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Contact Info
Home Town Born Jamestown NY, raised Celoron, NY
Last Address Celoron, NY
Date of Passing Sep 02, 2010
Location of Interment Sunset Hill Cemetery - Clinton, New York
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
World War II/Asiatic-Pacific Theater/Luzon Campaign (1944-45)
From Month/Year
December / 1944
To Month/Year
April / 1945
Description On December 15, 1944, landings against minimal resistance were made on the southern beaches of the island of Mindoro, a key location in the planned Lingayen Gulf operations, in support of major landings scheduled on Luzon. On January 9, 1945, on the south shore of Lingayen Gulf on the western coast of Luzon, General Krueger's Sixth Army landed his first units. Almost 175,000 men followed across the twenty-mile (32 km) beachhead within a few days. With heavy air support, Army units pushed inland, taking Clark Field, 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Manila, in the last week of January.
Two more major landings followed, one to cut off the Bataan Peninsula, and another, that included a parachute drop, south of Manila. Pincers closed on the city and, on February 3, 1945, elements of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Division pushed into the northern outskirts of Manila and the 8th Cavalry Regiment (organized as infantry) passed through the northern suburbs and into the city itself.
As the advance on Manila continued from the north and the south, the Bataan Peninsula was rapidly secured. On February 16, paratroopers and amphibious units simultaneously assaulted the islet of Corregidor. It was necessary to take this stronghold because troops there can block the entrance of Manila Bay. The Americans needed to establish a major harbor base at Manila Bay to support the expected invasion of Japan, planned to begin on November 1, 1945. Resistance on Corregidor ended on February 27, and then all resistance by the Japanese Empire ceased on August 15, 1945, obviating the need for an invasion of the Japanese Home Islands.
Despite initial optimism, fighting in Manila was harsh. It took until March 3 to clear the city of all Japanese troops, and the Japanese Marines, who fought on stubbornly and refused to either surrender or to evacuate as the Japanese Army had done. Fort Drum, a fortified island in Manila Bay near Corregidor, held out until 13 April, when a team of Army troops went ashore and pumped 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel into the fort, then set off incendiary charges. No Japanese soldiers in Fort Drum survived the blast and fire.
In all, ten U.S. divisions and five independent regiments battled on Luzon, making it the largest American campaign of the Pacific war, involving more troops than the United States had used in North Africa, Italy, or southern France.
My Participation in This Battle or Operation
From Month/Year
December / 1944
To Month/Year
April / 1945
Last Updated: Mar 16, 2020
Personal Memories
Memories USS Sharidan APA-51 received six battle stars for service during WWII, including: Invasion of Tarawa, Invasion of Kwajalein, Invasion of Saipan, Invasion of Guam, Invasion of Leyte, Invasion of the Philippines, and Invasion of Okinawa.
Operation Magic Carpet Assigned next to Operation Magic Carpet, and was decommissioned on 5 March 1946, delivered to the Maritime Commission on 7 April 1946, and struck from the Navy List on 12 April 1946.
Edwin L. Danielson was a graduate of the former Celoron High School and was employed as a bookkeeper by the former Chautauqua Plywood Corp. in West Ellicott, NY, until his induction into the U. S. Navy in February 1942. He served in the Navy through March 1946, his first assignment being at the Armed Guard Center in Brooklyn, NY, and his last aboard the U.S.S. Sheridan, APA 51, in the South Pacific and Tokyo Bay at the war's end, attaining the rank of Storekeeper First Class. After being discharged in March 1946, he returned to New York City.
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