Manila American Cemetery and Memorial

We stopped at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial after work on Friday. It is very close to the office, and the sun was shining so it seemed like a good time to stop.

There is a beautiful little chapel, and the bells were playing the Hallelujah Chorus--definitely the most interesting version I have ever heard.

The sun was out and I spent some time walking around. The memorial walls include the names of more than 36,000 soldiers missing in action, including the names of both American and Filipino soldiers.

The state seals are all along the path. Here's Minnesota:

The memorial also has mosaic maps that give detail about WWII in the Pacific. I really don't think they taught us much of this in school...I think Stillwater History might be pretty similar to Stillwater Math.

The memorial was very quiet and peaceful even though quite a few people were walking through. I always find places like this very humbling. It's hard to imagine the scope of WWII seventy years later. There are 17,100 headstones in the cemetery and 20 pairs of brothers.

This seems like a fitting end to this post. Inside the small chapel it was covered with mosaic tile, and on one of the walls was this text:

O LORD SUPPORT US ALL THE DAY LONG
UNTIL THE SHADOWS LENGTHEN
AND OUR WORK IS DONE
THEN IN THY MERCY 

GRANT US A SAFE LODGING
AND A HOLY REST 

AND PEACE AT THE LAST