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Contact Info
Home Town Barrio Tagsing, Leon, Iloilo, Philippines
Last Address Tacoma, Washington
Date of Passing Jan 18, 1998
Location of Interment Mountain View Memorial Park - Lakewood, Washington
Wall/Plot Coordinates New Veteran's Section, Lot 206, Space 7
Jose Cabalfin Calugas was a member of the Philippine Scouts during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for actions during the Battle of Bataan.
At the age of 23, Calugas joined the Philippine Scouts of the United States Army and completed training as an artilleryman and served with different artillery batteries of the Philippine Scouts until his unit was mobilized to fight in World War II. After noticing one of his unit's gun batteries had been put out of commission and its crew killed, he gathered several members of his unit together, dug in and attempted to defend the line. He was captured along with other members of his unit and forced to march to a distant enemy prison camp, where he was held as a prisoner of war. When he was released in 1943, he was secretly assigned to a guerrilla unit in the Philippines where he fought for the liberation of the Philippines from the Japanese.
After World War II Calugas received a direct commission and became a United States citizen. Retiring from the Army, he settled in Tacoma, Washington.
Calugas was captured as a result of the surrender of Bataan, and he remained a prisoner at Camp O'Donnell until January 1943, when he was released to work for the Japanese.
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. As an officer of the guerrilla unit, he participated in the attack on the Japanese garrison at Karangalan. His unit fought in the continued campaign against the Japanese, which eventually led to the liberation of the Philippines.
His Medal of Honor was personally pinned by General Douglas MacArthur and he is one of two Filipinos during World War II to receive this honor.
