“Hour of the Great Rescue” Sundial and Museum (Great Raid at Camp Pangatian, Cabanatuan City Memorial Shrine WWII) January 30, 1945, Memorare,
Iβm starting this webpage in four sections, it will take time.
This is Section One, 6 images from Wikipedia Commons, shot when the memorial was still in good shape.
Section two is the 80th Anniversary Commemoration by the (NHCP).
Section three is my visit, one day later after the 80th anniversary. It is an update on this Memorial.
This Memorial, built by Nueva Ecija Province resources is deteriorating now.
Section Four are pictures of my 2008 visit to this memorial and it shows the memorial in a lot better condition, I hope we will remember it like this. Give me time!
On April 6, 2003, the provincial government inaugurated a 2nd memorial with a piece of land adjacent to the U.S.-maintained memorial; a circular platform are 2 identical markers from the National Historical Institute, one in English, the other in Filipino, recounting the exploits of Filipino guerillas led by Captain Juan Pajota and Squadron 213 led by Eduardo Joson in the liberation of the Pangatian POWs, Pangatian War Memorial – Pangatian Concentration camp).
Credit for the above, click here:Β Β https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:02266jfHour_Great_Rescue_Museum_Raid_Camp_Pangatian_Cabanatuan_Memorialfvf_22.JPG
Wikimedia CommonsΒ 6 images:
1A 02 picture, this plaque, called 7PM, was located on top of the museum, where the on-ramp hits the roof level. This is only plaque missing now; it gave credit to all the people who caused this memorial and museum to be created. This is a picture from Wikimedia Commons.
1A 03 picture is my Google Earth graph and shows you the location of Philippine and the American Memorials. The Philippine Great Raid (Rescue) is dedicated to the Great Raid, while the American is more dedicated to the POW camp and the 1000s who died here in the hands of the Japanese.
1A 04 picture shows the circular platform with 2 identical markers from the National Historical Institute, one in English, the other in Filipino, recounting the exploits of Filipino guerillas led by Captain Juan Pajota and Squadron 213 led by Eduardo Joson in the liberation of the Pangatian POWs, Pangatian War Memorial – Pangatian Concentration camp). This is a picture from Wikimedia Commons.
1A 05 picture shows the museum and the wall on top with historic sculptures, the names of the guerrillas who participated and a sun dial, posts with plaques that describe the Great Rescue/Great Raid hour by hour. The plaques are faded now and one with the credits is missing. My pictures from 2008 are good enough to be posted and I will do that in the fourth section; it will take time. This is a picture from Wikimedia Commons.
1A 06 picture is on top of the museum and shows the wall on top with historic sculptures (mostly gone now), the names of the guerrillas who participated and a sun dial, posts with plaques that describe the Great Rescue/Great Raid hour by hour. The plaques are faded now and one with the credits is missing. My pictures from 2008 are good enough to be posted and I will do that in the fourth section; it will take time. This is a picture from Wikimedia Commons.
1A 07 picture shows the west side of the wall on top of the Museum, with the names of the guerrillas and the command they operated under. The other side also has names, my pictures from 2008 have all the names and I will post them in the fourth section; it will take time. This is a picture from Wikimedia Commons.
1A 08 picture is on top of the museum and shows the wall on top with historic sculptures (mostly gone now), the names of the guerrillas who participated and a sun dial, posts with plaques that describe the Great Rescue/Great Raid hour by hour. The plaques are faded now and one with the credits is missing. My pictures from 2008 are good enough to be posted and I will do that in the fourth section; it will take time. This is a picture from Wikimedia Commons.
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This is Section Two of my presentation, I copied 8 images from their Facebook posting.
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This is a National Historical Commission of the Philippines’s Facebook Post
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The National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) joined the commemoration of the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Cabanatuan POW Camp on 30 January 2025 at the Camp Pangatian Memorial Shrine, Cabatanuan City, Nueva Ecija.
NHCP Chair Regalado Trota Jose, Jr. offered a wreath alongside the Guest of Honor, Department of National Defense Undersecretary for Civil, Veterans, and Reserve Affairs (DND-OUSCVRA) Pablo M. Lorenzo, and other gathered officials such as Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) Administrator Usec. Reynaldo B. Mapagu, Embassy of the United States of America in the Philippines Deputy Director for Public Engagement Mr. Chad Kinnear, and Atty Jose Maria Ceasar San Pedro, Nueva Ecija Provincial Administrator representing Governor Aurelio M. Umali. The Philippine Army 84th Infantry Battalion provided the guard of honor with its commanding officer Col. Jerald J. Reyes INF (GSC) PA as Military Host.
Camp Pangatian served as a prisoner-of-war (POW) camp for Filipino and American servicemembers captured by the Imperial Japanese Army following the surrender of Bataan and Corregidor in April 1942. On 30 January 1945, within a month following the landings of Allied forces along the Lingayen Gulf to liberate Luzon, a combined force of the US Army’s 6th Ranger Battalion and Alamo Scouts and Filipino Guerilla Units operating in the Nueva Ecija area launched a daring nighttime raid to rescue the remaining POWs within the camp. This action, immortalized and better known as the Great Raid of the Cabanatuan POW Camp, is resulted in the rescue of severely injured and maltreated POWs that would survive World War 2.
