World War 2 Machete Iloilo City Panay Island 40th Infantry

Description

ILOILO CITY, PANAY ISLAND (1945)
Iloilo City, Panay Island: On March 18 , 1945, after two weeks of aerial bombardment by the 503rd Airborne Regimental Combat Team on Japanese positions, the 40th Infantry Division under Maj. Gen. Rapp Brush, spearheaded the 185th Infantry Regiment landed unopposed at Tigbauan, several miles south of Iloilo City, where a 23,000-strong guerrilla force under Col. Macario Peralta had secured most of Panay.
Back in October 20, 1944, General Douglas MacArthur led the successful Ph
ilippines campaign of the American and Filipino forces and said to become the Battle of Leyte. As part of that campaign, the Battle of the Visayas with the Allied landing at Tigbauan, Iloilo on Panay.
In 1989 then-President Corazon Aquino issued Proclamation No. 430 or “An Act Declaring March 18 of every year as Victory Day in the Islands of Panay and Romblon including the cities of Iloilo and Roxas” declaring the day a special non-working holiday for the three islands. Panay Liberation Day, alternatively Panay Landing Day and Victory (Liberation) Day on Panay commemorates the landing on Panay during the Battle of the Visayas during World War II.
Found at, https://philippinehistoryincolor.wordpress.com/
Iloilo City Panay Island is part of the Philippines and after the liberation of the Philippines in March of 1945, The natives made these as souvenirs to sell to the GI's these are known to break at the handles and never used for combat.