PVAO, FILVETS launch digitized WWII records

From the Philippine Information Agency (Apr 27): PVAO, FILVETS launch digitized WWII records

The Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO), in collaboration with the Filipino War Veterans Foundation Inc. (FILVETS), launched on Maonday the digitized surviving records of Filipino soldiers and guerillas during World War II (WW II) at the AFP Museum at Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo in Quezon City.

The digitization project is presented as the “Bgen. Francisco H. Licuanan, Jr. Collection,” in honor of the memory of the late BGen. Francisco H. Licuanan, Jr., the father of the project sponsor, Mr. Francisco H. Licuanan III.

According to Usec. Ernesto G. Carolina, PVAO Administrator, PVAO, FILVETS, and Mr. Licuanan "aimed at putting together the bits and pieces of the history of World War II in our country which are scattered in different institutions."

The found records about WWII in the Philippines are in the custody of the United States National Archives and Records Administration in Maryland, USA. Starting last year, a team led by a former historical researcher, Marie Vallejo, worked for four (4) months to digitize the records and bring them to the Philippines.

“Nine years ago, I embarked on a personal quest to find out what my father did during World War II…Continuing my search in the US, the US National Archives in Maryland yielded a gold mine of Philippine WWII records called the Philippine Collection composed of 1,665 boxes of primary source records of our World War II history.” Vallejo said during her testimonial at the launching of the digitized WWII records.

“This is just the beginning. A pioneering team has successfully done the first phase. There are more boxes of our history waiting to be digitized and brought back. Help us bring them home,” Vallejo added.

The digitized output is composed of more than 284,000 records of Filipino soldiers and guerillas in WWII and was compiled under the Philippines Archives Collection portal. The portal will be installed to different libraries and museums nationwide starting next month.

“Hopefully, the results of this project will serve as a base for historians and historical writers to fill in some blanks in our nation’s history.” Licuanan said in his message during the launch.

“Our father never talked that much about his exploits. It is only after Marie chanced upon these records that we found out that he was actually the head of his unit. I say this not to glorify what my father did but to say that there are so many vignettes of Filipino history that individual Filipinos can access and find out what their parents or grandparents did,” Licuanan added.

Meanwhile, Usec. Carolina also said that a Philippine Center for World War II Studies will be established at the Dambana ng Kagitingan at Mt. Samat, Bataan which will be the depository of the complete history of World War II in the Philippines. Mt. Samat was declared as a Tourism Enterprise Zone last year.

PVAO release stated that the digitized records include memoirs of freedom fighters, officers, soldiers, and civilians. The digitized files were indexed and categorized into military units, regions, prominent leaders, personalities, anecdotes, historical chronology, timelines, among others.

http://news.pia.gov.ph/article/view/2561461660111/pvao-filvets-launch-digitized-wwii-records