Capas National Shrine

The Capas National Shrine (Paggunita Sa Capas) in Barangay Navy Capas, Tarlac, The Philippines was built by the Philippine government as a memorial to the Filipino and American soldiers who died in Camp O'Donnell at the end of the Bataan Death March. This is an important site related to Veterans' Day in the Philippines (Araw ng Kagitingan), every 9 April, the anniversary of the surrender of the combined US and Philippine forces to the Japanese in 1942.

The area around where the Bataan Death March ended was proclaimed by President Corazon Aquino to become Capas National Shrine on December 7, 1991. The shrine encompasses 54 hectares of parkland, 35 hectares of which have been planted with rows of trees to represent each of the deceased. On April 9, 2003, a new memorial wall and obelisk was unveiled. The 70-meter obelisk towers above the grounds of the former interment camp. The obelisk is surrounded by a black marble wall engraved with the names of the Filipinos and Americans known to have died at the location. On the three large wall segments that almost encircle the obelisk, there are statistics about the total numbers of prisoners and deaths, together with poems for peace.

Nearby is a small museum and a smaller monument built by an American group calling themselves the "Battling Bastards of Bataan", honoring the American dead of the period. A few hundred meters from the Obelisk is a garden separated from the rest of the shrine by a creek, it is passable with the means of a hanging bridge. The relics of an old train and railings are also present in the Shrine.

External links

• Capas page of the Pacific Wreck database, which has information relating to the Capas National Shrine (with pictures).
• Battling Bastards of Bataan