US soldiers burned alive by Japanese to be honoured 70 years on

 

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143 US Soldiers To Be Honored on the 70th Anniversary of Palawan Liberation – www.plnmedia.com

A total of 143 American Soldiers will be honoured for their contribution to the liberation of Palawan between April 21-23.

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The men were burned alive toward the end of the World War II in Plaza Curatel on December 14, 1944. The men were prisoners of war and were being held by the Japanese Imperial Army Kempe-Tai inside air raid shelters.

The  men were lead inside the shelter on that fateful morning and once inside the Japanese poured gasoline into the tunnels and set it alight. Those who escaped were either gunned down, clubbed to death or killed with bayonets.

Eleven of the 143 men survived the ordeal by swimming to Iwahig Island off the coast of Puerto Princesa.

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The soldiers who lost their lives were buried in St Louis County in a common grave in Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in Missouri in 1952.

In 2009 a monument was erected in their honor at Plaza Curatel – the “Palawan Massacre Monument” was a fulfillment by former Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn who promised Don Schloat, a former POW and survivor of the massacre, that he would create a monument in their memory.

This week some 200 people are expected to attend the memorial ceremony.

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