• 1: Home
• 6: History
  • 6.1: History of the Scouts
  • 6.2: Heroes of WWII
  • 6.3: The Philippine Scouts
  • 6.4: Bataan: Their Finest Hour
  • 6.5: Bataan: Victory in Defeat
  • 6.6: Bataan: Causes Revisted
  • 6.7: Post WWII
• 7: The Scouts
  • 7.1: In Memoriam
    • 7.1.1: Obituary: Major Richard M. Gordon
    • 7.1.2: Obituary: Brigadier General Reynolds, Jr.
    • 7.1.3: Obituary: PSHS President Larry Pangan
  • 7.2: Scout Recollections
    • 7.2.1: Hell Ship Survivors
    • 7.2.2: Childhood Memories of the Scouts
    • 7.2.3: Letter from an "Army Soup"
    • 7.2.4: A Letter from Col. Shoss
    • 7.2.5: Dad Was In The Scouts
    • 7.2.6: Poem: To the Philippine Scouts
    • 7.2.7: Poem: Bataan
    • 7.2.8: Poem: Bataan Falls!
  • 7.3: Memorials & Dedications
    • 7.3.1: Memorare-Manila 1945
    • 7.3.2: Battle of Layac Junction
    • 7.3.3: MacArthur Park
    • 7.3.4: Plaque Dedications
    • 7.3.5: Veterans Memorial Museum, Huntsville, AL
    • 7.3.6: 2005 Bataan Memorial Marathon
    • 7.3.7: 2006 Patriotism Award
    • 7.3.8: Mount Samat Memorial
    • 7.3.9: USAFFE Defenders of Bataan
  • 7.4: Regiments, Units & Bases
    • 7.4.1: 1st & 2nd Infantry (Filipino)
    • 7.4.2: 14th Engineers (PS)
    • 7.4.3: 26th Cavalry Regiment (PS)
    • 7.4.4: 45th Infantry (PS)
    • 7.4.5: 57th Infantry (PS)
    • 7.4.6: 76th Ord Ammo Co (PS)
    • 7.4.7: 92nd Coast Artillery Reg.(PS)
    • 7.4.8: Ft. McKinley
    • 7.4.9: Camp Rizal
  • 7.5: Insignia & Memorabilia
    • 7.5.1: Insignia of the Philippine Scouts
    • 7.5.2: PSHS Shoulder Patches
    • 7.5.3: PS Campaign Hat
    • 7.5.4: Scout Bolos
    • 7.5.5: Commemorative Envelopes
    • 7.5.6: 26th Cavalry (PS) Trooper Model
• 8: The Heritage Society
  • 8.1: Membership
  • 8.2: Reunions
    • 8.2.1: 25th Annual Reunion
    • 8.2.2: 24th Annual Reunion
    • 8.2.3: 22nd Annual Reunion
    • 8.2.4: 21st Annual Reunion
    • 8.2.5: 20th Annual Reunion
    • 8.2.6: 19th Annual Reunion
    • 8.2.7: 18th Annual Reunion
  • 8.3: Newsletters
  • 8.4: Contact Us
• 9: Resources
  • 9.1: Veterans Affairs & Benefits
  • 9.2: Links
  • 9.3: Books & Articles
    • 9.3.1: Book Review: On A Mountainside
    • 9.3.2: Book Review: Bataan Diary
  • 9.4: Requests for Information
  • 9.5: Museums & Collections
    • 9.5.1: Photos - American Historical Collection

Welcome to the Philippine Scouts Heritage Society website!

The site is intended to help support the mission of preserving the history, heritage and legacy of the Philippine Scouts for present and future generations. Please explore the site, and learn more about the Philippine Scouts.

If you have questions about the organization, or would like to share your story, please email or post a message to our message board.

If you have questions concerning veterans' benefits, go to our Veterans Affairs & Benefits page in our newly structured Resources page for links to the Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. Embassy in Manila.

Last Updated: 04-June-2009

Philippine Scouts Heritage Society 25th Annual Reunion

The 25th Annual Reunion of the Philippine Scouts Heritage Society took place in Long Beach, California on May 8 and May 9, 2009. This gathering was hosted by the Living History Company of the Alexander Nininger Chapter of the Society.

It's always risky to thank certain individuals since inevitably others will inadvertently be left out. Nevertheless, congratulations and thanks are due Nininger Chapter Officers, Philip Garcia, Gil Mislang, Victor Verano and Rudy Cabigas and the others for making the reunion such a success. It was truly a home run in every respect. There was excellent attendance at the panels and presentations and at the closing dinner on Saturday night. Everything went off like clockwork. It takes a lot of effort and attention to detail which the chapter gave in abundance. I also want to thank Chris Schaefer for his help in getting the word out about the reunion. There was good media coverage including an early morning talk show on Sunday. The two days were a fitting tribute to the Scouts and their heroism.

Highlights included retired Major General Antonio Taguba's keynote speech at the closing dinner in which he spoke forcefully of the responsibilities and duties of U.S. soldiers in combat and in the handling of captives. He also noted his investigation of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq. The General led a discussion on these topics in the morning and fielded a number of questions. General Taguba's father, uncle and cousin were Philippine Scouts.

» Read more about the Reunion

New Photo Gallery

We now have a photo gallery that includes a number of historical photos and photos from PSHS reunions.

» View the Photo Gallery

Mount Samat Memorial

The following photos were taken by Joe Calugas and include a panel depicting Sgt. Jose Calugas, Sr. during the engagement for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. (The monument has him manning a machine gun, rather than an artillery piece.)

The Philippine Scouts

by Chris Schaefer

These were General MacArthur's soldiers—the guys who fought America's first battle of World War II. The Philippine Division. Probably the best trained and possibly the best prepared U.S. Army division at the outset of that war.

But they weren't farm boys from Kansas and California, or Italian-Americans from New Jersey as depicted in the black and white movies made during and after the war years. They were mostly Filipinos serving as enlisted soldiers in United States Army units commanded by American officers. They were special men in special units, officially designated "Philippine Scouts." At the beginning of World War II, General Douglas MacArthur's U.S. Army Forces in the Far East, spearheaded by the Philippine Division, were mostly Filipinos.

» Read More...

Poems

» To the Philippine Scouts by 1st Lt. Henry Lee
» Bataan by Mallie Wilson Farrell
» Bataan Falls! by Don Blanding

26th Cavalry Re-enactor

USAFFE defenders of Bataan and Corregidor

Ft. MacArthur, San Pedro, CA.

Buhay Ng Kasaysayan (BNK) re-enacting the USAFFE defenders of Bataan and Corregidor last May 6, 2007.

Macabebe Scouts

Re-enactors

These photos are by Philip Garcia and were originally posted on Victor Verano’s reenactors website.

Recently Updated...

Last modified: 04-Jun-2009

---