MANILA ABMC CEMETERY – HEROES LIE IN THE MYSTICAL SILENCE

manilaabmc
The chapel at Manila ABMC Cemetery flanked on either side by the hemicycles of the Walls of the Missing.

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. 

Continue reading