Battle for Manila reduced 'Pearl of the Orient' to rubble

So while there are all sorts of memorials, remembering the events of World War Two that ended sixty years ago, we must also remember that we were all in the middle of it.

The movie "The Great Raid" ends with a victory and an acknowledgement of respect to the Filipino resistance fighters. I learned from History class that there were a lot of cities liberated by Filipino guerillas before the US reinforcements came to the scene. But the battle turned ugly when it got to Manila.

Here's the Inquirer article on the Battle for Manila, or "The Battle formerly known as The Liberation".

It tells of the horrors on the days the allied forces recaptured Manila, and how the Japanese troops, just didn't want to let go. So the US forces decided to level the entire region with artillery fire. As a result, a devastated city. Witnesses describe a flat landscape of rubble.

Of course sometimes, you just have to see for yourself so head on over to the Internet Movie Archive and look for links like this. Use the keyword "Manila", and you'll see a lot of war propaganda clips and newsreels.

This thing happened under our very feet. It's real.