A WREATH-laying ceremony for Czech heroes who died in defense of the Philippines fighting the Japanese invaders was held at the Capas National Shrine in Tarlac province.
Czech Defense Undersecretary Tomáš Kuchta and Defense Undersecretary Restituto Aguilar led the rites to honor the Czech community in Manila in 1941 who joined Philippine and American troops in fighting the Japanese, who were allied with Germany which had already invaded Czechoslovakia.
“The deeds of those Czechs who took part in the fight in the jungles of Bataan, and after the surrender of some of them were forced to take part in Bataan Death March, and languished in Japanese POWs camps during World War II as they are still little known,” Kuchta said.
Seven of these brave Czechs perished during the war, but their bravery was not forgotten as “the fallen ones were the first to be recognized with Philippine state honors—the Philippine Defense Medal and the Liberation Medal. And other seven received the American Medal of Freedom for their heroism during the war,” said Czech Ambassador Jaroslav Olša Jr.
“These were not the soldiers, on the contrary,” notes Jan Vytopil, deputy head of Czech Embassy, who is now working on a book on these almost forgotten Czech heroes of the Philippines.
“They were primarily ordinary employees of the Bata Shoe Company, the then first Czech investment in the Philippines in 1930s. Though, at one point, they were able to spent more than 36 hours exposed to enemy fire while dismantling a rice mill to take back to joint Philippine and US troops in desperate need of food.”
Special Czech memorial in Capas is dedicated to those volunteers who participated in the Bataan defense and died in defense of the Philippines, namely: Jan Bžoch, Pavel Fuchs, Leo Herman, Jaroslav Hrdina, Fred Lenk, Josef VaÅ™ák, and Antonín Volný. Others survived the ordeal and the last one of them, Karel Aster, now 96, still lives in Florida.
They did this despite assurances it was only a matter of time before US forces would succumb to the invading Japanese and the chance they could be legally shot as spies. They not only served during the more than three to six months of fighting, but they also apparently did everything they could to hold off the Japanese.
