U.S. Reportedly Ignoring Veterans' Graves in Philippines

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U.S. Reportedly Ignoring Veterans' Graves in Philippines

Published July 03, 2011

Associated Press

CLARK, Philippines – Walking along the rows of tombstones here offers a glimpse

of the wars America has fought and the men and women who waged them. But most of

the grave markers have been half-buried for 20 years, and there is little hope

that the volcanic ash obscuring names, dates and epitaphs will be cleared any

time soon.

Veterans Cemetery was consigned to oblivion in 1991, when Mount Pinatubo's

gigantic eruption forced the U.S. to abandon the sprawling air base surrounding

it. Retired U.S. soldiers, Marines and sailors volunteer to keep watch, relying

on donations to try to maintain the grounds, but they lament that they're

helplessly short on funds to fix things, and that Washington is unwilling to

help.

" It's the veterans' cemetery that America forgot, " Vietnam War veteran and

ex-Navy officer Chesko said.

As America marks Independence Day, the U.S. veterans who collect funds to care

for the cemetery renewed their calls for Washington to fund and take charge of

the work.

Workers at the cemetery north of Manila recently dug to fully expose a

gravestone for an Army sergeant who died in World War II in the Philippines.

They discovered his wife's name engraved under his and a long-hidden tribute:

" Daughter, sister, wife and mother of veterans. "

It's impossible to say what else remains hidden at the 17-acre (seven-hectare)

cemetery. It holds the remains of 8,600 people, including 2,200 American

veterans and nearly 700 allied Philippine Scouts who saw battle in conflicts

from the early 1900s to the resistance against brutal Japanese occupation troops

in WWII.

's dead also include military dependents, civilians who worked for the U.S.

wartime government and at least 2,139 mostly unidentified soldiers whose marble

tombstones are labeled " Unknown. "

" People celebrate on the Fourth of July but they forgot the 8,600 who helped

make that freedom happen, " said former Navy Capt. Dennis , who saw action

in Vietnam and is now a business executive.

" We're trying to get the U.S. government to assume responsibility for

maintaining the cemetery so we can get it up to standards ... not on nickels and

dimes and donations and gifts, " said retired Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Larry

Heilhecker, who served as cemetery caretaker for five years until last month.

was a U.S. base for nearly a century and was once the largest American Air

Force installation off the U.S. mainland. It served as a key staging area for

U.S. forces during the Korean and Vietnam wars.

The cemetery, which can accommodate at least 12,000 remains, was developed

between 1947 and 1950, when it was used to collect the remains and tombstones

from four U.S. military cemeteries as American officials sorted out their dead

from WWII and previous wars.

An American cemetery at the then-Fort McKinley in Manila became the exclusive

burial ground for all Americans and allied Philippine Scouts who were killed in

WWII combat. The 152-acre (61-hectare) Manila cemetery collected 17,202 dead,

the largest number of American casualties interred in one place from the last

world war.

Now closed to burials, the stunningly landscaped Manila cemetery became one of

24 American burial grounds outside the U.S. mainland. Nearly 125,000 Americans

who perished in WWI and WWII and the Mexican War are interred in those

U.S.-funded overseas cemeteries, regarded as among the most beautiful war

memorials in the world. The overseas burial sites are administered by the

American Battle Monuments Commission, or ABMC.

The dead at are not limited to World War II casualties -- they date as far

back as 1900. Also unlike the Manila cemetery, it continues to accept burials.

One U.S. veteran who lives in the area had his son buried here after he was

killed in Iraq in 2004. But is not administered by the ABMC.

The Air Force managed cemetery from 1947 to 1991, when it abruptly left

after nearby Pinatubo roared back to life from a 500-year slumber. Even before

the eruption, negotiations with the Philippine government for a new U.S.

military lease on had bogged down after nearly a century of presence in

the Philippines, according to the veterans.

Philippine authorities failed to look after the cemetery. In 1994, American

veterans were shocked to find it had become an ash-covered jungle of weeds,

overgrown grass and debris. Half of its old steel fence had been looted.

Today, a pair of U.S. and Philippine flags flutter in the wind over the graves.

A recently restored marble obelisk, pockmarked by World War II gun and artillery

fire, venerates the unknown dead. A small sign at a new steel gate ushers in

visitors with a tribute to the war dead: " Served with honor. "

All the improvements came from donations. 's company spent $90,000 to

construct a new concrete and steel fence and a parking lot and make other

improvements. An old veteran, confined to a nursing home in Florida, sent one

dollar in a touching act, Heilhecker said.

Ret. U.S. Air Force Technical Sgt. Littleton Fortune has been giving small

amounts from his pension for the upkeep of the cemetery, where many of his

friends lay. He said the worst day in his life came in 2004 when his son, a

young Army sergeant, was killed by a bomb in Iraq. He buried his son at

and continues to help the cemetery.

Still, the gravesites look forlorn compared to the American cemetery in

Manila.

A U.S. government decision to take control of the cemetery could shed

light on the fate of still-missing Americans, said, citing the case of a

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Hershel Lee Covey, whose name is on a cemetery

tombstone that declared him as having died on July 17, 1942 in the Philippines.

A check by The Associated Press showed ABMC lists Covey as " missing in action or

buried at sea. "

Dashing the hopes of the American veterans, the ABMC and the Department of

Veterans Affairs, which manages 131 U.S. mainland cemeteries through an agency,

both said was outside their mandate.

" Whether the U.S. government should take on responsibility for maintaining such

a foreign, private cemetery is a veterans' benefits issue outside the scope of

our authority, " ABMC public affairs director Conley told the AP in an

e-mailed reply to questions.

U.S. Ambassador to Manila Harry , who has visited the cemetery

twice, praised the American veterans for looking after the burial grounds, which

he said volunteer embassy staff and visiting U.S. sailors have helped clean up.

But he said the U.S. Congress only appropriates funds for official cemeteries

overseas through the ABMC, said.

Philippine officials have authorized an American veterans' group led by Chesko

to manage the cemetery up to 2030, and have said they are open to allowing

any U.S. agency to manage it.

" Without them, we wouldn't have this freedom now, " said Felipe Remollo,

president of the state-run Development Corp., which oversees the former

base, now an industrial and commercial hub.

Once developed and possibly turned into a war memorial, the cemetery could draw

in tourists, Remollo said.

's elderly veterans, some of whom become teary-eyed when reminiscing days

with fallen comrades, worry about who will look after the cemetery as their

ranks dwindle. Two passed away and were buried last week.

" We're getting old. We can feel it in our bones, you know, in mind and

everything, " said 65-year-old Chesko. He has wondered whether fallen soldiers'

sacrifices still matter to young Americans.

" What bothers me sometimes is, will they still remember? " Chesko said.

The new cemetery caretaker, Gilbert, said the veterans were not trying to

pass the responsibility.

" We're proud to do it, don't get me wrong, but we do not have the resources to

do it, " said Gilbert. They would have no choice if Washington ignores their

pleas, he said.

" We are not ready to let this cemetery be taken back by the jungle, " he said.

" If we have to do it ourselves, we will do it. "

" We don't leave our brothers behind. "