December 15, 1944, Maple Lake born PFC Dirk John Cornelius Vlug, 126th infantry regiment, 32nd infantry division, was slugging it out with his platoon in the mountainous jungles near Limon, Leyte, as part of McArthur’s effort to retake the Philippines (Battle of Leyte, 17 October 1944 – 26 December 1944). The fighting involved ongoing hand-to-hand combat against Yamashita’s troops and causalities were heavy. This was the first step to end the Japanese three-year occupation and our forces lost 3,504 KIA, 11,991 wounded, 89 missing, to the Japanese 49,000.
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