Blackburn’s USAFIP-NL 11th Infantry Regiment, comprised of Igorot tribal fighters and nicknamed “Blackburn’s Headhunters,” persistently attacked and harassed the occupying Japanese Army from 1943 until General Tomoyuki Yamashita surrendered to American forces in August 1945. Army Forces in the Philippines, North Luzon (USAFIP-NL). 1 Skirting Japanese Army patrols, avoiding Filipino spies and informants, and while battling tropical diseases, Blackburn and Volckmann started a form of irregular warfare which would later be called “Special Operations.” The guerrilla army organized by Volckmann and Blackburn became the U.S.
When American and Filipino forces on Bataan were ordered to surrender to the Japanese, Volckmann and Blackburn told the 11th Division Commander they did not plan to surrender, slipped through Japanese lines in the jungle, and headed for the mountains of North Luzon to avoid capture. Volckmann, the Division Intelligence Officer (G-2). Army Forces in the Philippines, North Luzon PatchĪs American and Philippine Army units executed War Plan ORANGE 3 (WPO3) retreating to the Bataan Penninsula, 1LT Blackburn was reassigned to the 11th Infantry Division, Philippine Army as the communications officer. This role lasted until 8 December 1941 when the Philippines were attacked by Japan’s armed forces. Landing in Manila on 4 October 1941, he was stationed at Camp Holmes as the senior instructor/advisor to the Headquarters Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, Philippine Army. At the end the Louisiana Maneuvers of 1941, Blackburn learned that he had “volunteered” for duty in the Philippine Islands. Commissioned in the Infantry, Second Lieutenant Blackburn was assigned to the black 24th Infantry Regiment at Fort Benning, Georgia as a battalion communications officer.
When Brigadier General (retired) Donald Dunwoody Blackburn began his military career on 22 September 1940 he had no idea what the future held for him.
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