| General Note |
- General note - [Full text]: "I welcome all of you to Memorare 2017, on behalf of our President Jose Cabarrus, who was unexpectedly called overseas. 72 years ago the Battle for Manila raged from 3 February to 3 March 1945. Our city was destroyed, causing the death of over 1,000 American soldiers, 16,665 Japanese soldiers counted dead in Intramuros alone, and over 100,000 civilian residents of Manila. This one month battle caused the complete devastation of the city. The urban fighting has been compared to the Battle of Stalingrad. Over 100,000 civilian deaths. How easily the number slips off the tongue. 100,000 deaths. Approximately 35% of the deaths can be attributed to the artillery shelling, mostly American. The rest to a merciless program of execution by the defenders. There are 26 known massacre sites, some large, with up to 400 deaths, others small, each characterised by ferocious attacks on helpless civilians. Many dead were never discovered nor identified. I lost four members of my family, including my mother. They had been arrested and taken to the Masonic Temple on Taft Avenue, a massacre site where 200 perished. Conflicting reports say they were taken to Fort Santiago. Others say they were executed there. Their bodies were never recovered. Did you know that in cases like this there is a legal method to determine who died first? Women die first, from the youngest to the eldest. Then men, in the same order. Many others disappeared in the fighting and the fires. In the months after liberation, my brother and I discovered many dead in the ruins of nearby homes that had been destroyed - the stench of death was everywhere. After liberation, every bridge across the Pasig had been destroyed. Manila was left without electricity, no running water, no sewers, no telephones, no transportation, no banks, no cash, no work, no schools, no stores. Think about the wasteland. Think about the task that our parents faced. For today's generation probably the same as no cell phones, not for a day, but for three months. First our parents had to find shelter and food for their families. Then they had to rebuild their lives, find work. There was also a new nation to be built. We children had to help our parents and families, while trying to get an education without schools that were open. Then we forgot. We forgot. We buried our memories and moved on with our lives. Few of us spoke of our experiences. When in university in the US, many good friends never knew the horrible tragedies I had endured. We did not want to be different. We wanted to fit in, and war is too terrible to discuss. Finally in 1992, my sister and I decided to hold a Requiem Mass to honor the 50th anniversary of the battle. Since we both live overseas, we asked our family friend, Ambassador Juan Jose Rocha for help. What you see here, the Plaza, this beautiful statue is all his work. Johnny Rocha deserves our deepest thanks for his superb leadership. We miss his passion. It has made this annual Memorare ceremony so special. Our committee is aging. Most of us will be gone in a few years, so it is up to the young members who have joined, and all of you out there, to make sure that you continue each year to honor the dead of the Battle for Manila. I repeat, make sure each year that we honor the dead of the Battle for Manila. May they rest in peace. Thank you."
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