I haven't had the time to blog the past few weeks and I'm now cleaning up my backlog before the year ends. :)
Anyway, during our visit to Las Casas Filipinas de Acuzar, we had time to quickly drop by the Mount Samat National Shrine or also called "Dambana ng Kagitingan"(Shrine of Valor) Memorial Cross located in Pilar, Bataan. This shrine is dedicated to the heroic efforts and sacrifices of the fallen Filipino and American soldiers during World War 2. Sculptures at the foot of the cross depict various scenes of the war.
Just a quick historical review (it's actually for my own benefit since I never remember historical facts! Haha...). Anyway, during the start of WW2, the Imperial Japanese Army won in Luzon. Filipino and American soldiers then retreated and regrouped in Bataan. They had one last attempt to fight the Japanese - a battle that lasted for 4 months. Unfortunately, they failed - 78,000 Filipino and American soldiers surrendered to the Japanese on April 9, 1942 also known as the Fall of Bataan. According to Wikipedia, it is considered the single largest surrender of US soldiers in the history. The soldiers were led to a 130km march to Capas, Tarlac or what we know as the Death March.
When you look up at the foot at the cross, the cross doesn't look that tall. I thought it was was just about 10 to 15 storey-high but it's 302 ft high or as tall as a 30-storey building. See how tiny a person is at the entrance of the shrine.
Going up, you'll be able to see the aerial view since one side of the elevator has a glass panel. If you look closely at the cross, the glass at the center which looks like a design is actually a viewing panel.
The viewing deck is the horizontal part of the cross. Here are some photos I took from the viewing deck.
My car looks even smaller than a matchbox from the viewing deck. Haha...
Other than the view, the air is refreshing and the climate cool at the viewing deck.
BTW, the elevator of the cross could only fit up to 10 pax at any given time. But please don't expect a high-tech or hi-speed elevator (the entrance fee is only Php10 after all). The elevator is tiny and old. So tiny that when you do a selfie inside the elevator, all of the people inside the elevator will be in your photo (and smiling too!). Haha... And the elevator is so used up that when we reached the top, the attendant had to manually slide the doors to open it. Someone joked "Wow, automatic!" and everyone laughed including the foreigners. It's more fun in the Philippines! :)
