peaceful voyage that included a stop in Honolulu, the Thomas reached Manila Bay on August 21, 1901. Miss Fay was assigned to a teaching post in Zamboanga on the island of Mindanao, so the two travelers boarded another transport, the Buford, for the trip south. The seas were so high that day that the gangplank could not be lowered. Columbia and several of the teachers had to be hauled up from the launch and pulled aboard through an open porthole. If that were not indignity enough, Miss Columbia was issued a tag that read: "Pass bearer on Buford as a dead head (underage), from Manila, P.I. to Zamboanga, P.I. to be fed in saloon with a spoon."

"Dead Head" or not, for the next year Columbia shared Miss Fay's excursions on Mindanao and even survived an earthquake. But by August 1902, a letter from Mrs. Horton reminded Miss Columbia and Miss Fay of the long trip home to Boston. Passage was found for her on the transport McClellan, whose commanding officer, Capt. Nye, would look out for her more than halfway around the world. Before leaving Zamboanga she was cleared by the Collector of Customs, who certified that she had complied with the customs regulations and had not defrauded the government. However, after inspecting her New England wardrobe, he suggested she bring more suitable clothes on the next trip. "It doesn't snow here very often," he wrote.

THE ARANETA FAMILY TREE

Entries: 1466 Updated: Fri Mar 22 07:57:02 2002 Contact: R.V. Araneta & Cecile Araneta Cacho <araneta@bellsouth.net> Home Page: THE ARANETA FAMILY HOMEPAGE

· ID: I0236

Name: Don Jose de Araneta ¹

· Sex: M

· Birth: ABT. 1697 in Gipuzkoa, Province, Basque Region, Spain

· Death: ABT. 1746 in Cotabato, Philippines

· Military Service: 1725 He served the Spanish Politico-Military Gov't. in Mindanao, based at Zamboanga City, Philippines.

· Note: Don Jose de Araneta was born in Gipuzkoa Province, Basque region of Spain, about 1697. He joined the Spanish expedition to the West Indies, and Mexico. During the galleon trade in 1723, Don Jose and his brother Baltazar de Araneta arrived in Manila aboard the "Nuestra Senora de Guia". In 1725, he joined the first expeditionary forces for Mindanao. He served the Spanish Politico-Military Government based at Zamboanga City as interpreter of the government and the Sultan of Maguindanao. According to some historians, he was executed in Cotabato in 1746. However, this was not conclusive, as the interpreter mentioned in the document that it may be another person who was executed.

Father: ARANETA Of Spain b: in Gipuzkoa, Province, Basque Region, Spain
Mother: UNKNOWN UNKNOWN b: in Guipuzkoa, Basque Spain

Marriage 1 UNKNOWN Sta.Ana b: in Zamboanga City, Philippines

Married: in Zamboanga City

Children

BUENAVENTURA ARANETA y STA.ANA b: in Zamboanga City, Philippines
VICENTE ARANETA y STA.ANA b: in Zamboanga City, Philippines
Unknown Araneta Sta.Ana b: in Zamboanga City, Philippines

Sources:

Title: Las Islas Filipinas De Mindanao, By Julian Ganzales Parrado and Benito Francia
Repository:
Call Number:
Media: Book

Concurrent with the Palawan operation, the remainder of the 41st Division carried out VICTOR IV, the seizure of Zamboanga, the large peninsula of Mindanao that extended to the southwest. Intelligence reports had indicated that a sizable Japanese force occupied the area. Numbering almost 9,000 men and built around the 54th Independent Mixed Brigade (IMB), they had established strong defensive positions around of the city of Zamboanga at the southern tip of the peninsula.

Tactical air support posed a problem because of the slow construction of the airfield on Palawan. When Filipino guerrillas reported that they had seized a makeshift airstrip at Dipolog, some 145 miles to the northeast of Zamboanga City, the Americans rapidly exploited the opportunity. Two reinforced companies from the 21st Infantry, 24th Division, were immediately airlifted in to bolster the guerrillas and ensure control of the airstrip. Soon thereafter, Marine Corsairs from Col. Clayton C. Jerome's Marine Aircraft Group, Zamboanga, were using the airstrip to cover naval bombardment and landing preparations off Zamboanga City.

Following bombings of the landing areas by the Thirteenth Air Force and a three-day naval bombardment, the American assault began mid-morning on 10 March. The 162d Infantry, with the 163d following, landed three miles west of Zamboanga City. Despite occasional harassing fire, the Japanese did not contest the landing from their prepared shoreline positions. Quickly securing their immediate objective, an airfield one-half mile behind the landing beach, General Doe's infantry.

Amphibious landing area on the Zamboanga.

(National Archives)

soon gained control of Zamboanga City, largely destroyed by the preinvasion bombardments. By the end of the second day, the Americans held the coastal plain but ran into strong resistance the next day when they attacked enemy positions in the hills overlooking the plain. Supported by marine aviation and naval gunfire, the infantry fought the Japanese for two weeks in terrain so rugged that tanks could not be used. The Japanese positions were formidable; deep earthen emplacements, barbed wire, minefields, and numerous booby traps guarded the five-mile front. After heavy fighting, the center of the Japanese line finally broke on 23 March, and over the next three days the 162d Infantry eradicated resistance in this central sector. At this point elements of the 186th Infantry from Palawan began replacing the 163d and continued the attack. The 54th IMB pulled out a week later, harried by guerrilla forces that stymied its efforts to retreat up the peninsula in orderly fashion and ultimately forcing the Japanese off their route and deep into the jungle. Mopping up operations continued for some time, with total U.S. Army losses numbering 220 killed, compared with 6,400 Japanese dead.

Concurrent with the Zamboanga operation, smaller units of the 41st Division were invading the Sulu Archipelago, a long stretch of islands reaching from the Zamboanga Peninsula to North Borneo. Taken in

rapid succession were Basilan, Malamaui, Tawi Tawi, Sanga Sanga, and Bangao. Determined opposition was encountered only at Jolo on 9 April. There a 3,900-man Japanese garrison anchored its stubborn defense around Mount Daho in the center of the island. Hard fighting by elements of the 163d Infantry, fighting alongside Filipino guerrillas, finally took the position on 22 April, although some enemy infantrymen fled to the west, where they held out for another two months. In the struggle, 40 soldiers of the 163d Infantry were killed and 125 wounded by mid-June, by which time some 2,000 Japanese had perished.

Almost immediately after the landing at Zamboanga, engineers began augmenting existing airfields and constructing new ones. Marine Corps aircraft used these fields to cover the Sulu Island landings, and to support later operations on Mindanao. Captured airfields on Sanga Sanga and Jolo were also extended, subsequently supporting further operations against the Japanese-held East Indies.

Within two weeks of issuing the Palawan and Zamboanga orders, General MacArthur directed the capture of the now-isolated Visayan islands of Panay, Negros, Cebu, and Bohol. While Filipino guerrillas controlled much of the countryside on the four islands, 30,000 Japanese troops held the vital coastal towns, including Cebu City and Iloilo on Panay, the second and third largest cities respectively in the Philippines. Beyond his immediate desire to clear the Japanese from the islands, MacArthur envisioned these two port cities as important staging areas for the expected influx of troops scheduled to invade Japan. The Joint Chiefs of Staff recently had told MacArthur to be prepared to stage twenty-two divisions for the invasion of Japan at Philippine bases by November 1945, with eleven more to follow by the next February.