Japanese WWII Memorials and Markers in the Philippines

[Karl Welteke]

JAPANESE WWII MEMORIALS AND MARKERS IN THE PHILIPPINES

As a retired US Serviceman, residing in the Philippines, and pursuing a hobby of walking, I have seen many Japanese WWII Memorials and Markers.

With my German roots the question came up in my mind what would Russia or Poland say or would except if the Germans would like to build such Memorials and Markers in those countries.

Then this thought came to my mind, the Japanese did not establish cemeteries in the Philippines, they cremated their Fallen and send ashes to their families. The Germans have cemeteries in France and other places to honor their Fallen. So what is wrong with a small Memorial or Marker?

Some of the Japanese WWII Memorial and Markers were established by Japanese religious organizations, by military unit associations etc. They usually mention all three combatants, Filipino, US and Japanese and hope for friendship between us and peace on earth.

Here is a personal touch, my uncle, Helmut Voje, was a career Officer in the Wehrmacht and fell on the 10th of May 1945 in what is today the Czech Republic in an attack by partisans. His body has never been recovered. In recent years the Czech Republic granted the right to Germany to establish a WWII veteran cemetery in the country. Although my uncle’s body cannot be interred, but a small plaque has been created with his name and is displayed on the grounds.

I am establishing this thread to create one place for all of these Japanese Memorials and Markers in the Philippines.Everybody is welcome to contribute.

[Karl Welteke]

JAPANESE MEMORIAL AT THE FOOT OF THE MT. SAMAT SHRINE

This memorial has been at this place a long time but I do not know when it was built. It is simple but respectful design. It commemorates all the Fallen, it tries to say so in some bad English but it is the idea that counts. The Japanese writing is longer and obliviously must say more. It would be very nice if someone could translate it.

I established a new album for all the images I have about the Japanese Memorials and Markers in the Philippines. This Memorial is the first entry and I called the Q Series with 7 images. This is the URL:

s74.photobucket.com/user/PI-Sailor/library/Death%20March%20Markers%20Death%20Camps%20and%20Memorials/Japanese%20Markers/J-Memorials%201?sort=9&page=1
or
tinyurl.com/nza2ryw

Here are the same 7 pictures and description but some of the images in the album are much larger:



X950 (Q1) a 2007 11 Oct. image of the Japanese Memorial from the Japanese Memorial Service near the intersection of the Bagac-Pilar Road with the Mt. Samat Shrine Road. It commemorates all the Fallen. The Mt. Samat Cross is in view.



X951 (Q2) this Google Earth really covers the center of the final Bataan Battle area and shows the location of the Japanese Memorial from the Japanese Memorial Service. It also shows geographic points of the battle area.



X952 (Q3) a closer view the Japanese Memorial from the Japanese Memorial Service near the intersection of the Bagac-Pilar Road with the Mt. Samat Shrine Road. This is also a trail now and could have been part of Trail #4. Date of the image is 2007-10-11



X953 (Q4) a 2015-04-22 image of the Japanese Memorial from the Japanese Memorial Service near the intersection of the Bagac-Pilar Road with the Mt. Samat Shrine Road. It commemorates all the Fallen. The Mt. Samat Cross is in view.



X954 (Q5) a 2015-04-22 image of the Japanese Memorial from the Japanese Memorial Service near the intersection of the Bagac-Pilar Road with the Mt. Samat Shrine Road. It commemorates all the Fallen. The Mt. Samat Cross is in view.



X955 (Q60 a 2015-04-22 image of the plaque on the Japanese Memorial from the Japanese Memorial Service near the intersection of the Bagac-Pilar Road with the Mt. Samat Shrine Road. But what does it say in Japanese.



X956 (Q7) the English on the plaque on the Japanese Memorial from the Japanese Memorial Service. It is not the best English but I’m sure it means to commemorates all the Fallen.


