The 32nd Infantry Division’s battle for Villa Verde had one of the bloodiest in U.S. Army history. The men of 32nd—wore the Red Arrow patch indicating and signifying that the division had pierced every line it had encountered.
The scene of combat was commemorated with a Red Arrow Monument and marker at the foot of the Villaverde Trail.
Today, San Nicolas has developed to be the second largest in land area, at 5,035 square kilometers , among the forty seven (47) Pangasinan towns and cities, next only to nearby Umingan. With the enactment of the Barrio Charter, its eight original barrios have since multiplied into 33 barangays.
With a total population of 33,419 as of the 2007 census, majority of the residents busy themselves with farming, fishing and pottery, the town’s principal industries. San Nicolas was elevated from a fifth class to a fourth class municipality in 1993 during the incumbency of Hon. Conrado B. Rodrigo, Jr., as Municipal Mayor.
In the year 2005, it was again elevated to a second class municipality and in 2008, by way of its revenue share from the San Roque Power Corporation (SRPC), it was finally got elevated to a first class municipality, all under the administration of Municipal Mayor Leoncio S. Saldivar lll respectively.
Like the countless natural resources flourishing in the whole province of Pangasinan, San Nicolas is also gifted and endowed with natural wealth.
Natural resources of the town are its thich primeval forests, its rich soil, abundant water supply from rives and springs and an unlimited supply of clay deposits. It has also vast grasslands for cattle raising, with copper, silver, iron and gold deposits still untapped in outlying areas.
While urbanization is adding to the comforts and modernization on the ways and lives of the townspeople of San Nicolas, the residents remain faithful to their culture and traditions and to the ideals upon which their community was founded.
Sources:
Sherwin Bartolome Soria
http://snml.weebly.com/municipality-of-san-nicolas-history.html
A Pangasinan Folio’70 : a historical document
2007 San Nicolas Town Fiesta Souvenir Program
2005 San Nicolas Town Fiesta Souvenir Program
1968 San Nicolas Town Fiesta 1968 Souvenir Program