The Post-WWII Philippine Scouts
By J. Michael Houlihan
Members of the 56th Engineer Construction Battalion (PS), a post-WWII Philippine Scout unit with lineage tracing back to the 14th Engineer Regiment (PS).
Philippine Scouts of the 76th Ord Ammo Co (PS).
Left to right - Joel Bais, Domingo Pasaporte, Eliseo Jamolo and Vicente Mejica, all from towns in the Province of Iloilo, Philippines.
Following WWII, the U.S. Army reconstructed the Philippine Scouts around the approximately 6,000 Scouts who survived combat, prison camp and the Japanese occupation. This reconstructed force peaked at about 36,000 and was used in occupation duty on Okinawa and some other Japanese islands and in reconstruction and guard duty assignments elsewhere.
Post-war Scout units were mostly included in the 12th Infantry Division, which was the reconstituted Philippine Division, which had been a major part of General MacArthur's command. Subordinate units included the 43rd, 44th, 45th, and 57th Infantry Regiments (PS); 23rd, 24th and 88th Field Artillery (PS) Battalions, and the 56th Engineer Battalion (PS). (Many of these units were assigned the same designations as units that existed prior to the war.)
The U.S. Army began phasing out the Scout units in the late 1940s and the bulk of the post-war Scouts were discharged by mid-1949. Most of the surviving pre-war Scouts (and much smaller numbers of the post war Scouts) joined other U.S. Army units, completed their military careers and retired, often to the United States.
We are interested in including as many post WWII Scouts, as well as their family members and friends, in the Philippine Scouts Heritage Society.