Location
Gulf in northern Luzon, bordering Pangasinan to the south and west, and La Union to the east. Site of both the Japanese (1941) and American (1945) landings on Luzon.

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 kamikaze attacks. Damaged was the USS Mississippi BB-41 and 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 - January 8, 1945

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.

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Last Updated
October 1, 2009