Remembering the Great Raid

Under the relentless, scorching noonday sun, Taps echoed from buglers–one American and one Filipino–at the close of ceremonies inaugurating the Cabanatuan memorial put up by the American Battlefield Monuments Commission in the dusty plains of Nueva Ecija where, 60 years ago, American and Filipino soldiers and guerillas successfully carried out a mission to rescue 516 Allied prisoners from the Pangatian concentration camp. The memorial is simple, with the word "Cabanatuan" engraved on a marble marker in front of two flagpoles; on the rear wall are engraved the names of those who perished. The memorial is surrounded by evergreen trees and hedges of bougainvilla in full, riotous bloom.

Earlier, at a site nearby which was the location of the concentration camp, another memorial ceremony was held, this one distinctly more masa, with hundreds of veterans and their families crammed under tents, eating packed meals out of styrofoam boxes. Author Hampton Sides, who is in no small measure responsible for all the attention being paid to this anniversary, noted the difference between an event organized by Filipinos and one organzied by Americans: the former has an informal tone, with people milling about and food and water passed around, and the latter more formal, stricter in protocol (and security, with diplomats abounding). Protocol dictated that guests sit through the latter hour-long ceremony unshaded and sweltering (one poor diplomat lost all sense of humor after his pate was baked bright red), but again as author Sides noted, we were there to remember the sacrifices made 60 years ago, when soldiers endured the same heat–and for much longer.

A nipa structure housed an exhibit of photographs and war paraphernalia–flags, old guns and ammunition, official letters–and a list of the Filipino guerillas who participated in making the raid a success. Some of them made it to the commemoration, frail and wobbly in their late 80s and 90s. Others were too weak to attend; many, of course, have passed on. Children and grandchildren were there to be counted for what their fathers did six decades ago. Representatives of the nations whose citizens were among those rescued (Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the US) spoke grateful and nostalgic words.

What has come to be known as the Great Cabanatuan Raid is the subject of Sides’ 2001 bestseller Ghost Soldiers and a forthcoming Miramax movie The Great Raid, which stars Benjamin Bratt (as Col. Mucci, who led the 6th Army Rangers in the raid) and Joseph Fiennes, Cesar Montano and Ebong Joson (as guerilla Capts. Pajota and Joson; Ebong, by the way, is a great-grandson). The Cabanatuan raid "was the most tactically complex and successful operation that the Rangers had ever conducted", and is, in fact, studied in military tactical training courses.

It has been said that we tend to commemorate our battle failures–Bataan, the fall of Corregidor, Tirad Pass–more than our victories. Now that this proud episode ha been brought to our national consciousness, perhaps January 30 can henceforth be commemorated too.