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<em>Manuel Quiaoit Salientes</em> was born in Pangasinan, the Philippines, to Juan and Teresa Salientes. "Sally," as he was fondly called at West Point, graduated class valedictorian of Umin-gan Pangasinan Elementary School and attended Lingayen Pangasinan Academic High School, where he was accelerated and elected student government president. He studied engineering at the University of the Philippines but was unable to finish since his father spent the family’s money running for public office. Sally then was forced to take the civil service exam, which offered top-ranking examinees an education in the United States. As Sally was one of the top five examinees, he chose to take the West Point exam and luckily won himself a slot on its roster. His favorite memories at the Point were the Army-Navy games, the White House visits with the choir, and the friendships he built with his classmates.</p>
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After earning a bachelor’s degree from West Point, he attained his master’s degree in metallurgy from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then went to the U.S. Army Ordnance School at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD.</p>
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When war broke out in the Pacific, he escaped the infamous Philippine Death March, but became a prisoner of war in Camp O’Donnell. Though assigned to the office of then-Philippine President Laurel, Sally joined the guerilla forces in Mindoro when the Japanese invaded Manila. After his friend was assassinated, he joined LTC Macario Peralta, head of the 6th Infantry Division, on Panay Island. Amidst the war, Sally fell in love with Peralta’s secretary, Linda Casugbo, and married her after the war.</p>
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One of his classmates affectionately remembers: "Sally had seen a lot of his friends from the Point killed in action in the Pacific and watched the Japanese steal their class rings. After the war, Sally bought back their class rings from Manila’s jewelers and sent them back to their families."</p>
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After the war, Sally continued to serve his country. In 1946, Sally went to Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, KS, and then was assigned to the Philippine Embassy in the United States. In 1949, he was the technical advisor to Philippine President Quirinos official trip to the United States and a member of the Philippine Military Bases Panel.</p>
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In 1948, Sally was appointed chairman of the Interdepartmental Committee for the Delimitation of Military Bases in the Philippine’s Department of Foreign Affairs. In February 1950, he was appointed military attache of the Philippine embassy in Washington, DC. In November 1952, Sally returned to his country and immediately asked for a field assignment fighting the Huks (guerillas) in the Philippine mountains.</p>
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Sally was also a member of the Philippine Panel in the Military Advisor’s Conference, SEATO, in Baguio City, Philippines, in May 1955; in Pearl Harbor in November 1955; and in Singapore in June 1956. He was chairman of the Philippine Delegation in the Logistics Ad Hoc Sub-Committee Meeting of SEATO in Melbourne, Australia, in September 1955; a member of the Philippine Panel in the Committee of Economic Experts of SEATO in Bangkok, Thailand, in December 1955 and August 1956; Technical Advisor of the Philippine Panel in the U.S.-Philippine negotiations on military bases in 1956; co-chairman of the Philippine-U.S. Planning Committee on Organization of a Pacific Defense College in 1958; and the implementing officer of the Philippine-Japan Highway Loan in Tokyo from 1969-71.</p>
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Thanks to his expertise, he traveled to various countries as guests of the Defense Ministry. On one of these trips to Korea, he met his classmate, GEN Westmoreland.</p>
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While playing a big role in concluding various Philippine government projects, Sally never forgot his roots as an Army officer. He had various staff, administrative, and command posts and assignments from 1939-59, twice as OPD chief and G-4 in the GHQ General Staff. His last assignment as a military fficer was as commanding general of the 3rd Infantry Division in Camp Aquino, Tarlac, the Philippines. In August 1959, after 22 years of active duty military service, Sally retired.</p>
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In August 1967, Sally again was called to serve his country as undersecretary of national defense for munitions. Among his tasks were to build an altar of courage in Bataan and a memorial on Corregidor Island for all the men who died valiantly in the Pacific during WWII. Like his previous assignments, Sally took with him the values ingrained in him at the Point, especially the time-honored tradition of "Duty, Honor, Country."</p>
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After serving his country for most of his life, Sally decided to settle down and go into business. He was chairman of Sui Tai Garments Corporation; chairman of Metropolitan Tourmaster; chairman of Salient Development Corporation; vice chairman of Sugarsteel Industries Corp., Inc.; vice chairman of Pio Barretto Realty and Development Corporation; vice chairman of Autoworld Sales Corp., Inc.; director of Manila Machinery & Supply Co., Inc.; and director of Trans-Asean Trading, Inc.</p>
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Sally also joined numerous social clubs, including the West Point Society of the Philippines, the Advanced Management Association of the Far East, the Philippine Council of Management, the Technology Club of the Philippines (MIT, USA), the Army & Navy Club, and many more.</p>
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He and Linda, fondly known as the "childrens factory," had nine wonderful children who gave them 17 glorious grandchildren. "Poppy" or "Lolo," as his children and grandchildren lovingly called him, is remembered as a charming, kind, and gentle, but strict, man. To Linda, he was a loving and thoughtful husband. To his children, he was a strict but fair, highly principled father. And to his grandchildren, he was a jolly, understanding, and doting grandfather.</p>
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He died 50 years after his West Point graduation. He was bedridden from a stroke that struck him that January and died in June, still very much an officer and gentleman as befits a true, gallant West Pointer.</p>