Manila--American War Memorial

American World War II cemetery--Manila

My father, who is now 97 years old, was in the U.S. Navy during World War II, stationed much of the time in the South Pacific.  He was in and out of the Philippines and headed to Japan for the American invasion when his fleet learned of the Japanese surrender in 1945.
While I was growing up, my father read us the history of the U.S. naval battles in the Pacific.   Although I had been to the Philippines several times before, I had never been to the American cemetery and war memorial here until yesterday.  What a moving experience, 70 years later.
Our Philippine guide was in tears as he told us about the American battles to free the Philippines from the Japanese and the enormous American sacrifices to win in the Pacific.  All this is recorded and memorialized at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.

Star of David amidst crosses

There are 17,097 graves of American soldiers and airmen at the cemetery.  The colonnade surrounding the memorial contains the names of the 36,286 servicemen missing in action.  It is sobering to see and to remember how many Americans who died serving our country in World War II died alone and were never found.  Here they are all remembered.

In the cemetery, there are 164 Stars of David amidst all the crosses.  Twenty sets of brothers are among the dead as well as 29 recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor.  We owe so much to these men and some women, civilians, Filipinos, soldiers and airmen.
The Memorial has astonishing mosaics documenting the key Navy battles in the Pacific, the Battle of the Coral Sea and Midway (which turned the course of the naval war in the Pacific in favor of the Allies by destroying so much of the Japanese Navy).  They picture the submarine war and the remarkable logistics of the Navy battles that raged so ferociously.  They also describe the astonishing flow of U.S. arms, planes, food and other material and equipment to Russia, not to mention Europe and China, that enabled the Allies to defeat the Axis powers.  The world would have been a different place without the enormous American war production effort.

                                                       Mosaic of the Battle of Midway

It is important for Americans who visit the Philippines to see this reminder of the huge cost of winning World War II.  It is also incredible to see how so many Filipinos feel about America all these years later--not just gratitude, but a real connection to America and deep emotion about what America did for them and others in the Pacific region. 

 

Memorial to U.S. servicemen