EP20 continues the previous program's coverage of the Philippine campaign through and beyond the liberation of Manila in February–March 1945. This episode's first fifteen minutes, like much of Victory's footage, is populated mostly by combatants. Later segments, however, include jubilant Filipinos welcoming their liberators near Lingayen Gulf and then Manila's own beleaguered residents, caught up in building-to-building urban fighting on a scale unmatched in the Pacific. Japan's kamikaze pilots make their first Victory appearance here, in Lingayen Gulf. Musically, Bennett's score is nearly all new, recycling only a half-minute of his EP2 Pearl Harbor composing.

This episode begins with a shorthand recounting of the then-recent decades of Philippine history, which would have been familiar to at least some of Victory's 1952–53 audience: its 1898 ceding to the US following the Spanish-American War was followed by 1930s treaties guaranteeing independence in the 1940s while preserving America's military bases there. These installations received a substantial buildup as WWII dawned, and the US was also aiding the Philippine Army, established only in 1936. The music at 1:01 [A] opens in A minor with a woodwind tune and then a trumpet's hint of the bugle call that will later appear in the major at 1:37. Scenes of daily civilian life in Manila shift to those of the Commonwealth's military in training.

We see a few calm scenes of Manila Bay's Cavite, the headquarters of America's Asiatic fleet. Immediately following is the aftermath of Japan's initial attacks there, hours after Pearl Harbor—December 8th on Japan's side of the International Date Line: “The bones of American sailors litter the harbor, and the Philippines are torn from the United States. Manila goes. Bataan goes … the Japanese take over.” There's a hint of Rodgers's DEATH-DEBRIS, and then at 2:21 [B] a somber bass clarinet solo over timpani, much like Bennett's EP6 lead-in to the “Guadalcanal March.” Scenes of ruin continue, with J-1 at 2:46 and then the “Old Hundredth” hymn tune for a church in shambles. J-1 repeats and then J-2 at 3:17 as the victorious Japanese celebrate, soon contrasted with the first images of American POWs behind bars at 3:40.

The scene shifts eastward at 3:46, and ahead in time more than two years. Misterioso horn music [C] using Rodgers's HAWAII accompanies Roosevelt's 28 July 1944 Pearl Harbor conference.