#6. Dominador Figuracion — First to Confront the Japanese Invasion

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21-year-old Private Dominador Figuracion rode in one of the US Army’s last horse-mounted cavalry units – and was among the first soldiers to confront the invading Japanese ground army in The Philippines.

Then he participated in the last horse-mounted cavalry charge in US history.

Filipino servicemen outnumbered Americans at least 6 to 1 during WW2 in The Philippines. Yet we hear so little about them.

Just like some 50 thousand of his Filipino brothers, Figuracion fought on Bataan and was captured by Japanese forces. Once in captivity, Filipino servicemen died at the astonishing rate of 400 per day.

More than half of the Filipino servicemen captured on Bataan never made it home.

Would Dominator Figuracion be one of them?

Images
Dominador (Dan) Figuracion and his wife Ely, likely around the time of their marriage just after the way in 1946.
Members of the 26th Cavalry pass by the 192nd tank battalion and their M1 Light Tanks
Map showing Japanese ground landings at Lingayen Gulf on the morning of December 22, 1941. The green rectangle is the area of the main landings, which focused on the coastal towns of Bauang, Agoo, and Damortis — with the goal of pushing through to Rosario. The 26th Cavalry was tasked with holding the road between Damortis and Rosario, so that the Japanese couldn’t take Rosario.
The Lingayen Gulf is about 145 miles/234 km north and west of Manila
Japanese troops landing at Lingayen Gulf, December 22, 1941.
Japanese troops landing at Lingayen Gulf, December 22, 1941.
Garand M1 Rifle
Portrait of Dan Figuracion, undated. I suspect this was taken in the 1960s.
Dan Figuracion looks at cavalry figurines during a Philippine Scout reunion in 2009. In his later years, Dan attended many Philippine Scout reunions, always wearing his cavalry uniform, complete with spurs. Photo courtesy Victor Verano.
Sources
  • “26th Cavalry PS veteran Dan Figuracion, talks about his first encounter with the Japanese when they invaded the Philippines 1941, online at Ancestry.com, posted by MICHELEHORNE32, 30 March 2017.
  • ”Bataan Death March,” Wikipedia, accessed 22 December 2022; Philippine Scouts, Wikipedia.
  • “Camp O’Donnell,” Wikipedia, accessed 22 December 2022.
  • Caption on photograph of Dan & Ely Figuracion, uploaded to Ancestry.com by MICHELEHORNE32, on 3 January 2020
  • Danilo Figuracion obituary, Kesling Funeral Home, Mobridge, South Dakota, accessed 17 December 2022.
  • Cole Cosgrove, “Reunion Fosters Their Culture: Philippines Scouts of WWII Gather,” The News Tribune, Tacoma, Washington, 8 May 2010, page A14, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 16 December 2022.
  • Dan (Dominador) Figuracion, obituary, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Washington, 9 April 2017, page B4, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 16 December 2022
  • Dan Figuracion, 30 Nov 1955, “Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S., Arriving and Departing Passenger and Crew Lists, 1900-1959,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2009, original data: Passenger and Crew Manifests of Airplanes Departing from Honolulu, Hawaii to Various Points Other Than the United States Including Auckland, New Zealand, the Fiji Islands, Guam, the Midway Islands, the Philippines, Tokyo, Japan, and Vancouver, British Columbia, 9/1/1954-11/30/1954, Microfilm Publication A3575, 1 roll, NAID: 2363750, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004, Record Group 85, The National Archives in Washington, D.C., accessed 16 December 2022.
  • Dan Figuracion entry, 17 Feb 1956, “Agana, Guam, U.S., Passenger and Crew Lists of Arriving Vessels and Airplanes, 1948-1963, database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2015, original data: Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels and Airplanes Arriving at Agana, Guam, NARA microform publication A3497, 25 rolls, NAI ID: 2663221, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787–2004, Record Group 85, The National Archives at Washington, D.C., and/or Passenger and Crew Manifests of Airplanes Arriving at Agana, Guam, NARA microform publication A3498, 2 rolls, NAI ID: 2663468, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787–2004, Record Group 85, The National Archives at Washington, D.C., accessed 16 December 2022.
  • Dan Figuracion entry, “U.S., Newspapers.com Obituary Index, 1800s-current,” database online: Ancestry.com, Lehi, Utah, 2019, accessed 16 December 2022; Dan (Dominador) Figuracion, obituary, The News Tribune.
  • Dan Figuracion entry, U.S., Obituary Collection, 1930-Current,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2006, accessed 16 December 2022
  • Dan Dominador Figuracion memorial, Find a Grave, accessed 16 December 2022
  • Daniel Figuracion entry, 1966, “U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2011, original data: Monterey, California, City Directory, 1966, accessed 16 December 2022.