This area at the foot of Mt. Samat and at both sides of the road to Mt Samat, where these two Japanese Markers are now, was the Bataan Memorial Cemetery for the Fallen Filipino Soldiers of Bataan.
We have a threat about this cemetery and it is called BATAAN MEMORIAL CEMETERY, this is the URL:
corregidor.proboards.com/thread/1763/bataan-memorial-cemetery

[JohnEakin]

Thank you for doing this thread, Karl. No one hates war more than the poor soldiers and sailors who have to do the fighting and no one deserves more to be remembered.

[cbuehler]

Thank you indeed Karl! This aspect is not well covered and I will contribute more commentary where I can. I am very familiar with this monument at the entrance to Mt. Samat. It is a from the Kyoto Philippine Friendship society (that is my own translation, others may vary it a bit) and mentions the fighting and death of many soldiers in this area. It includes wishes for peace and friendship. It is not specific to Japanese, but to all soldiers.
Kyoto was the home of the 16th Division, which recruited from that area as well as Shiga Prefecture.
As many of us know, there are several more Japanese monuments along the road leading up to the top of Samat,

CB

[Karl Welteke]

BAGAC FRIENDSHIP TOWER BY THE BUDDHIST LAYMEN OF JAPAN

The Friendship Tower in Bagac, Bataan Province, it was built in cooperation with the Bataan Government by the Buddhist Laymen of Japan in 1975. It is promoted as a step towards World Peace.

It is located in a triangle formed where the road from Pilar meets the Bataan West Road.

This “o” series of 21 images show the Friendship Tower in Bagac, all 21 images were shot on 2007-Oct.-11 and were added to this album:


s74.photobucket.com/user/PI-Sailor/library/Death%20March%20Markers%20Death%20Camps%20and%20Memorials/Japanese%20Markers/J-Memorials%201?sort=9&page=1
or
tinyurl.com/nza2ryw

Here are 8 sample images but they are much smaller than in the above album:



X957 (O1) this is the Friendship Tower in Bagac, Bataan Province, it was built in cooperation with the Bataan Government by the Buddhist Laymen of Japan in 1975. It is promoted as a step towards World Peace.



X958 (O3) these kind of bells must be an important symbol in the Buddhist Faith. This is the Friendship Tower in Bagac, Bataan Province. Behind those low hills at right the Japanese penetrated behind and south of the Mauban Line forcing General Wainwright to retreat.



X959 (O4) a Google Earth image of the location of the Bagac Friendship Tower in the big picture of Bataan.



X960 (O7) the approach to the Friendship Tower in Bagac zoomed in, left, it continuous to Bagac and the Death March Km Marker “0”; it is less than 1 km away. Right goes to Morong and Subic Bay.



X961 (O11) the message of Peace in English on the bell of the Bagac Friendship Tower, Bataan Province.



X962 (O11a) the message of Peace in English on the bell of the Bagac Friendship Tower, Bataan Province. It is zoomed in now but it is still hard to read; I failed to keep a higher resolution copy.



X963 (O15) on this plaque, the Bagac Friendship Tower is also referred to as a Monument and it commemorates the victims of WWII. This plaque apparently was put up or replaced in 1985.



X964 (O17) this plaque was put up or replaced in 2005 and it also says the monument underwent a restoration. This plaque is located at the foot of the tower that is why I think I missed a 4th plaque.

[randysubic]

Here's ones I have visited:

1. The "Dove" at Kabalan,Olongapo
2. Markers at Kamikaze Fields #1 and #2 at Clark
3. Japanese Peace Memorial Shrine in Davao
4. Filipino-American-Japanese Amity Shrine near Dumagette
5. A couple more that I am trying to remember!

[batteryboy]

There is another at Bamban Air Field, Tarlac.

[Karl Welteke]

JAPANESE MARKER/MEMORIAL ON THE BATAAN WEST ROAD NEAR BAGAC.


In June 2013 Bob Hudson noticed it, of course most locals know about it. On the 16th Nov. 2013 I looked it up and we present some pictures here of this marker


Bob Hudson in procession of a post WWII interment map of Bataan, we also present it here. This map indicates a massacre nobody of us knows about. He wanted to investigate it in that area and came across the Japanese marker. Are these two items connected, or are these two items in the same location just by coincident?


