Successful efforts by U.S. Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) last week resulted in the announced return of three large bells taken by U.S. Army soldiers as war trophies during the 1901 Philippine-American War from a town church in Balangiga, Eastern Samar in the Philippines.
Rep. Bacon was influential in ensuring the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) included a provision to allow for the return of the famed Bells of Balangiga, which American soldiers captured to commemorate their fallen and to celebrate their victory over Philippine militants who attacked them in the Balangiga massacre. U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis on Nov. 14 announced the return of the bells to the Republic of the Philippines during a veterans’ remembrance ceremony in Wyoming.
“Bellevue Mayor Rita Sanders and the Filipino community in the district came to me with their desires to have the Bells returned as they represented a painful chapter in U.S.-Philippine relations,” said Rep. Bacon. “It was the right thing to do.”
The Philippines, which has been one of the strongest allies to the United States since World War II, has long sought return of the bells to their homeland, subsequently creating tensions in international relations for decades, according to a statement released by Rep. Bacon’s office.
“I am convinced there is a path forward that appropriately honors the service and sacrifice of veterans associated with these objects and removes an obstacle in building trust with a key ally to advance the national security of the United States,” the congressman wrote earlier this year in a letter sent to Secretary Mattis.
Language advanced by Rep. Bacon in the 2018 NDAA kick-started the process to return the Bells of Balangiga to the Philippines provided certain conditions were met, including meeting with U.S. veterans’ service organizations to assuage their concerns, according to the lawmaker’s office.
“As a member of the 2018 NDAA Conference Committee I made the dignified return of the bells a priority,” said Rep. Bacon. “There was an effort to renew the prohibition on returning them, but I wanted to ensure a legal pathway to heal old wounds and strengthen our strategic relationship with a key ally.”
Last week, Secretary Mattis said during the veterans’ ceremony that returning the Bells of Balangiga to the Philippines picks up “our generation’s responsibility to deepen the respect between our peoples.”
Two of the bells were located at a former base for the 11th U.S. Infantry Regiment at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyo., while one church bell was located at Camp Red Cloud, a U.S. Army base that was recently closed in South Korea as part of a relocation plan.