A Week of Miracles .. And a Bit of History (WWII)

  

Miracles do happen.  I thought for sure my bank card was a goner, but on Wednesday evening, I walked to the ATM that ate my bank card, and the guard on duty, told me that the card had been removed by the company that looks after the ATM.  The next day I called the bank and sure enough, they had it.  I was fortunate to get a ride to the bank and retrieve my card.  

Oh happy day!  Seriously, this was nothing short of a miracle that I got my bank card back. 




On Friday after my busy day, I decided to go for a Mani Pedi with another the Elder and Sister Browne.  They have a different set up for Mani Pedi's here, or at least here, in Eastwood but they really pamper you.  

When we entered, there was the cutest little girl getting her mani-pedi with her mother.  I think she is the youngest client I have ever seen in a spa.  So cute and very well behaved.

A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY - AND HUMBLING TO SAY THE LEAST.

This past Saturday, some some of the senior missionaries went on an excursion.  An excursion is planned once a month for the Seniors, that they may have an opportunity to see various areas of the Philippines and learn more about the culture and history of this country.  This last weekend, we went to Bataan (Capas National Shrine) and to San Guillermo Parish (also known as the Sunken Church).

Bataan was founded in 1754 by Governor General Pedro Manuel Arandia. ... On April 9, 1942, about 75,000 Filipino and American troops in Bataan were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march to prison camp in Tarlac, marking the infamous Bataan Death March.

Background --The day after Japan bombed the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, on December 7, 1941, the Japanese invasion of the Philippines began. Within a month, the Japanese had captured Manila, the capital of the Philippines, and the American and Filipino defenders of Luzon (the island on which Manila is located) were forced to retreat to the Bataan Peninsula. For the next three months, the combined U.S.-Filipino army held out despite a lack of naval and air support. Finally, on April 9, with his forces crippled by starvation and disease, U.S. General Edward King Jr. (1884-1958), surrendered his approximately 75,000 troops at Bataan.

Bataan Death March: April 1942 -- The surrendered Filipinos and Americans soon were rounded up by the Japanese and forced to march some 65 miles from Mariveles, on the southern end of the Bataan Peninsula, to San Fernando. The men were divided into groups of approximately 100, and what became known as the Bataan Death March typically took each group around five days to complete. The exact figures are unknown, but it is believed that thousands of troops died because of the brutality of their captors, who starved and beat the marchers, and bayoneted those too weak to walk. Survivors were taken by rail from San Fernando to prisoner-of-war camps, where thousands more died from disease, mistreatment and starvation.

Aftermath -- America avenged it's defeat in the Philippines with the invasion of the island of Leyte in October 1944.  General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964), who in 1942 had famously promised to return to the Philippines, made good on his word.  In February 1945, US-Filipino forces recaptured the Bataan Peninsula, and Manila was liberated in early March.

After the war, an American military tribunal tried Lieutenant General Homma Masaharu, commander of the Japanese invasion forces in the Philippines.  He was held responsible for the death march, a war crime, and was executed by firing squad on April 3, 1946.

This memorial is dedicated to the brave men and women who defied the might of the invaders at Bataan, Corregidor and other parts of the Philippines during World War II.  Thousands died in battle, during the Death March, while in captivity.  Thousands more endured inhuman conditions at the prison camp in Capas, Tarlac. They suffered in the night so that their countrymen would wake to the dawn of freedom.  (Estimated Death Marchers April 9 - 15, 1942 : 60,600 Filipinos and 9,900 Americans)

"These men were the flowers of our youth.  They typified the courage and loyalty of our race.  We can never forget them.  We will never forget them.  Their heroic sacrifice set a measure of fidelity to our flag and our institutions for this and future generations." President Manuel A. Roxas, November 30, 1946. (Estimated Defenders who reached Capas: 45,692 + Filipinos and 9,300 Americans).

Box car

San Guillermo Parish Church is named after San Guillermo, the patron saint of Bacolor, Pampanga, Philippines, where the church is erected. The church was originally constructed by the Augustinian Friars in 1576 – also the town's founding – with Fr. Diego De Ochoa, OSA, as the town's first parish priest. Having been installed as such two years after.  Bacolor is one of the oldest towns in the Philippines. The first church was built by the Augustinian friars in 1576 on the lot of Don Guillermo Manabat, a rich landlord believed to be the founder of Bacolor. 

In 1880, the church was destroyed by an earthquake only to be rebuilt by Fr. Eugenio Alvarez in 1886. On September 3, 1995, lahar flow from the slopes of Mount Pinatubo which erupted into the world's notice on June 15, 1991, buried the church at half its 12-m height prompting its more than 50,000 town residents to evacuate to safer grounds in resettlement areas. Near the facade of the parish church is a museum which contains the history of the church. 

Altar

Our Excursion Group

I have to say to say this excursion has given me more appreciation for these islands and the Filipinos.  On our way to Capas National Shrine, we travelled over a bridge that crossed rice fields and found there were many people living under the bridges. Wherever there was a place to make a home, they will find it and make it a home. Their roofs are made of corrugated tin/metal and the only thing that holds them down are old tires.  Most roofs are rusted because of the rain. There is very little protection from the elements. Last week, the area in Bataan was severely flooded, and many of the homes we saw, under the bridges had water up to their doors and some had water right in their homes.   I even saw some chickens in a 'yard' of sorts, making their way around.

I have been here just over 5 weeks and if anything, I have learned that whatever discomforts we feel we may have back in Canada, is nothing, compared to the conditions the Filipinos live.  Yet, they are happy, hardworking and persevere some of the worst living conditions.