Surviving Second World War veterans in Angono, Rizal and other parts of the province are expected to accord honors to their fellow veteran who died on Saturday, November 27 in Hawaii.
Salome Villamarin-Calderon, fondly called by fellow Angono residents as Umeng, 96, was a member of the Hunters Reserved Officers Training Corps (Hunter ROTC) and was staying in Hawaii as an American citizen at the time of her death.
Angono Vice Mayor Gerardo Calderon, the son of Umeng, told Manila Bulletin that although the family is still in the process of arranging the travel papers for the possible transport of the remains of the deceased lady war veteran who served as the guerilla’s intelligence officer during the war, her fellow veterans in the Philippines may prepare memorial honors for her once she arrives in Angono.
Umeng, grandmother of Mayor Jeri Mae Calderon, was one of the two Filipinos aside from Pablo Antoque who raised the United States flag at the command post of the anti-Japanese group during the Liberation of Angono from the hands of the Japanese forces on February 23, 1945.
Richard Gappi, Angono’s Culture and Tourism officer, in his online news article on Angono Rizal News Online, said Lola Umeng started in the guerilla movement at the age of 17.
Gappi said Umeng’s role as a member of Hunters ROTC was to take charge of the intelligence reports of the guerilla movement in her own house which was chosen as the headquarters of the Intelligence Division of the Hunters ROTC.
She was granted American citizenship in 1995 in San Francisco, USA as a war veteran.