It is said that he formed a group of children his age to act as couriers for the guerrilla movement of General Miguel Malvar's forces operating in the Calamba area.

[1] In the period following the Philippine–American War, Vicente continued his studies at Liceo de Manila, and completed the teacher training program at the Philippine Normal School.

Impressed by his athletic skills and intelligence, a supervisory teacher encouraged Vicente to take the entrance examinations for the United States Military Academy at West Point.

While Lim took the West Point qualifying examinations in 1908, which would have made him eligible to report to the academy in March 1909, it is likely that the process of shipping required documents back and forth across the Pacific simply took too long.

The task of ensuring that Filipino officers were accorded equal treatment in terms of compensation, benefits, promotion and respect in the American Army engaged Lim intellectually and emotionally.

Upon completion of his training at Benning, Lim was sent for further studies to the United States Army Command and General Staff College (USACGSC) at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.

Lim's West Point education and his completion of command and general staff programs in the United States, made him a natural nominee to aid in the establishment of a national defense system for the Philippines.

[6] On October 31, 1936, Lim along with Col. Josephus Stevenot, Senator Manuel Camus, General Carlos Romulo, Executive Secretary Jorge Vargas, Don Gabriel Daza, and Arsenio Luiz, officially chartered the BSP in Commonwealth Act No.

I found that we have the manpower to defend our vital areas, and God has given us the advantage of our natural terrain features to effectively give a nice showing against any first class power.

[13] Like he did on issues of discrimination against Filipino soldiers in the US Army, Vicente clashed with MacArthur and other top brass on the strategy being employed in building up the country's National defense.

Up until December 1941, the United States had carefully maintained its neutrality, even as Japanese forces continued to wage war on the Chinese mainland and as Adolf Hitler's U-Boats menaced merchant shipping in the Atlantic Ocean.

However, heightened tensions across the globe, deteriorating negotiations with Japan and the failure of all diplomatic efforts to halt Japanese aggression in the Far East, made it clear that it would only be a matter of time before the United States' involvement would entail more than just sending material aid to its allies.

Even with the problems that plagued the Philippine Army, Vicente realized that the more imminent threat was the fact that there wasn't much time to mobilize a strong defense force for the country.

Consistent with his long-held belief that the strength of any military unit lies with the men that lead it, General Lim put a lot of thought into how the officers of the 41st Division were organized.

He made it a point to get to know his men—their strengths, weaknesses, tendencies and personalities—and organized them, "according to the best principles of command"[1] and in a way he thought would work best in forging the 41st Division into an effective fighting unit.

Within a matter of hours of each other, Japanese forces also commenced attacks on Guam, Wake Island, the British crown colony of Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaya, and the Philippines.

General Douglas MacArthur's initial strategy for defending the Philippines was to stop the Japanese at the beaches at all costs (in contrast to the original War Plan Orange 3, which called for an immediate withdrawal to the Bataan Peninsula).

Many valuable American aircraft had been caught on the ground, and the bulk of those that survived the initial Japanese raids were sent south to Mindanao, en route to Australia.

It soon became apparent that a withdrawal to Bataan (as called for in War Plan Orange 3) was the best remaining option for Filipino and American forces, and from there, deny the use of Manila Bay by the Japanese.

Thus, historical accounts that discuss the Battle of Bataan invariably touch on the meager rations that all the Filipino and American defenders relied on during the course of the gallant stand.

The Division Quartermaster chosen by General Lim before the war began was Juan O. Chioco, assisted by an equally able Executive Officer, Ernesto D. Rufino.

On December 29, 1941, Zuño wrote, "BGen Vicente Lim, 41st Div Commanding Gen distributed bacon and Lucky Strikes cigarettes as Christmas presents, to the officers and men of the division.

After Abucay the Japs started to withdraw from Bataan, and resumed their attack in April, thus allowing MacArthur forty precious days for the preparation of Australia as an operational base.

General Clifford Bluemel, the sector commander for the area around Trail 2 and one of those who was not properly informed of the shifts of units along the front line discovered the gap not too long before the Japanese put their next attack in motion.

General Lim hoped that a counterattack north, would not only regain ground and their previous defensive positions, but would also give the USAFFE a chance to acquire much needed food stocks.

As if the ordeal of the Bataan Death March and the horrific conditions at Camp O'Donnell were not enough, many surviving American POWs were sent off on "hell ships" to do forced hard labor in Japan, Manchuria, Korea and Taiwan, among others, until the end of the war.

He was a pioneer throughout his career, being the first Filipino to graduate from West Point (and from various general staff schools), a charter member of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines, and a key figure in the formation of a young nation's armed forces.

For all his years of serving with distinction in the military and for "exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements" Lim was posthumously awarded the Legion of Merit by the United States Army.

In recognition of his services to the Filipino people, General Lim likeness appears on the Philippine 1,000 Peso banknote together with José Abad Santos and Josefa Llanes Escoda.

The tradition was initiated by Vicente's wife, Pilar Hidalgo Lim, not only to honor the memory of her late husband, but also, to help impart upon the future leaders of the Armed Forces, the principles which defined his life.