Vol 7, Number 1
Spring-Summer 2006

PHILIPPINE BATTLEFIELDS AND POW CAMPS TOUR AND DEDICATION OF THE WW II HELLSHIPS MEMORIAL

- by Michael Hurst MBE

From early 1942, the Japanese moved POWs by sea out of all the areas they had conquered - Singapore, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Java, and other places, and sent them to Japan, Taiwan, Burma, the Dutch East Indies and other areas to be used as slave labor. Tens of thousands of prisoners were transported on dozens of Japanese "hellships", and many thousands perished from starvation, sickness, neglect and murder - or were killed when the unmarked transport ships were attacked by friendly forces.

To date, there has never been a memorial dedicated to those who suffered and died on the “hellships”, but this all changed in January 2006 with the dedication of the World War II Hellships Memorial at Subic Bay in the Philippines.

The World War II Hellships Memorial came about after more than two years of planning and hard work by the Hellships Memorial Committee headed by Duane Heisinger, in the USA and Randy Anderson and Bob Chester in the Philippines. After much effort and fundraising, the date for the dedication was set as January 22nd 2006.

In conjunction with the dedication of the Hellships Memorial, Duane decided to organize a memorial tour to the Philippines to visit the sites of the battles of Bataan and Corregidor, trace the route of the infamous Death March and see the former POW camps where the men were interned after the fall of the Philippines in April and May 1942.

Duane chose Valor Tours Inc. in the USA to organize the tour and this was ably carried out by director Bob Reynolds who has been leading tours to former wartime sites for many years. On January 17th the main group of 60 people arrived in Manila and I flew down from Taipei and met the group at the Manila Hotel around 11:00am. So began the start of a wonderful and memorable experience for us all.

The first afternoon we toured the old Spanish walled city of Intramuros with all its old-world charm, and later had a lovely welcome dinner where everyone got to know each other better.

The next morning we went to the American War Cemetery to pay our respects with a ceremony to those brave men who gave their lives for their country.

Manila War Cemetery - photo Steve Kwiecinski
  

In the afternoon we visited the infamous Bilibid Prison in downtown Manila which is still operational today as the city’s jail. Just like in former POW times, the inmates are kept in squalid and overcrowded conditions.


Bilibid Prison – unchanged little from 60 years ago
- TPCMS

On the 19th we took a boat from Manila to the island fortress of Corregidor where Gen. Jonathan Wainwright and the remnants of the US Forces made their last stand before having to surrender to the Japanese forces in May 1942. We saw the former gun batteries, the bombarded ruins of the barracks and other buildings, the famous Malinta Tunnels and the Pacific War Memorial and Museum.

It was exciting and sobering to see these well-known places and to visualize the battles and recall the suffering of the men who gallantly defended this island called “The Rock”. - con’t. on page 7

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