Camp Hay actually had no real military value. It had been set
aside in 1903 as a recreation area by President Theodore Roosevelt,
and named after his Secretary of State, John Milton Hay. The same year
Roosevelt designated Baguio as the summer capital of the Philippines.
In December, 1941, there were only two companies of the 43rd Infantry
of Philippine Scouts (P.S.), a housekeeping detachment, stationed
there. The camp had no fortifications and no large weapons, only a few
wooden barracks and some one hundred or so obsolete rifles of W. W. I.
vintage. There was one small salute cannon for raising and lowering
"Old Glory."
Looking back several months to July, 1941, when General MacArthur was
appointed Commanding General of the U.S. Armed Forces in the Far East
(USAFFE), he recruited 110,000 young Filipinos for the Philippine Army
(P.A.). It would be many months before they could be trained as they
spoke some sixty dialects. They looked more like boy scouts than
soldiers with their fiber helmets, sport shirts and tennis shoes.
About the same time, War Plan Rainbow 5 was adopted by Roosevelt's
Joint Army-Navy Board: first the Allies would conquer Germany and
Italy.
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