US does remember ‘humiliating defeat’

My name is James Alderman, a retired American soldier living in Bacolod City with my Filipino wife, Lynn, since 2009.

Ramon Farolan’s column, “Bataan revisited” (4/9/18),  was true and factual. I have read Stanley Falk’s book.

The only thing I disagree with is what he wrote in the final paragraph. Farolan is perhaps unaware that the US Army does remember Bataan and Corregidor. Perhaps the largest ceremony outside the Philippines takes place at White Sands in New Mexico every year. The Death March is reenacted through the desert and almost every major unit in the US Army sends participants. Last year over 23,000 people, soldiers and civilians took part. I took part in two of these marches while I was assigned in Fort Bliss, Texas.

The Philippine Scouts are honored with a statue at the main entrance to White Sands. The bonds forged between the 146th Coast Artillery Regiment of the New Mexico National Guard and the Philippine Scouts are unbreakable.

We do remember the “humiliating defeat.” Pearl Harbor would be another example. From the ashes of total defeat comes a stronger bond and lessons learned in order to not let it happen again.

JAMES ALDERMAN, [email protected]