Help with Philippine Sword

[Dimasalang]

Originally Posted by weakroofblock

Found this thread while searching for info. Hope no one minds me resurrecting it and adding some info that comes from Giron's associates for anyone else who stumbles across this thread.

Leo Giron did indeed use a 36" blade during his WWII service in the Philippines. You can see pictures of him wielding the blade in Giron Escrima: Memories of a Bladed Warrior. I scanned this one from p. 229 which shows him delivering a #9 strike in the Giron system with the talonason.

The blade itself has no guard, just a socket, and is lighter and faster than it looks. Giron wielded it Larga Mano style against soft targets. According to the stories I have heard it was made for him as a gift somewhere in N. Luzon. He landed in Ilocos Norte in August of 1944 and spent time in Abra, La Union and Ilocos Sur while gathering intel on Japanese troop movements in the months leading up to the Battle of Lingayen Gulf.

Giron spoke Ilocano. According to Ilocano Dictionary and Grammar by Carl R. Galvez Rubino 'talunasán' is another Ilocano word for a buneng or bolo.

In addition to the talonason pictured above I'm told that Sgt. Giron also carried a daga and a smaller bolo about 24" in length with a brass guard and a long clip point that he called a calasiao which was used as a backup for the talonason or when the battle got too close to wield a larger blade effectively. I do not have any pictures of the actual calasiao.

Thanks for sharing! I have always wondered about these actual WWII guerrilla swords.

As for the "calasiao" bolo. I know a lot of times in the Philippines blades were named after the place of where the panday(blacksmith or bladesmith) lived. I also have family in Calasiao, Pangasinan...which just so happens to be right within Lingayen Gulf(where a lot of WWII action took place and guerrillas roamed). I remember driving through Calasiao on my last visit to the Philippines, and seeing a few stands selling blades...so I kinda figured there was a panday district in that place. I did a quick search and found this article on the Calasiao Pandays.
http://business.inquirer.net/money/f...anday-lives-on

Quoted from the article:
Bernardo Roy, 66, one the local panday, says the backyard industry was started by two brothers from Binmaley town before World War II.

One of them was his grandfather, but Roy could not recall his name. What Roy remembers from his mother's story was the two men were horseshoe makers who ventured into blacksmithing in Calasiao.