Tacloban and the MacArthur Landing

Where MacArthur Waded Ashore In October 1944, And Where A Storm Surge Killed More Than Six Thousand People In November 2013 · Palo, Leyte

TWO THINGS HAPPENED ON THIS COAST AND THE ROW WILL NOT SEPARATE THEM. ON 20 OCTOBER 1944 DOUGLAS MACARTHUR WADED ASHORE AT RED BEACH IN PALO, beginning the reconquest of the Philippines; the moment is cast in larger-than-life bronze, standing in a pool, and it is the reason most visitors come. ON 8 NOVEMBER 2013 TYPHOON YOLANDA - HAIYAN - DROVE A STORM SURGE THROUGH TACLOBAN AND KILLED MORE THAN SIX THOUSAND PEOPLE. The city was destroyed. THE MEMORIALS TO THAT ARE MODEST AND SCATTERED: a mass grave in the grounds of the Palo cathedral, and the MV EVA JOCELYN, a ship the surge carried inland and left among houses, kept where it stopped. MOST VISITORS PHOTOGRAPH THE BRONZES AND LEAVE WITHOUT SEEING EITHER. The San Juanico Bridge is the other landmark. Go to both: the grave is a burial site rather than an exhibit, and the ship sits among houses where people still live, which is the part that stays with you longest.

MacArthur Landing Memorial Park, Palo, Leyte, Palo, Leyte, Philippines

TACLOBAN HAS AN AIRPORT with flights from Manila and Cebu; PALO IS ABOUT TWENTY MINUTES SOUTH by jeepney or taxi. THE MACARTHUR LANDING MEMORIAL PARK at Red Beach keeps daytime hours with a modest fee and is open ground around the bronzes. THE PALO METROPOLITAN CATHEDRAL is an active church; THE YOLANDA MASS GRAVE IS IN ITS GROUNDS and is a burial site, not an exhibit. THE MV EVA JOCELYN MEMORIAL sits where the surge left the ship, in a residential area, and is open space. THE SAN JUANICO BRIDGE to Samar is driven across rather than visited. 20 OCTOBER IS THE LANDING ANNIVERSARY with ceremonies; 8 NOVEMBER IS THE YOLANDA ANNIVERSARY and is observed quietly and seriously. Typhoon season runs roughly June to November.

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