The flag raising on the summit of Hill 1700, Bamban on February 25, 1945 is one of the forgotten history of World War II in the Philippines.
The image that was captured by the 40th Division US Army was taken in actual combat. Hill 1700 was one of the most highly defended high grounds of the Japanese Kembu Group in Bamban Hills overlooking Clark Field areas. Its mission was to hamper the use of the massive airfields by the Americans by conducting artillery, mortar and fire interdiction from the hundreds of huge tunnels curved on the slopes of the series of hill mass west of Clark Field known as the Bamban Hills.
The Kembu Group was a reinforced combination of Japanese army and navy miscellaneous units with a strength of more than 30,000 (other sources cited as 42,000) scattered in a front of 16 kilometers and a depth of 20 kilometers of the Bamban. The American 40th Division supported by artillery, tanks, anti-tanks and air support from bombers and fighters borne the first month of stiff battle starting on January 24, 1945.
In most cases, American 40th Division troops were pinned down by inter-locking fires from the tunnel positions located on the slopes of the hill-mass. Banzai suicidal charges were carried out by the Japanese troops in many of the engagements and a single hill with tunnels was already considered a battle due to the intensity of the fighting.
On February 25, 1945, troops from the Company B, 185th Infantry were conducting combat operations on the summit of the Hill 1700, after series of artillery and aerial bombradments to soften the Japanese navy positions located on the base, middle and summit utilizing tunnel defenses. In spite of the withring fire from Japanese navy infantry holed at HIll 1700, soldiers from the 185th raised the flag utilizing improvised pole supported by shovel while one soldier, with fixed bayonet was watching over them against enemy snipers still in the vicinity. A combat photograper from the 40th Division took the image that immortalized the forgotten battle of the Bamban Hills during World War II.