Military career of Ferdinand Marcos
[4] Marcos claims that he spent much of the period between his release and 1944 return[4] leading a guerilla organization called Ang Manga Mahárlika (Tagalog, "The Freeman") in Northern Luzon.
[3] Hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 8, 1941, the Japanese simultaneously bombed many places in the Philippines, including Clark Field.
The 14th Army began its invasion with a landing on Batan Island (not to be confused with Bataan Peninsula), 120 miles (190 km) off the north coast of Luzon on the same day, by selected naval infantry units.
Marcos also does not appear in "List of Recipients of Awards and Decorations Issued Between Dec. 7, 1941 through June 30, 1945" as compiled by the staff of Gen. Douglas MacArthur in Tokyo.
[12] Louis Morton who authored the official Army Records "Fall of the Philippines" also relied on the publication of "A Brief History of the 21st Division," which forms the account of Gen. Mateo M. Capinpin's command.
[12] Marcos was allegedly one of the 78,000 Filipino and American troops who surrendered at Bataan on April 9, 1942, four months after the Japanese initiated their invasion of the Philippines.
[4] John Sharkey of The Washington Post found records that Marcos was in the list of those that were released due to either "having severe health problems and those whose families have cooperated with the Japanese military authorities.
After the fall of Bataan, Marcos claimed to have led a guerrilla force called Ang Mahárlika (Tagalog, "The Freeman") in northern Luzon during World War II.
[6] His account of events was later cast into doubt after a United States military investigation exposed many of his claims as either false or inaccurate.
[18] The father, Mariano Marcos, was later executed by Filipino guerillas in their own province through quartering by tying him to four water buffalos who ran towards opposite direction.
American guerilla Robert Lapham accounted that Mariano Marcos "was unquestionably a collaborator with the Japanese, for which bad judgment he paid a ghastly price."
[4] Marcos's Military service then formally ended with his discharge as a Major in the 14th Infantry, US Armed Forces in the Philippines Northern Luzon, in May 1945.
[5] This prompted US officials to note that Marcos "is recognized as a major in the roster of the 14th Infantry USAFIP, NL as of 12 December 1944 to his date of discharge.
[25][26][27][28][29][30] In 1986, research by historian Alfred W. McCoy into United States Army records showed most of Marcos's medals to be fraudulent.