  • Daniel Figuracion entry, 1993, “U.S., Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Volume 1,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2010, original data: Voter Registration Lists, Public Record Filings, Historical Residential Records, and Other Household Database Listings, accessed 16 December 2022
  • Daniel Figuracion entry, no date, “U.S., Public Records Index, 1950-1993, Volume 2,” accessed 16 December 2022
  • Danilo Figuracion, Petition for Naturalization (In behalf of a Child), “California, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1843-1999,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2014, Original data: Petitions for Naturalization, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (Los Angeles), 1940-1991, Series RS-292, NAID: 594890, Records of District Courts of the United States, 1685-2009, Record Group 21, The National Archives at Riverside, California, accessed 16 December 2022.
  • Dominador T Figuracion entry, “US, World War II Prisoners of the Japanese, 1941-1945,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2010, original data:  National Archives and Records Administration, World War II Prisoners of the Japanese File, 2007 Update, 1941-1945. ARC ID: 212383, World War II Prisoners of the Japanese Data Files, 4/2005 – 10/2007, ARC ID: 731002, Records of the Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, Collection ADBC, ARC: 718969, National Archives at College Park. College Park, Maryland, accessed 16 December 2022
  • Dominador T Figuracion entry, “US, World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, Utah, 2005, original data: National Archives and Records Administration, Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, 1938-1946 [Archival Database], ARC: 1263923, “World War II Army Enlistment Records,” Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 64, National Archives at College Park, College Park, Maryland, accessed 16 December 2022
  • Dominador T Figuracion entry, “World War II Prisoners of War, 1941-1946,” database online: Ancestry.com, Provo, UT, 2005, original data: World War II Prisoners of War Data File [Archival Database], Records of World War II Prisoners of War, 1942-1947, Records of the Office of the Provost Marshal General, Record Group 389, National Archives at College Park, College Park, Md., accessed 16 December 2022.
  • “History of the Philippines (1898-1946),” Wikipedia, accessed 17 December 2022.
  • Joe Calugas Jr, 9 April 2017, memory post on Dan Figuracion tribute wall, Mountain View Funeral Home, accessed 17 December 2022. Note: Donald Plata created a documentary movie about this last charge.
  • “Liberation of University of Santo Tomas,” Philippine Veterans Affairs Office, Department of National Defense, Republic of the Philippines, accessed 22 December 2022
  • Lieut. General G. S. Patton, Jr., to General Levin H. Campbell, Jr., letter, 26 January 1945, image found online at “M1 Garand,” Wikipedia, accessed 20 December 2022.
  • Louis Morton, “Chapter VIII: The Main Landings,” The War in the Pacific: The Fall of the Philippines (Washington, D.C>,: Center of Military History, United States Army, 1953), page 123, accessed 21 December 2022.
  • “Manuel Colayco,” Wikipilipinas, translated into English, accessed 22 December 2022.
  • “Match Record Is Established at Fort Ord,” The Californian, Salinas, California,8 April 1960, page 17, online at Newspapers.com, accessed 16 December 2022.
  • “Philippine Army,” Wikipedia, accessed 21 December 2022.
  • “Philippine Scouts,” Wikipedia, accessed 21 December 2022.
  • Post by Donald Plata, April 6, 2017, Philippine Scouts Heritage Society Facebook page, accessed 17 December 2022
  • Post by VeeVee, 10 April 2017, Dan Figuracion, 26th Cavalry PS page, US Militaria Forum, accessed 17 December 2022.
  • Raymond G. Woolfe, Jr., The Doomed Horse Soldiers of Bataan: The Incredible Stand of the 26th Cavalry (Rowman & Littlefield: Lanham, Md., 2016).
  • “Roster of the 26th Cavalry Regiment (PS),” October -November 1941, Philippine Scouts Heritage Society, accessed 22 December 2022.
  • Sign on Veterans Monument, Tacoma, Washington, photograph posted online to Ancestry.com by MICHELEHORNE32, ON 3 January 2020.
Image SOurces
  • Dan and Ely: Uploaded to Ancestry.com by MICHELEHORNE32, on 3 January 2020
  • Photos of Japanese Troops landing at Lingayen Gulf:  Japanese landing at Lingayen Gulf, 22 December 1941, NH 73488 Philippine Invasion, 1941-42. (navy.mil), Naval History and Heritage Command.
  • Dan and Figurines: Post by VeeVee, 10 April 2017, Dan Figuracion, 26th Cavalry PS page, US Militaria Forum, /, accessed 17 December 2022.
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2 Comments

  1. Kelly Taylor
    Reply
    March 8, 2024,

    Enjoyed it! Thank you. I’ve plowed through “The Fall of the Philippines” by Morton. Truly a complicated war, much to keep up with. Thank you for honoring these heroes🇺🇸 🇵🇭

    • anastasiaharman10
      March 11, 2024,

      Kudos to you for getting through that book! It’s an amazing resource, but an intense read. Thank you for listening and being part of this project to honor these men. I am truly grateful!

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