Emilio Aguinaldo is considered by many to be the “George Washington” of the Philippines. His family home is preserved – much like Washington’s at Mount Vernon – and a museum is dedicated to his life and times. Additionally, to the Aguinaldo home, the leader himself is entombed on the grounds behind the house. The grounds became the official Aguinaldo Shrine in 1964 just after his death.
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The spire of the Capas National Shrine rises 240 feet into the air above the hot, humid plains of central Luzon. There is lots of symbolism included in the site. Three parts of the towering spire represent the peoples of the Philippines, the United States and … Japan. Covering 54 hectares – 130 acres – over half of the grounds have been planted with 31,000 trees representing the 25,000 Filipinos and 6,000 Americans who perished here at Camp O’Donnell following the end of the Bataan Death March in 1942. The park was named a national shrine by President Cory Aquino in 1991 with the tower was added in 2003 with a memorial wall behind with the names of those known to have perished here at the camp.
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On the island of Corregidor at the entrance to Manila Bay, American coastal defense came to a high point in the big gun defense theory of protecting vital areas of a homeland. Using some of the biggest guns in the American arsenal, the defenders held off the enemy for over five months. The end came swiftly though, flaws in the system exposed terribly. Capitulation meant the garrison force marched on to the horrors of Japanese prison camps. With the fall of the island fortress, the theory of coastal defense would slowly re-evolve.
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During the early battles in the southwestern Pacific, most of the defenders against Japanese aggressions were Filipino. Among the graves and the Walls of the Missing, you will find many of their names. In this post, some of the stories of the Philippine Scouts, a truly unique unit of the American Army, come forward.
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Over 36,000 names cover the Walls of the Missing at Manila ABMC Cemetery. The men unaccounted for during World War 2 all over the southwestern Pacific. Most serving on ships sunk at sea or planes never coming home. There are plenty of others, bodies never found in the jungles of the Solomons, New Guinea, the Philippines, Burma or other locations.
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Surrounded by skyscraping condominium towers on the former site of the Fort McKinley, grass fields festooned with thousands of white granite crosses mark the largest American military cemetery outside of the United States. The Manila American Battle Monuments Commission – ABMC – Cemetery holds the remains of 17.097 men who died mostly in the World War 2 fighting in New Guinea and the Philippines. The names of another 36,286 men whose remains never discovered inscribed on The Tablets of the Missing place on limestone piers within two hemicycles separated by a small chapel atop a small hill. The quiet is out of place in the frenetic world of Bonifacio Global City outside of the cemetery walls.
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Today’s fort is the fourth to go by this name. The first fort was a fur-trading post opened by the North West Company. The post was built at the confluence of the Walla Walla and Columbia Rivers. Established in 1818, the post ran until abandoned and burnt down during the 1855 Yakima War. A steamboat landing settlement sprang up a few years later. The remains now all under the waters backed up from the McNary Dam some miles further down the Columbia.
European nations were holding their breath as relations between Spain and the United States worsened in 1898. While much of the attention centered on Cuba and the Caribbean, the Philippines also gathered some thought. Several of the nations had ongoing commercial relationships within the Philippines. To officially protect their nationals living and working in the Spanish Manila naval ships were sent. One of those nations with more than a casual interest in events in the Philippines included Germany.
