30 June 1943
Labo is a barrio six kilometers away and North-Northwest from Misamis, Misamis Occidental. It was garrisoned by about one hundred Japs after their invasion on 26 Jun 1943 when they used no less than 1,500 troops, nine planes, one light cruiser, seven inter-island vessels varying in size from 250 to 700 tons.
The Headquarters of the 106th was located at Labo, until evacuated due to this Jap offensive action, at one time it was also occupied by the Headquarters, 105th Division.
To the guerrilla forces, Labo had a special strategic importance and they wanted it back! The Japs were housed in four big buildings, exact locations of which were previously determined by intelligence operatives.
Under cover of darkness on 30 Jun 1943 Capt LUCAS NARANGO, with three officers and sixty-four enlisted men (EM), divided themselves into three groups and in this formation closed in on the buildings where the Japs were quartered.
At the appointed hour, early on 1 Jul 1943, the guerrillas directed concentrated volleys of fire on the Jap-occupied buildings. Taken completely by surprise, the Japs could not return fire for about thirty minutes. By that time Jap reinforcements loaded in two trucks had arrived and saved the Labo garrison from annihilation.
In that encounter the guerrillas suffered no casualty. Later verification proved the Japs lost thirty lives in that encounter.
Source: History of the Mindanao Guerrillas by the American Guerrillas of Mindanao (AGOM) (Unpublished Manuscript)
