2LT National News

TACLOBAN CITY, Oct. 17 (PIA) — Tolosa, Leyte will have a virtual commemoration of Signal Day on October 18, Mayor Maria Ofelia Alcantara disclosed at the PANINDUGAN, a virtual Kapihan among PIA and Friends.

This, however, will not diminish the significance of Signal Day, the lady Mayor said.

To recall, Leyte Gulf Landings commemoration starts with the Signal Day in Tolosa. This year, the Mayor said that in order to avoid the spread of COVID-19, only a selected few will be physically present at Telegrafo, Tolosa for the Wreath-Laying and Raising of the Flags of the Philippines, the United States, Australia and Japan.

Aside from the messages of the Mayor and the Guest of Honor, Governor Leopoldo Dominico Petilla, there will also be virtual messages from the descendants of Boy Scouts Abella, Junia and Teston and from the president of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines.

The activity will be capped with the singing of Heaven Watch the Philippines, which the Mayor said was composed right there in Tolosa, Leyte.

Signal Day reminisces how three young Boy Scouts signaled the incoming Allied forces and saved thousands of lives from Abuyog to Tacloban City from being bombed to death.

The Commemorative Program for Signal Day underscores the heroic acts of Scouts Valeriano Abello, Antero Junia, Sr. and Vicente Tiston.

These young scouts who were at the hilltops of Barangay Telegrafo in Tolosa used the scouts signs to request the incoming Allied Forces on October 18, 1944, not to bomb the shorelines from Abuyog to Tacloban City because thousands of local residents were inhabiting the area.

“Don’t bomb the beaches, there are civilians. If possible let me direct the shelling.” This was the message sent to the US Force thru semaphore flag signaling which saved the lives of thousands of Leytenos that eventually led to the Liberation of the Philippines from the Japanese Imperial Forces.

Thanks to these scouts, thousands of lives have been saved. They even taught the Liberation Forces where the Japanese forces were situated.

The Battle for Leyte Gulf is considered, with consensus by Naval historians, as the largest and greatest naval battle ever fought; never to be repeated, this battle covers well over 1,000 square miles of ocean.

The landings at Leyte Gulf were equal to those at Normandy but it is the only landings that helped to ease tension for the last and main phase of the battle. (PIA-8)