War is war, and millions of people die violently from a mix of causes at all places in many climes at different times, yet that trans-oceanic war of the 1940s was near-total, with atomic power unleashed as a tool of mass devastation, pitting nations, tribes, races, genders, classes, religions, generations and political persuasions against one another, against all.

In the Second World War, individuals were compelled to choose sides and cast their fates. Timorese tribesmen, Scandinavian scientists, Latin American politicians and African shamans were caught in the tornado of a full-fledged race war and behaved according to their temperaments, beliefs and training. Some pretended to ignore the evil of Fascism, but others compromised. Many were trampled by the militarism of Japan and the Nazism of Europe. The Home Front was tended by the fearful, the infirm, the survivalist and the innocent.

A significant segment wilfully bore arms, bought the propaganda and tore into the opposing side. What moved them? Were they looking for a new adventure, a clean slate? A structure of enforced stability, opportunity for advancement, or respectability? New skills for a future career?

Perhaps it was the chance to do something right and good and mature. Patriotism loomed larger than peer pressure or family tradition. An orientation to serve versus the culture of saving face.

All able-bodied citizens had the obligation to defend their societies, with the volunteer-soldier enlisting, unlike the draftee who had to be yanked into service. But the guerrilla took the cake because he had no military chain of command and rear units to support him. No serial number, no Red Cross packages.

The guerrillas were armed patriots operating underground, propping shadow cabinets and legitimate governments-in-exile, converting the rear into a second front, waging irregular warfare against conventional forces. They were the self-defense units of their hometowns as well as mobile freedom fighters. They had no proper uniforms, equipped themselves with captured enemy logistics and civilian contributions, adopted colorful nom de guerre, and were known only to their cohorts in secret cells. They acted where it counted, they sacrificed, they won.

Yugoslavian Chetniks, French Maquis, Polish Home Army, Soviet partisans, British SOE Auxiliary Units, Warsaw ghetto operatives, disguised Kuomintang soldiers, Mao’s Red Army, Chinese Trotskyist armed detachments in Kwantung and in Shantung, Kachin rangers and Filipino Huks frustrated Axis goals in occupied territories.

Roque Ablan, governor of Ilocos Norte, remained loyal to the Philippine Commonwealth and refused to collaborate with the invading Japanese. When the Oriental Hitlerites occupied the provincial capital of Laoag, the governor had by then transferred the legitimate seat of power to a barrio near Apayao. He later coalesced his forces with those of USAFFE Lt. Feliciano Madamba who had fought with the rest of the 11th Infantry in the La Union-Pangasinan front. The Ablan-Madamba battle triumphs included their successful ambush on January 27, 1942 of two trucks of Japanese troopers, of which 60 were killed at Solsona, and the encounter of November 8, 1942 wherein the Ilocano defenders inflicted 200 casualties among the invaders at Pampanniki. ["A Thorn on the Enemy’s Side," www.nhi.gov.ph]

The Cebuano Ronda-Alcantara Force published a bi-weekly, the "Kadaugan" (The Victory). Governor Marcelo Adduru Sr. organized the Cagayan Guerrilla Force on December 12, 1941. Kangleon withdrew the civilians living in the coastal areas and killed the retreating Japs, Charlie Smith’s forces aided diversionary landings in Samar, while Fertig’s 30,000 fighters tied down Japanese troops and armaments in Mindanao, thus, contributing to the success of the Allied landing at Leyte in 1944. [Carlos Quirino. Chick Parsons: America’s Master Spy in the Philippines. QC: New Day Publishers, 1984]

Elements of the 47th Hunters-ROTC Division under guerrilla Lt. Col. Emmanuel V. De Ocampo rendered valuable assistance to the Americans that enabled the US Eighth Army to land virtually unopposed on the beaches of Nasugbu, Batangas on January 31, 1945.

The 6th Army Ranger Battalion of Lt. Col. Henry Mucci and elements of the Luzon Guerrilla Army Force (Lapham’s Guerrillas), including the squads of Lt. Juan Pajota of the 91st Infantry Division of the Philippine Army, liberated on January 30, 1945 the 500 Allied prisoners-of-war from the Japanese concentration camp at Pangatian, east of Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija.

The guerrillas and their partisan support units succored the 5,000 civilian American men, women, and children residing in the Philippines during World War II who were confined to Japanese internment camps in Manila (UST and Bilibid), Baguio, Los Baños, Cebu, Bacolod and Davao as well as the British, Dutch, Polish, Italian, Free French, Norwegian, and Egyptian internees.

The positive role of the Filipino guerrillas in World War II and Philippine histories can be glimpsed through the artifacts, displays and life-size dioramas collected, curatored and funded by the surviving guerrillas themselves and their families, friends and supporters. Where? At the Museum of the Veterans Federation of the Philippines in Taguig City, Metro Manila.

The current situation of the surviving guerrillas and other veterans of the Pacific War, especially those who relocated to the US can also be felt and viewed through Benjamin Pimentel’s novel, "Mga Gerilya Sa Powell Street," which has been adapted for the theater by Rody Vera and being staged at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Tanghalang Huseng Batute.

As a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, Pimentel had already written many stories of the Filipino World War II veterans, "about their struggles in America and the ongoing campaign of the Filipino American community to help them attain equal benefits." But journalism can only go so far in telling their stories, so Pimentel says "I turned to fiction to retell and re-imagine what these men had gone through."

"I decided to write about the group of old men who had begun hanging out at the Cable Car stop on Powell Street in downtown San Francisco, not far from where I worked."

Pimentel’s characterization of the guerrilla-veteran struggle for dignity and recognition can now be seen in the performances of Tommy Abuel, Bembol Roco, Lou Veloso and other actors in Tanghalang Pilipino’s second offering for its 22nd theater season.