Malaybalay City During World War II Chapter 4 Celebration
Posted by Delbert on July 22nd, 2007
Celebration
Malaybalay City During World War II
July 4th 1945 was a day of celebration in Malaybalay. The war is not over yet but the towns and highway have been cleared and the beaten Japs have fled back into the remote mountains. This picture shows a part of the crowd on their way to the celebration.
Our 31st Infantry “Dixie” Division Band added much to this happy and joyous occasion for the people of Malaybalay.
As with all celebrations there is usually lots of long-winded speeches by the politicians and this one is not an exception. Perhaps you can identify this speaker and maybe even some of the crowd.
The happy celebration continues with the young ladies dancing with joy.
When these pictures are made public in Malaybalay, I hope that some of these ladies will recognize themselves dancing.
The dancing continues and I must say that their dress was beautiful as well as colorful.
This is the last picture of the ladies dancing as well as of the celebration. I must say that at the time I wasn’t aware of how meaningful this liberation was to the citizens of Mindanao. Now as an old man I can appreciate more what they had to endure.
“A little horse play but in this case I suppose one should say a little Carabao play. That’s me (Paul Tillery) and I’m glad the animal was domesticated.”
Kids are kids the world over and these three seemed to be having an enjoyable time bouncing on this bush. There again no names but maybe someone will recognize them.
Didn’t get this little guy’s name but he is certainly a great looking kid. Perhaps someone will recognize him.
Some of the local guys were paid to erect a Mess Hall for us. It was really surprising how much cooler it was with the thatch roof. This is photo of the Mess Hall. I included it because of the two guys there. Perhaps someone will recognize them.
Here are two great looking guys but again I didn’t get their names. Louie Ching thought the guy on the right might be his Dad. After checking with Malaybalay he confirmed this to be his Dad. Remember these are 1945 photos. What a remarkable discovery.
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