I have established an album of his and my images in regard to this marker, the massacre location and I added images from the pass, the Bataan West Road crosses from Bagac to Morong because it is an important landmark in exploring the1942 Mauban Defense Line.

22 images are in this album and the pictures are bigger than the sample pictures posted here after:

s74.photobucket.com/user/PI-Sailor/library/Manila%20Bay%20Forts-Other/Mauban%20Line%20Bataan/Japanese%20Big%20Marker?sort=6&page=1
Or
tinyurl.com/nhsu7rd



Here are some sample images:




Y108- 2013-06-25 Bob Hudson, a descended of the battling Bastard of Bataan, came across this Japanese Marker/Memorial on the Bataan West Road near Bagac.


On 2013-10-11 Bob Hudson wrote this: Karl, this was the monument that we found. It was, as I stated, hidden behind bushes and small trees. The top foot or so of the obelisks showed over the obstructions. This was on the road between Bagac and Morong. If you are driving south from Morong, you will find it on the right side of the road.
Bob




Y109- 2013-06-25 The information plaque on the Japanese Marker/Memorial on the Bataan West Road near Bagac which Bob Hudson, a descended of the Battling Bastard of Bataan, came across on the Bataan West Road near Bagac.


On 2103-11-19 Bob wrote me and said this:

I have searched high and low on the internet for any information on the 20th Regiment, Japanese Army. The only relevance I find is about the Nanking massacre. Nothing about the the monument in Morong / Bagac. The inscription on the plaque loosely translates as "The tomb is offering and prayer Pilipino and Japanese soldiers who died in this part of Morong and Bagac, servants. It also magsisilbang bridge continued friendship Pilipinos and Japanese and peace throughout Asia, forever." This is from Google translate.

I questioned Edna soon after that trip and she again told me that before her husband died 10 years ago, they traveled past that marker and they stopped to look at it but she had no memory of what the inscription on the marker said. Even her uncle who we spoke to in Morong and was a retired judge from there, only knew that there was some kind of marker on that road. We asked him to ask some of the very elderly people in the area if anyone recalled a massacre of civilians or soldiers during the war but as yet he has discovered nothing.

Karl adds this:

20th Regiment Group, is that the same 20th Inf. Regiment mentioned in the US Army Publication in this thread? The below paragraph is copied from it.
Japanese troops

To secure the troops for his revised plan of operations against I Corps, General Homma drew on the 16th Division. On the 13th Jan 1942 he ordered the division commander to send to Bataan two infantry battalions and as many regimental guns of 75-m. caliber and rapid-fire 37-mm. guns as possible. This force, when finally organized, consisted of Headquarters, 16th Infantry Group, the 20th Infantry (less one battalion), an antitank battery, and half the regimental gun battery of the 33d Infantry. Led by Maj. Gen. Naoki Kimura, 16th Division infantry group commander, it left Manila for San Fernando on 15 January. Late that night General Homma created the Kimura Detachment and placed it directly under the control of 14th Army, thus relieving Nara of responsibility for operations against I Corps. In addition to the units he had brought with him, Kimura was also placed in command of the troops already operating along the west coast of Bataan. Altogether he had a force of about 5,000 men.




Y110- This Google Earth map shows the location of the Japanese 20th Regiment Group Marker/Memorial as it relates to my recent research of the 1942 Mauban Line.




Y111- Close-up from the GE map location of the Japanese 20th Regiment Group Marker/Memorial.


This marker is also covered in my thread “Mauban Defese Line”, page 2:
corregidor.proboards.com/thread/1546/mauban-defense-line-1942?page=2
I encourage you go there to avail yourself to links for the large Bataan Interment map from Bob Hudson.

Here is more sample images of the Japanese Marker for the 20th Regiment Group.



Y115- 2013-11-16 The Man who helped me find the Japanese 20th Regiment Group Marker/Memorial which is located in Barangay Banawang, Bagac Bataan on the Bataan West Road between Morong to Bagac, much closer to Bagac.




Y116- 2013-11-16 As we were leaving the Japanese 20th Regiment Group Marker/Memorial these 3 workers showed up and I thought they were just highway workers and did not pay attention to them.




