Captain Enrique L. Jurado was an officer in the Philippine Army - Offshore Patrol during the Second World War. A graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Class of 1934, Foreign Midshipman who returned to the Philippines to teach at the Philippine Military Academy. Later joined its Army Coastal Defense force, the Offshore Patrol, as an instructor to its first class of graduates. He was the officer-in-command of the OSP, just before the Pearl Harbor attack on December 4, 1941. He led his squadron of three torpedo boats and two gunboats in the Bataan defense campaign, and managed to escape the Japanese when he ordered his flagship to Batangas. After his escape and recovery, he joined the guerrillas in Panay. Jurado was sent to Mindoro to try to consolidate the guerrillas there, but was tragically killed by a rival guerrilla faction.
Early life and education
Jurado was born on July 15, 1911 in Lucena, Philippines. Son of Severo Jurado and Peregrina López Jurado. He is the second oldest brother of three, Ramon and Augusto. Graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy the year the United States agreed to grant Philippine independence in 1934. During his freshman year, he was participant in soccer until a four-year mainstay in wrestling, earning letterman honors in his final three years. He competed at the 1936 Summer Olympics in the freestyle bantamweight class. In 1937, he began his Ordnance training at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey and then continued postgraduate studies in Ordnance training at the U.S. Army, Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.
Legacy
On May 15, 1953, the Philippine Military Academy dedicated their gymnasium at Fort General Gregorio del Pilar in Baguio City, "Jurado Hall" in his honor. In June 2013, the original Jurado Hall was demolished to be upgraded to a modern sport complex. The newly completed Philippine Military Academy Sports Complex, Jurado Hall, was inaugurated by President Benigno Aquino III on the morning of March 15, 2015. Fort Bonifacio, military headquarters of the Armed Forces of the Philippines in Manila, also named their gymnasium, Jurado Hall, after him. His name is also on a bronze plaque at Rizal Memorial Coliseum, a major sports arena in Manila. His name is engraved with those of his United States Naval Academy classmates in Memorial Hall. His name is also on a bronze plaque on a staircase at USNA’s Dahlgren Hall. The Philippine Navy commissioned BRP Enrique Jurado is the second ship of the Jose Andrada class coastal patrol boats on June 24, 1991. The patrol craft was part of the first batch of its class ordered through US Foreign Military Sales in 1989.
