Japanese Occupation Landing
Japanese
General Homma's 14th Army landings on December 22, 1941 on the eastern side of the
gulf, at Agoo, Vaba, Santiago and Bauang.
American Liberation Landing
The massive US Army
amphibious landing of the 6th Army occurred on January 9,
1945 when 68,000 troops landed on the first day alone and a and
a total of 203,608 in subsequent landings along a 20-mile beachhead,
stretching from Saul, Lingayen and Dagupan (XIV Corps) to the west,
and San Fabian (I Corps) in to the east.
Once ashore MacArthur commanded
over 280,000 men,more than Eisenhower in Europe. During
the assault group's trip to Lingayen from January 4 - 12th a total
of 24 ships were sunk and 67 damaged by kamikazie attacks. Damaged was the USS Mississippi BB-41, and light cruiser USS Colombia CL-56. The
USS Colorado BB-45 was accidentally hit by friendly fire and damaged. Sunk in Lingayen Gulf was USS Long DD-209 and USS Hovey (DD-208 / DMS-11).
Mission Against
Lingayen Gulf & Landings
December 28, 1944 - Fighters and bombers attack targets around Lingayen
January 8, 1945 - P-51, P-40s strafe airfields in Lingayen Gulf
area
Today
Lingayen Gulf is peaceful, with mainly local fishing boats using the Gulf only. Photo by Justin Taylan 2003.