It is recognized as one of the most significant rescue operations during the war.
The commemoration is part of the series of activities and remembrances in line with the 80th Anniversary of the End of World War 2 in the Philippines.
Photos from Joan Marie Dayao / NHCP Communications
2B 02 Hour of the Great Rescue – Sundial Monument and Museum, this is a National Historical Commission of the Philippines’s Facebook Post Image from the 80th Anniversary Commemoration of the Great Raid.
2B 03 Hour of the Great Rescue – Sundial Monument and Museum, this is a National Historical Commission of the Philippines’s Facebook Post Image from the 80th Anniversary Commemoration of the Great Raid.
2B 04 Hour of the Great Rescue – Sundial Monument and Museum, this is a National Historical Commission of the Philippines’s Facebook Post Image from the 80th Anniversary Commemoration of the Great Raid.
2B 05 Hour of the Great Rescue – Sundial Monument and Museum, this is a National Historical Commission of the Philippines’s Facebook Post Image from the 80th Anniversary Commemoration of the Great Raid.
2B 06 Hour of the Great Rescue – Sundial Monument and Museum, this is a National Historical Commission of the Philippines’s Facebook Post Image from the 80th Anniversary Commemoration of the Great Raid.
2B 07 Hour of the Great Rescue – Sundial Monument and Museum, this is a National Historical Commission of the Philippines’s Facebook Post Image from the 80th Anniversary Commemoration of the Great Raid.
2B 08 Hour of the Great Rescue – Sundial Monument and Museum, this is a National Historical Commission of the Philippines’s Facebook Post Image from the 80th Anniversary Commemoration of the Great Raid.
2B 09 Hour of the Great Rescue – Sundial Monument and Museum, this is a National Historical Commission of the Philippines’s Facebook Post Image from the 80th Anniversary Commemoration of the Great Raid.
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“Hour of the Great Rescue” Sundial and Museum (Great Raid at Camp Pangatian, Cabanatuan City Memorial Shrine WWII) January 30, 1945, Memorare.
This is my Section Three Presentation, and shows the present (Jan. 2025) condition of this Philippine Great Raid Memorial.
A friend and I visited both the American and this Philippine Memorial on the 31st of Jan and the 1st of Feb for the 80 Anniversary of the Great Raid. We missed the Philippine Commemoration of the 30th Jan. (described in Section Two of this webpage). We took these pictures to document our visit.
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#3C00 & #3C00a pictures are Google Graphics of the geography of those two Memorials and some landmarks are indicated on them.
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#3C01 to #3C04 pictures show the park area, north of the Museum Building.
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#3C05 to #3C13 pictures show, on circular platform, 2 identical markers from the National Historical Institute, one in English, the other in Filipino, recounting the exploits of Filipino guerillas. Today was the 31st of Jan. 2025 and the entire wreaths presented yesterday were still in place and we tried to indentify who all sponsored them.
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#3C14 to #3C18 pictures show the Museum structure, the wall with names and the now missing sculptures and hour sun dial posts with plaques. I had visited in 2008 and then the Museum was no longer in use, the rooms were empty even then. In 2008 the sculptures on the wall were still in place and I will present them in my Section Four presentation in the future.
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#3C19 & #3C20 images show the wall with the names of the guerrillas who participated and sadly show the all the sculptures are gone. In 2008 the sculptures on the wall were still in place and I will present them in my Section Four presentation in the future plus the names in a readable fashion.
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#3C21 & #3C22 images are 2 of the many sun dial illustrations plaques that tell the Great Raid, hour by hour and I speculate that these Great Raid illustration plaque markers are placed in the direction of the sun or night by the hour. These two samples here show that the plaques are severely faded now. I have visited in 2008 and have good image copies of the plaques and their bases and will present them in the future in my future Section Four presentation. Note: Only one of the plaques is missing now. The missing plaque is labeled 7PM and was located where the on ramp enters the top of this museum.Β The missing plaque shows and lists the people that generated this memorial, it is the first picture on this webpage and is from Wikimedia Common.
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#3C23 image shows that the fence to this “Hour of the Great Rescue” Sundial and Museum (Great Raid at Camp Pangatian, Cabanatuan City Memorial Shrine WWII) January 30, 1945, Memorare is compromised now. Behind that wall is the on-ramp to walk or use a wheel chair to reach the top of the museum. The area south of the museum seems to have been or still is a construction site now.
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#3C24 & #3C25 images show the highway side, the north side of the “Hour of the Great Rescue” Sundial and Museum (Great Raid at Camp Pangatian, Cabanatuan City Memorial Shrine WWII) January 30, 1945, Memorare. That Km stone may be a helpful marker to you finding this place. Picture #3C24 shows my red car parked at right, that is the area of the entrance to the American POW Memorial.
