Bataan and the Mount Samat Shrine

The Peninsula That Held Out Until April 1942, The Death March That Followed, And A Ninety Five Metre Cross With A Gallery Inside Its Arms · Pilar, Bataan

BATAAN IS THE PENINSULA WHERE AMERICAN AND FILIPINO FORCES HELD OUT AFTER MANILA FELL, STARVING AND DISEASED, UNTIL THEY SURRENDERED IN APRIL 1942 - and what followed is the reason the name is known. TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PRISONERS WERE MARCHED NORTH FOR ABOUT A HUNDRED KILOMETRES IN THE HEAT WITHOUT ADEQUATE WATER OR FOOD, AND THOUSANDS DIED ON THE ROAD. THE SHRINE OF VALOUR ON MOUNT SAMAT IS THE NATIONAL MEMORIAL: a colonnade, a small museum and A CROSS NINETY-FIVE METRES HIGH WITH A LIFT INSIDE IT AND A VIEWING GALLERY IN THE ARMS, looking out over the whole peninsula and Manila Bay. THE HONEST PART IS WHAT IS NOT THERE: THE DEATH MARCH KILOMETRE MARKERS ALONG THE ROUTE ARE NEGLECTED, many are lost or built around, and most people drive past every one of them without knowing. The shrine itself is under-visited for something this significant, and on an ordinary weekday you may have the colonnade and the view over the peninsula entirely to yourself.

Shrine of Valour, Mount Samat, Pilar, Bataan, Pilar, Bataan, Philippines

MOUNT SAMAT IS IN PILAR, BATAAN, roughly THREE HOURS FROM MANILA by road and reached by bus to Balanga and a jeepney or tricycle up. THE SHRINE KEEPS DAYTIME HOURS WITH A MODEST FEE; THE LIFT INSIDE THE CROSS TO THE VIEWING GALLERY IS A SEPARATE CHARGE and HAS BEEN OUT OF SERVICE AT TIMES, so do not build the day around it. THE MUSEUM AND COLONNADE keep the same hours. 9 APRIL IS ARAW NG KAGITINGAN, the Day of Valour, a national holiday - the shrine is crowded and there are ceremonies. THE ROAD UP THE MOUNTAIN IS STEEP AND NARROW. THE DEATH MARCH MARKERS run along the old route through Bataan and Pampanga toward Capas in Tarlac and are UNMAINTAINED AND EASILY MISSED. It is hot and largely unshaded.

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