The municipality of Calumpit lies just 30 miles north of Manila in a fertile lowland region of winding rivers. Today, one can make the journey by car in about an hour, but in January 1945, the distance was all but unconquerable. The U.S. Army, which had come ashore on Luzon in early January, had temporarily established its headquarters in Calumpit as it pushed toward Manila. Japanese forces, which had invaded the Philippines in December 1941, held the capital. In between there was a two-lane road, and each mile presented a…