Y117- 2013-11-16 After I was done with today’s activity I noticed that those workers cleared all the scrub from in front of the Japanese 20th Regiment Group Marker/Memorial. What a coincident! It can be seen by all travelers now!

[Karl Welteke]

JAPANESE FIRST HEAVY ARTILLERY REGIMENT SOCIETY MEMORIAL AT Mt. SAMAT

Is this the regiment which broke the Bataan Defense Line and made any defense move on Corregidor a suicide mission and so caused the loss of the Philippines?

These two Japanese Memorial and Markers stand at the entrance of the Mt. Samat Shrine.

This N series of images N1 to N14 shows the Japanese-Philippines Goodwill Relationship Building; it was inaugurated on the 9th April 1997, Bataan Day. These N series of images also include a new Japanese Memorial (built 2008), it has a Christian Cross and it was built by the Japanese First Heavy Field Artillery Regiment Society. It stands in front of the Japanese-Philippines Goodwill Relationship Building.

I added these 14 images to the below album:

s74.photobucket.com/user/PI-Sailor/library/Death%20March%20Markers%20Death%20Camps%20and%20Memorials/Japanese%20Markers/J-Memorials%201?sort=9&page=1
or
tinyurl.com/nza2ryw

Here are 8 sample images which are much smaller than in the above album:



W10 (N1) at the entrance of the Mt. Samat Shrine is a Japanese-Philippines Goodwill Relationship Building; it was inaugurated on the 9th April 1997, Bataan Day. It is that building at right with my white car in front on the 8th Nov. 2007.



W11 (N2) this is also an 8th Nov. 2007 image and remember the area outside the right window, next year there will be a new Japanese Memorial from a Japanese Artillery Regiment. To the right we also see the Japanese Memorial from the Q series of images in the above album.



W12 (N3) this is a 2008 image and we are inside the Japanese-Philippines Goodwill Relationship Building, we also see the Japanese Memorial from the Q series thru the windows. Notice the plaque, it will be shown next.



W13 (N4) the plaque says this Japanese-Philippines Goodwill Relationship Building was inaugurated on the 9th April 1997. That it was done on Bataan Day and that one sponsor group is the YA-JYU-ICHI Comrade Group means a military connection to me.



W14 (N9) this is a 12 Oct. 2008 image, now you can see a memorial in front of that right window in the a Japanese-Philippines Goodwill Relationship Building. In Now 2007 it was not there yet, so it got recently built.



W15 (N10) the new Japanese Memorial at the entrance to the Mt. Samat Shrine, it has a Christian Cross and it was built by the Japanese First Heavy Field Artillery Regiment. It stands in front of the Japanese-Philippines Goodwill Relationship Building.



W16 (N12) this stature honors the Fallen (I am not sure whether I like the word Glorious) on all three sides and it was put up by the Society of the Japanese First Heavy Field Artillery Regiment which established in 1980. But this stature was built in 2008.



W17 (N13) in the back of this new Japanese Memorial is another plaque in Japanese, it is at the entrance to the Mt. Samat Shrine, and it has a Christian Cross. Could someone translate it?

[cbuehler]

My goodness, yes, this the 1st Field Artillery (Heavy) regiment, the primary constituent of the famous Hayakawa Detachment, named after their commander, Col. Masayoshi Hayakawa. The marker says Showa 17th year, April 10th and the unit title as mentioned and something regarding the Japanese military administration of the Philippines. Nothing else.
They were the ones that had the 240mm siege guns that did the most damage on Corregidor, Carabao, Drum etc.
They originally started out from the Pico de Loro mountains on the coast of Cavite, but later transfered to Bataan after the surrender to continue the work on Corregidor.
My friend Dan Dizon recalled seeing them go by in Pampanga. They were tractor drawn and were crushing the asphalt roads with their weight in areas.
These guns and their tractors can be seen during the victory parade with General Homma in the Luneta, Manila.
The Japanese artillery,which consisted mainly of 75's and 105's and some 150's, effect on the fortified islands of Manila Bay were essentially negligible until these 240mm guns arrived.
These were the only weapons that could really breach the concrete batteries and we can still see today evidence of their effectiveness.
CB