Jose Cabalfin Calugas[6] (December 29, 1907 – January 18, 1998) was a member of the Philippine Scouts during World War II.

Upon completion, he received additional training as an artilleryman,[3] and was then assigned to the 24th Artillery Regiment of the Philippine Scouts at Fort Stotsenburg, Pampanga.

Calugas was working as a mess sergeant in charge of a group of soldiers who were preparing the day's meals, known as KP duty.

While Calugas and his squad maintained a steady fire on the enemy positions, other soldiers had time to dig in and defend the line.

[8] For his actions on that day, his superiors recommended Calugas for the United States military's highest decoration for valor, the Medal of Honor.

[9][10] Arguably, the Battle of Bataan represented the most intense phase of Imperial Japan's invasion of the Philippines during World War II.

By April 8, the senior U.S. commander on Bataan, Major General Edward "Ned" P. King, Jr., decided further resistance was futile, and explored proposals for surrender.

On April 9, 1942, approximately 76,000 Filipino and American troops surrendered to a Japanese army of 54,000 men under Lt. General Masaharu Homma.

The majority of the prisoners of war were immediately relieved of their belongings and endured a 61-mile (98 km) march in deep dust, over vehicle-broken macadam roads, and crammed into rail cars for the portion of the journey from San Fernando to Capas.

En route, over 21,000 men and women died from disease, starvation, dehydration, heat prostration, untreated wounds, and wanton execution.

[9] His release placed him as a laborer in a Japanese rice mill, and while assigned there he secretly joined a guerrilla unit, #227 Old Bronco.

After the unit was disbanded in 1947, he was assigned to the Ryuku Command, on the Ryukyu Islands in the South China Sea, where he remained until 1953.

Calugas, a mess sergeant of another battery, voluntarily and without orders ran 1,000 yards across the shell-swept area to the gun position.

[19] Calugas was portrayed by Filipino actor Ronnie Lazaro in a 2003 one-hour Philippine documentary A Legacy of Heroes: The Story of Bataan and Corregidor.