CORREGIDOR: CORRECTING AN ERROR
Plans by the government to rehabilitate (again) Corregidor into a major tourist spot presents an opportunity to correct a monumental injustice to the Filipino soldiers who fought valiantly in Bataan and Corregidor to halt the rampaging Japanese troops.
Military historians, mostly Americans, recorded the Bataan-Corregidor battle as purely an American campaign, and the role of the Filipino soldier was totally ignored and deserved only passing comments.
The Bataan-Corregidor delaying action saved Australia and allowed General Douglas MacArthur enough time to regroup and launch a counter-offensive that led to final victory in that Pacific War.
The proposed dioramas and markers on that fortress island must stress that the Filipino troops played an equal if not a larger role than the Americans did, if only because there were much more Filipino soldiers than Americans. Movies and books about that gallant stand on Corregidor showed only the Americans as having fought that war. Even the infamous Bataan Death March focused only the American G.I.s
Years later, many scholars and historians referred to the Bataan-Corregidor action as the war where the Americans fought to the last Filipino.
The government has a golden opportunity here to correct a monstrous historical error.
Plans by the government to rehabilitate (again) Corregidor into a major tourist spot presents an opportunity to correct a monumental injustice to the Filipino soldiers who fought valiantly in Bataan and Corregidor to halt the rampaging Japanese troops.
Military historians, mostly Americans, recorded the Bataan-Corregidor battle as purely an American campaign, and the role of the Filipino soldier was totally ignored and deserved only passing comments.
The Bataan-Corregidor delaying action saved Australia and allowed General Douglas MacArthur enough time to regroup and launch a counter-offensive that led to final victory in that Pacific War.
The proposed dioramas and markers on that fortress island must stress that the Filipino troops played an equal if not a larger role than the Americans did, if only because there were much more Filipino soldiers than Americans. Movies and books about that gallant stand on Corregidor showed only the Americans as having fought that war. Even the infamous Bataan Death March focused only the American G.I.s
Years later, many scholars and historians referred to the Bataan-Corregidor action as the war where the Americans fought to the last Filipino.
The government has a golden opportunity here to correct a monstrous historical error.
(Image from http://www.mcw.edu/)
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