UP Tacloban College commemorates the 80th Leyte Landing (Battle of Leyte) with “Dugang nga Kadasig: Book Talk with Marie Silva Vallejo on ‘Dauntless,’” on 16 October 2024, 10:00-11:30 AM, at the Leyte Samar Heritage Center.

Marie Silva Vallejo’s “Dauntless,” finalist in the 2024 National Book Awards for History, narrates the role played by the US Army’s Filipino Regiment and 1st Reconnaissance Battalion in the liberation of the Philippines during World War II. Sent via secret submarine missions to different parts of the Philippines, including Leyte and Samar, the Filipino Regiment brought weapons and supplies to local guerrillas. With the local guerrillas, they kept the Allied forces abreast with news about the resistance through radio messages sent to Australia until General MacArthur’s return two and a half years later.

The book talk is also the first of several activities for this schoolyear’s (GE)n Z Ideas Series, aimed at expanding the General Education experience of students. The “Dugang nga Kadasig” book talk features the scholarly adventure of retrieving and reconstructing historical narratives from archival sources. Because the submarine missions were top-secret, Vallejo had to pore over the guerrilla records to put together the story of the Filipino Regiment and 1st Reconnaissance Battalion. Her research led to her spearheading the digitization of the Guerilla Recognition Program files in the Philippine Archives of the US National Records and Administration.

“Dugang nga Kadasig: Book Talk with Marie Silva Vallejo” is spearheaded by the Leyte Samar Heritage Center and the Division of Humanities. The event continues UP Tacloban’s advocacy for the promotion of local history and cultural heritage.