CLARK FREEPORT – The only impediment to the return of the controversial Balangiga Bells — displayed in a war memorial at the F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming in the US — has finally been shelved.
The American Legion, a worldwide organization of US war veterans in whose honor the controversial Balangiga Bells have been held at the air base, approved last week in its national convention in its Minneapolis, Minnesota headquarters a resolution that would pave the way for the return of two bells in Wyoming.
There was no mention, however, of the third bell in a US base in South Korea. Guy Hilbero, executive officer of the 26th US Cavalry of the Philippine Scouts Memorial Regiment in this former US air base, told Punto that during the convention held from last Aug. 26 to 28, the American Legion rescinded “a prior resolution from the Wyoming department previously passed at the 2016 convention which called for keeping the bells in Wyoming.”
It was the 2016 resolution of the Wyoming Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) that prevented the US government from returning the historic bells taken by the Americans from a church in Balangiga, Eastern Samar in 1901 during the Philippine-American War.
Pres. Duterte has repeatedly called for the return of the bells. Dennis Wright, an officer of the VFW based here, said the new resolution “clearly demonstrates the support of the American veteran community with the VFW and its 1.7 million members and the Legion’s 2.2 million members calling for the return of the bells.”
“Of note is that it was the VFW and American Legion Posts and Departments in the Pacific that led these initiatives, something to be proud of veterans doing the right thing,” he added in a letter commenting on the American Legion’s resolution passed last week.
In an earlier memorandum to the US National Security Commission, American Legion officer Jeff Steele recalled that in July 2018, the VFW had already approved a national resolution in favor of returning the bells.
“In early August 2018, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis notified Congress that the department plans to return the Bells to the Philippines at a date yet to be identified. On August 21, 2018, Chairman Schlee and National Security staff took part in a conference call with Dr. Joseph H. Felter, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Asia & Pacific Security Affairs. The call was at the request of the Pentagon and speaks to the importance they place on the issue,” he said.
Steele also noted that “Dr. Felter explained that the intent of returning the bells is not to dishonor veterans, but to do right by a close ally. He said there is a plan to provide replica bells so that the current memorial in Wyoming can remain as a fitting tribute to the sacrifice of the soldiers who lost their lives in the conflict. He stated that there is a compelling national security interest in returning the bells.”
The resolution noted that “the Philippines is predominately a Catholic nation where church bells play a very important role in the lives of Filipinos as well as reflective of their National Patrimony representing the very fabric of their cultural heritage and history and because the bells were bought and paid for the parishioners of San Lorenzo de Martir to return the bells would be the honorable and right thing to do and result in national jubilation.”
The legion then resolved that “in recognition of the 75th anniversary of the Bataan Death March and the historic military ties and camaraderie between Americans and Filipinos and given that new and accurate information on the history of the two bells now exists, that the Secretary of Defense in collaboration with Veteran organizations, take action to return the two Catholic church bells now on display at F.E. Warren Air Force Base (formerly Fort D.A. Russell) in Cheyenne, Wyoming to the parishioners of the church of San Lorenzo de Martir in the town of Balangiga, province of Eastern Samar, republic of the Philippines.”
