Czech WW II heroes in Philippines remembered

MANILA, Philippines - Czech freedom fighters who died in the Philippines during World War II were remembered yesterday in a simple wreath-laying ceremony at the national shrine for war heroes in Capas, Tarlac.

Leading the ceremony were Tomáš Kuchta, Undersecretary of the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Defense, and Brig. Gen. Restituto Aguilar from the Department of National Defense Veterans Office.

Kuchta said he was pleased to remember “the deeds of those Czechs who took part in the fight in the jungles of Bataan,” some of whom were forced to take part in the death march after their surrender and languished in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps during World War II.

“They are still little known,” Kuchta said in a statement released by the Czech embassy as a special memorial was unveiled for the Czech volunteers who fought and died in defense of the Philippines.

Czech Ambassador Jaroslav Olša Jr. said “seven of these brave Czechs perished during the war but their bravery was not forgotten.”

The dead Czech volunteers were identified as Jan Bžoch, Pavel Fuchs, Leo Herman, Jaroslav Hrdina, Fred Lenk, Josef Va?ák and Antonín Volný.

The last surviving Czech volunteer, Karel Aster, now 96, lives in Florida, the embassy added.

Jan Vytopil, Czech embassy deputy head now working on a book on these almost forgotten heroes, noted that the Czech citizens being remembered were not soldiers but ordinary employees of Bata Shoe Co., the first Czech investment in the Philippines in the 1930s. 

“Though at one point, they (spent) more than 36 hours exposed to enemy fire while dismantling a rice mill to take back to joint Philippine and US troops in desperate need of food,” Vytopil said.