A Visit to the Manila American Cemetery

I’ve been meaning to visit the Manila American Cemetery at the Fort, Taguig since last year but never got around it.  But last week, a friend and I were able to squeeze in a quick visit. 

The Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines occupies 152 acres and contains the largest number of graves of military men from World War II, totaling 17,202, most of whom lost their lives in operations in the Philippines and New Guinea.

The17,000+  headstones are arranged in a circular pattern around the memorial and are divided into sections arranged alphabetically. 

At the center of the memorial are 2 hemicycles.  Here’s one of the hemicycles.

What looks like columns in the hemicyles are actually the Tablets of the Missing - where names of military men, who served during the war but whose remains were never found, are inscribed on the walls.

 
The Tablets of the Missing contain 36,285 names. And these include some Filipino scouts who helped US soldiers in the defense and liberation of the Philippines in 1941-1945.

Once in a while, you’ll see a golden yellow rosette on the walls (like the one in the photo below).  The rosettes mark the names of those since recovered and identified.

Inside the hemicycles are twenty-five beautiful mosaic maps which depict the achievements of the American Armed Forces in the Pacific, China, India and Burma.

Here’s a close up of a mosaic. Check out the markers of war planes (the blacks and reds)…

and submarines (the greens)!

And while checking the mosaics, don’t forget to look up to see the beautiful sky.

At the point where the 2 hemicycles meet is a  60 ft high Chapel.  Inside the chapel is a beautiful mosaic of a lady.  Both the sculpture at the chapel entrance and the mosaic were designed by an artist named Boris Lovet-Lorski of New York.

 

Construction workers are busy re-painting the walls of the chapel.   Everything is well-maintained.

including the trees and shrubberies.

Anyway, if you want to visit the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial and pay homage to the unsung heroes of World War II, it is open daily to the public from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. the whole year except December 25 and January 1. 

Remember, families of these deceased are miles away and some of them may not have had visitors since they were buried here.  It would be nice to say a prayer for these souls. May they rest in peace.