bigpigeon.us webpage WW II -  Japan  > Philippines Liberated > Beyond the Philippines, updated by RAC 7 Oct '19.
If General MacArthur had stood atop the island fortress of Corregidor in Manila Bay after its liberation on 26 February 1945, he might have visualized the following lands far away beyond the South China sea, mostly still under Japanese occupation:
  • Far to the south, the island chain of the Dutch Indies, reaching over 1,700 miles from Sumatra south of Singapore to the western portion of New Guinea.
  • To the southwest, British colonies including Singapore, Malaya, and northern portions of Borneo.
  • To the west, French Indochina.
Although United States policy favored decolonization, the Netherlands, England, and France were anxious to get their territory back.
The Greater Southeast Asia Area
The Greater Southeast Asia Area
Even before the Philippines Campaign began in October 1944, the United States had begun bombing targets in the Dutch Indies, first from western New Guinea, then from Morotai southeast of Mindinao, and finally from bases in the Philippines itself.

​In the last months of the War with Japan, Australian forces, supported the the US Navy, made several landings in Borneo.
Sources for the WW II - Beyond the Philippines webpage
The Greater Southeast Asia Area map is courtesy of theconversation.com.
Pottawattamie County, Iowa WW II Dead - Beyond the Philippines
(taken from the bigpigeon.us WW II Dead webarea)
  • 07-05 - Philippines - Beyond the Philippines: (one dead, updated 6 Oct ’19)
    † Hetrick, Jacob Alvin - SN O-733-132, USAAF
    75th Bomb. Sqdn., 42th Bomb Gp., 13th AF based at Sansapor, Dutch New Guinea; B-25J co-pilot; KIA 16 Feb ’45 ten miles E of Kendari, SE Celebes, Dutch East Indies; downed by Japanese AA during low-level attack on Kendari airfield.