manila and corregidor

the most prominent national hero of the philippines is jose rizal. because of his push for social reforms and calls for revolution, rizal was captured and executed by the spanish colonial government on dec 30th, 1896 (which is now a national holiday.) his execution sparked the revolution that led to the ouster of the spanish. his story is fascinating and well-worth a closer look. here are some pictures of fort santiago where he was kept and some of the memorials built to him.





the following are two picture of the american cemetery in manila. see their website: http://www.abmc.gov/cemeteries/cemeteries/ml.php. of the american soldiers that died while fighting in the philippines, the remains of 60% of them were returned to their families. the other families requested that their remains be buried in the philippines, and some were never identified. my uncle art's remains were returned to the us, and he is buried in iowa.



and these are pictures from the island of corregidor, right off the bataan peninsula. (see my previous post.) this is where general douglas macarthur staged the war against the japanese before fleeing to australia. the barracks were heavily damaged by japanese bombing, and in one picture you can see the tip of bataan peninsula. i've included a map.