Araw ng Kagitingan

 

                The Day of Valor, also known as Araw ng Kagitingan, commemorates the heroism of Filipinos and American Soldiers when the Japanese occupied the Philippines during World War II. Major General Edward P. King, of the United States Army, was forced to surrender more than 76,000 Filipinos, Chinese and American soldiers to the Japanese at dawn on April 9, 1942.

                Araw ng Kagitingan is a non-working holiday that is part of a long weekend in the Philippines. World War II veterans parade in different cities in the Philippines on this day.There are small parades in different localities in the Philippines but the Araw ng Kagitingan’s main highlight occurs when the country’s president gives a speech at the Mt Samat shrine, in the Bataan province, to commemorate the heroism of the Filipinos and American troops during the World War II.

                On April 9, 1942, officials in command of Bataan where Filipino and American forces maintained the main resistance in the war against the Japanese formally surrendered. Through the Voice of Freedom radio broadcast, Third Lieutenant Normando Ildefonso Reyes reading a message prepared by Captain Salvador P. Lopez informed the Philippines and the world from Malinta Tunnel in Corregidor: “Bataan has fallen.”.

                In 1966, a shrine was commissioned to be built on the summit of Mt. Samat to commemorate the heroic Filipino and American soldiers in Bataan who fought the Japanese Imperial Army in 1942, in what is known today as Battle of Bataan. The Dambana ng Kagitingan (Shrine of Valor) which was built in 1970 near the top of Mount Samat in Pilar, Bataan is a monument to the gallant Filipino and American soldiers who died during World War II.

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