The cemetery grounds and Memorial.
Looking down the Memorial hallway at some of the panels that make up the "Wall of Missing".
This past Sunday (12 June), I visited the Manila American Cemetery, a 21-acre memorial site dedicated to the American soldiers & sailors who lost their lives fighting in the Pacific War Operations in 1941-45. The cemetery was dedicated in 1960, and contains over 17,000 grave markers; the memorial contains marble panels etched with 36,286 names of those soldiers "missing in action", including many Philippine fighters - soldiers whose remains were never found at battles throughout Asia & the Pacific. Inside the halls beautiful mosaic tile maps tell the visual & written history of the battles.
It's a quiet and peaceful site to visit; few visitors were there on a hot Sunday. As I walked through the green lawns of markers and the marble memorial I tried to comprehend the huge loss of lives caused by this war over 65 years ago. I felt emotional for the losses on all sides, not just of the Americans - such a tragic waste of human life due to war.
I sketched for several hours in the memorial hall and underneath the trees, surrounded by the markers. I thought of all these young men who "never came home", and I felt fortunate to be alive today and to record my impressions of this special place.
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