| Original caption: “A line of Coast Guard landing barges, sweeping through the waters of Lingayen Gulf, carries the first wave of invaders to the beaches of Luzon, after a terrific naval bombardment of Japanese shore positions on January 9, 1945.” Original caption: “When the United States began Philippine liberation – A group of landing barges, loaded with invading United States troops, swept through the waters of Lingayen Gulf to the beaches of Luzon, as America moved to liberate the Philippines. More than sixty thousand American soldiers and an armada of warships and troop carriers converged upon Lingayen Gulf at Luzon.” Coast Guard Landing Craft Vehicle and Personnel (LCVP) from USS Jupiter (AK-43) and USS Leonard Wood (APA-12) land on Blue Beach, Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, Philippines during Operation Mike I. United States Army Captain Edward P. Galligan (July 29, 1918 – March 10, 1999), D Battery, 951st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion, 24th Infantry Division, graduated from Taunton High School, Massachusetts, in 1936 and attended Holy Cross College. He enlisted as a Private in the United States Army on February 10, 1941, in Boston, and received his commission as a 2nd Lieutenant the same year. He fought at Guadalcanal, Bougainville, and Luzon, Philippines. Promoted to 1st lieutenant in 1943 and captain in 1944, he remained on active duty until 1948. The 951st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion landed from USS LST-625, landing 3 CCKW General Motors 2-and-a-half-ton 6-wheeled trucks, 44 millimeter (1.57 inch) Bofors anti-aircraft guns, 4 M-51 quadruple Browning 50 caliber (12.7 millimeter) anti-aircraft guns, and 4-quarter-ton Dodge WC “Beep” 4-wheel-drive utility truck. As a reporter for the Taunton Daily Gazette after World War II, he filed this nationally syndicated article on January 9, 1960, 15 years after landing at Lingayen Gulf. “Editor’s Note — At dawn fifteen years ago today, an armada of warships and troop carriers with more than 60,000 American soldiers aboard converged upon Lingayen Gulf at Luzon. Objective: Liberate the Philippines. One of the men to hit the beach was an Army Captain in command of an anti-aircraft battery. Here he recalls that famous landing.” “The desire we felt to get off the Navy Tank Landing Ship (LST) that morning, 15 years ago, had nothing to do with heroism. Except for 5 days at Manus in the Admiralties, where we spent what we felt was our last Christmas, the crowded and rusty vessel had been home for 28 days. The tank deck, or lower level, of the ship was crammed with heavy engineering equipment that would make fine ballast. Gasoline and ammunition filled the in-between spaces. “A day and a half earlier, while the convoy headed north in the South China Sea, two planes bearing the Rising Sun insignia sped out of the setting sun and raced down the columns of the LSTs that included us. Their strafing and light bombs missed us, but a mine sweeper was hit. One of our Army multiple machine gun mounts, chained to the upper deck, opened fire. And a private named Cornish gave D Battery, 951st Anti-Aircraft Artillery Battalion, the distinction of official credit for shooting down an enemy plane two hundred miles at sea. It seems difficult to realize now how important that enemy casualty was to us. It had to do with morale, and morale had to do with relief from boredom.” “There was fear all through that ship, and it could smother you if you had nothing else to talk about.” “Luzon, however shattered it might be, meant civilization – towns and people to replace the jungles, rain, and rot that many of us had known for as much as three years before that move.” “The tremendous barrages put up between dawn and 0900 Hours on January 9 are still hard to forget. The explosions from each salvo fired by a nearby battleship set up shock waves that compressed the air against your face with hurricane violence. You could see the powerful force of recoil on the huge ship. As each volley of one-ton shells screamed toward the shore, the massive hull would slide back, pushing the water broadside like a huge plow.” “The first waves of infantry moved in, starting at 0900 Hours. A short time later, Jap planes came in from over the Zambales mountains, and one of them deliberately dived into the bridge of a heavy cruiser. Toward noon, another smashed itself against an Australian cruiser, some distance to our left flank.” “Kamikaze pilots had become very real.” “By sunset the following night, D Battery had set up its eight gun sections around the town of Calaisio, about eight miles inland. Our first night ashore, we went through the town of Dagupan in inky blackness, but we knew our way. We had rehearsed it by map study and sand tables for almost two months.” “Each morning, for twenty-eight mornings, we had learned every turn, every rice paddy, every fish pond, from the beach to our first positions. The other three batteries of the battalion were strung out behind us.” “As part of the Fourteenth Corps of the Sixth Army, we traveled all the way to Manila, alongside the Thirty-Seventh Infantry Division. To our right was the Fortieth Infantry Division, and to our left was the Sixth Infantry Division. The Forty-Third and Twenty-Fifth Infantry Divisions pushed into the hills at the left of the Lingayen beachhead and met the bulk of the early fighting.” “It was more than a month before we got to Manila. The men dug holes and set the guns and picked them up and moved on an other 15 or 20 miles and did it all over again.” “The final jump of D Battery took it from San Fernando Pampanga, south of Clark Field, to Nichols Field in South Manila.” “It was comforting when the rest of the battalion moved in during the days and weeks that followed.” “There was one experience that stands out now, one that just about erases all the others – the day we jeeped into the grounds of Santo Tomas with the only two cartons of cigarettes we could lay our hands on.” “The faces of haggard fellow Americans, prisoners for three years, beamed in a way we had almost forgotten. A grandmotherly woman said: “How we’ve waited for you boys. How we’ve prayed that God would take care of you.” “There was a ruined city outside the gate, and the end of the war was nowhere in sight, but she made it a bit easier.” “As a reporter, Galligan was an editor of United States Camera and Travel, Travel and Camera, Camera Thirty-Five, Travel and Leisure, True Magazine, and Penthouse Magazine. He served as news director for the WEZL radio station in Charleston from December 1977 to February 1988 and was involved in the station’s Community Forum show until 1996. Galligan was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Charleston, South Carolina.” | |
| Image Filename | wwii1460.jpg |
| Image Size | 763.98 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2928 x 2016 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Coast Guard |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | January 9, 1945 |
| Location | |
| City | Lingayen Gulf |
| State or Province | Luzon |
| Country | Philippines |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | NWDNS-26-G-3856 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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