Manila American Cemetery and Memorial
Being an avid hiker (bushwalker in Australian parlance), I am always on the lookout for nice spots for walking. Regrettably, there are too few in Manila.
But recently, I discovered the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial. This military cemetery is stunningly beautiful and located just up the road from our apartment.
The cemetery, 152 acres or 620,000 square meters in area, is located on a prominent plateau, visible at a distance from the east, south and west. With a total of 17,206 graves, it has the largest number of graves of any cemetery for U.S. personnel killed during World War II and holds war dead from the Philippines and other allied nations.
Many of the personnel whose remains are interred or represented were killed in New Guinea, or during the 1941–42 Battle of the Philippines or the Allied recapture of the islands. The headstones are made of marble which are aligned in eleven plots forming a generally circular pattern, set among a wide variety of tropical trees and shrubbery. The Memorial is maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission.
The Cemetery also has a nice little museum, which provides interesting information on the Pacific war. Twenty-five large mosaic maps in four rooms recall the actions of the United States Armed Forces in the Pacific, China, India and Burma. Carved in the floors are the seals of the American states and its territories.
Twenty-nine Medal of Honor recipients are buried or memorialized at the Manila cemetery. Also honored are the five Sullivan Brothers, who perished when the light cruiser USS Juneau was sunk in Nov. 1942.
The cemetery is open daily to the public from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The sad point is that there seem to be very few visitors or interest from the local Philippine community. The good point is that you can wander around peacefully, contemplate the horrors of war, meditate peacefully on the tragically lost lives, and enjoy the beauty of the site.