here's to heroes day!

History can be boring at times... (nah, I'm pretending to be cool saying that!) I actually like history, one of the best subjects I had in school, I like names and places, biographies and stuff like that. Sadly, most involve wars and I'm plainly sick of it. We can make heroes out of people without getting them to shoot anyone for the country... or getting them shot for the country... who can undo that if war is just a mind game between the heads of state and generals who, most of the time live to see their retirement.

sigh* Anyway, Araw ng Kagitingan or Heroes Day in the Philippines is in commemoration of the death march from Bataan to Tarlac. (It's really, really far --- they are two provinces) American and Filipino soldiers were made to walk in surrender to the Japanese.

What the heck were they doing in our land?... oh the glory of war, Japan and the US wanted to station themselves in the Philippines as a military base for southeast Asia, but in the end after the two warring countries are done bombarding Manila and Bataan with bombs and guns everyday for 5 months... they left. Leaving the Philippines in rubble.

Yes, we have had glory days pre-war, there were theatres, schools, churches in the rubble. I saw it...we recently went to visit the ruins in Bataan which is now an island without residents, its open only for the touring public on scheduled dates. What a creepy sight it was, it's a deserted island trapped in time... the rubble are still there even the artillery.

                                still there, see?

                               you wont believe how big this tunnel is, it's like a village inside.

                                still on guard for battle ship since 1942

                                people don't usually stick their heads in a barrel, but that's just me.

                               imagine bombs falling from the sky EVERYDAY for 5 months!!!

                                where will you hide?

                                barracks (did u know these bombings were simultaneous with the 

                                Pearl Harbor attack?)

                                Reforested: the trees weren't spared, the whole island was on fire.

                                old cinema

                                 bullet ridden walls

                                             sophisticated at that time, this one can rise above the walls 

                                             and contract again, it rotates too!

a remnant of this war  (World War II)

 
WELL...Japan and the US made amends with the Philippines, paying off the war veterans and admitting to war crimes. The Japanese even made a shinto shrine in honor of the lives lost in the war... I guess forgiveness do come in the end...but I just wish all wars aren't started in the first place.

There's the touring group, (me in pink) alongside Japanese Marines on tour too. See? we can all live in harmony, though the scar is still there, my grandfather was a veteran.

for peace and love,

sassy