On Tuesday, this nation of 108 million people will remember and celebrate yet again the courage demonstrated by their ancestors as the younger generations validate the valor demonstrated by them in the bloody battle in Bataan and Corregidor in 1942.
The line of Filipino veterans who fought against Japan’s Imperial Forces on the scorching slopes of Mount Samat in Bataan on April 9, 1942 is fathomably thinning—but the memory remains incessantly enriched by tales about the audacity and lion-heartedness of the Filipinos and their allies.
When US Major General Edward King Jr. surrendered in Bataan, against the orders of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, the 78,000 troops—66,000 Filipinos and 12,000 Americans, the largest contingent of American soldiers ever to surrender—were taken captive by the forces of Tomoyuki Yamashita.
That left nearby Corregidor, a tadpole-shaped island at the mouth of Manila Bay, the remaining last Allied stronghold in the Philippines, where Wainwright escaped to.
There used to be Bataan Day (April 9) and Corregidor Day (May 6), but an Executive Order on June 30, 1987 declared April 9 of each year as “Araw ng Kagitingan” to salute the heroes of Bataan and Corregidor, properly a highlight to the valor and heroism of the Filipino and American soldiers who fought in the Philippines in World War II.
Today, as on Tuesday, the younger generations of Filipinos will demonstrate their united heartbeats in gratitude to the men and women who fought the invaders that they, at the time and the future generations of Filipinos, would have freedom and peace.
But not just the gallant Filipino and American soldiers are being acclaimed on this date.The marker at the Bataan Capitol grounds in Balanga, placed there on April 9, 1952, says it is dedicated “to the memory of the gallant Filipino and American soldiers as well as civilians, who fought and died, side by side in the defense of democracy.”
The Filipinos are a grateful people.
