One Morning in Manila

China/Burma/India Theater 1942-1945

We had an evening flight on Sunday which gave us enough time to take a Manila city tour that morning. Our first stop was the American Cemetery and Memorial. The memorial is a beautiful 152 acres in the center of downtown Manila. There are over 17,000 marble headstones of known and unknown soldiers and a memorial for over 36,000 missing American and Filipino soldiers who died during World War II from different campaigns. It has the largest number of graves of any cemetery for US personnel killed during World War II. Our guide told us that the Philippine Government gave the land to the US and that the grass was flown in from the US. The memorial has detailed murals of the Pacific campaign and large marble slabs with the names of the Americans that are buried there. 

Our next stop was the Walled City of Intramuros, Fort Santiago and the beautiful Spanish gardens that surround it. The fort was constructed in 1663 and gave us a feeling like we were in Spain. 

St. Augustine Church was our last stop of the day. This old church has been rebuilt 3 times due to fire and war, but the original building was complete in 1607. If you look closeley at the ceiling it looks like it is carved, but infact is just painted to look 3D.