General of the Army Douglas MacArthur's communiqué trumpeted: "The entire Philippine Islands are now liberated and the Philippine campaigns can be regarded as virtually closed."
There were still an estimated 30,000 Japs scattered throughout the Islands; U.S. and Filipino troops were burning and grenading them out of caves and jungle hideaways. Said the communiqué: "Some minor isolated action of a guerrilla nature in the practically uninhabited mountain ranges may occasionally persist, but this great land mass of 115,600 square miles, with a population of 17,000,000, is now freed of the invader."
"Working in complete unison," MacArthur said, "the three services [ground,...
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