24 August 1944
On 24 August 1944, Maj LUCAS O. NARANJO, CO, 106th Infantry Regiment, with eight men, headed towards Labinay and Pulao, Tangub, Misamis Occidental, to ambush an enemy patrol of 150 well-armed men.
At 10:00 AM, while nearing Pulao, at a place called Baga (present day Santa Maria), the enemy was spotted. NARANJO and men established a well camouflaged line barely two meters from the road and prepared for the first group of the unsuspecting enemy. At a signal, the guerrillas let loose a barrage of fire wiping out the entire group of some twenty Jap soldiers. The rest of the Jap patrol rushed to the scene of the encounter.
In the meantime, NARANJO withdrew his men about twenty meters from the first line. When the Japs were near enough NARANJO threw a hand grenade which killed ten more of the enemy. The guerrillas had the edge due to the protective and favorable terrain and they knew every inch of it. Coconut trees served as protective shields. But the enemy pressed the guerrillas without thought of life.
Close range firing ensued which lasted about an hour. NARANJO was finally forced to withdraw due to lack of ammunition, for the second time in connection with an action, which was never plentiful.
Total number of enemy dead was conservatively estimated at fifty. On the guerrilla side, one killed and one wounded.
Source: History of the Mindanao Guerrillas by the American Guerrillas of Mindanao (AGOM) (Unpublished Manuscript)
