Manila, Philippines - 2 of 3

We were totally overwhelmed by the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial. Unexpectantly, this cemetery reminded us of Arlington as it is a beautifully laid out 152 acres aligned in 11 plots in a circle with the marked graves of 17,206 Americans. In front of a chapel are 2 hemicycles carved with the seals of all of the American states and 25 mosaic maps that show American armed force leadership in the Pacific, China, India and Burma. Within the hemicycles are stones inscribed with the 36,286 names of those missing in action.

The entire Cemetery, memorial and museum is done with such respect to those Americans that lost their lives in conflicts and wars to defend the Philippines.

Twenty-nine Medal of Honor recipients are buried or memorialized at the Manila cemetery. Also honored are the five Sullivan Brothers, who perished in 1942 and A. Peter Dewey (1916–1945), an OSS officer killed in Saigon shortly after World War II ended and the first in the Vietnam conflict.

As an aside, here is the story of the five Sullivan brothers who were World War II sailor brothers of Irish American descent from Waterloo, Iowa, serving together on the light cruiser USS Juneau, were all killed in action during and shortly after its sinking around November 13, 1942. As a result, the US put in place the Sole Survivor Policy to protect members of a family from the draft during peacetime, or from hazardous duty or other circumstances, if they have already lost family members to military service. It exempted the sole surviving son of a family where one or more sons or daughters had been killed in action, died in the line of duty, or subsequently died of injuries or disease incurred while in military service, from being drafted either in peacetime or wartime. In 1971, during the Vietnam War, Congress amended the law to remove the restriction on surviving sons being drafted during periods of war or national emergency declared by Congress. Any son, not just a sole surviving son, was exempt from being drafted in peacetime if their father, brother, or sister had been killed in action or died in the line of duty prior to December 31, 1959, or died subsequent to that date as a result of injuries or disease incurred while in service. Sons were also exempt from being drafted in peacetime if a father, brother, or sister was in a prisoner of war or missing in action status. The sole surviving son was permitted to apply for voluntary induction into the military, however.

A very moving experience!Read more