Balangiga bells



The Balangiga bells are three church bells taken by the United States Army from the town church of Balangiga, Eastern Samar in the Philippines as war booty after reprisals following the Balangiga incident in 1901 during the Philippine-American War. One church bell is in the possession of the 9th Infantry Regiment at Camp Red Cloud, their base in South Korea, while two others are on a former base of the 11th Infantry Regiment at F. E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming. At least one of the bells had tolled to signal the surprise attack by the Filipinos while the Americans were eating breakfast. The attack claimed the lives of more than forty soldiers of the US garrison posted in the town.

Balangiga incident
On September 28, 1901, Filipino freedom fighters from the village of Balangiga ambushed Company C of the 9th U.S. Infantry Regiment, while they were at breakfast, killing an estimated 48 and wounding 22 of the 78 men of the unit, with only four escaping unhurt. The villagers captured about 100 rifles and 25,000 rounds of ammunition. An estimated 20 to 25 of the villagers had died in the fighting, with a similar number of wounded.

In reprisal, General Jacob H. Smith ordered that Samar be turned into a "howling wilderness" and that any Filipino male above ten years of age capable of bearing arms be shot. From the burned-out Catholic town church, the Americans looted three bells which they took back to the United States as war booty. The 9th U.S. Infantry Regiment, however, maintains that the single bell in their possession was presented to the regiment by villagers when the unit left Balangiga on April 9, 1902. Smith and his primary subordinate, Major Littleton Waller of the United States Marine Corps were both court-martialled for illegal vengeance against the civilian population of Samar. Waller was acquitted of the charges. Smith was found guilty, admonished and retired from service.

The bells
Balangiga, which became a parish on September 27, 1859, may have taken four years to raise the funds needed to acquire their first church bell. This is believed to be the large 1863 bell now in Wyoming. It bears what is probably an Augustinian emblem and has a mouth diameter of 31¼ inches and height of 30 inches. The name inscribed on the bell, "R. San Francisco", it is believed, belonged to the parish priest at that time.

Acquisition
After Balangiga became a separate parish on Sept. 27, 1859, the town probably took four years to raise funds to acquire its first church bell. It was cast circa-1863 and has a mouth diameter of $31 1⁄4$ inches and height of 30 inches. It is inscribed with a name, R. San Francisco, who was probably the parish priest at that time.

The town probably acquired its second bell, cast circa-1889 and having a mouth diameter of $27 3⁄4$ inches and height of $27 1⁄2$ inches, in 1889 through the initiative of Fr. Agustin Delgado, whose name is inscribed on the bell.

The third and smallest bell may have been acquired in 1895, through the initiative of Fr. Bernardo Aparecio. This is the bell now kept by the 9th U.S. Infantry Regiment in Camp Red Cloud, South Korea. Estimates of its size deduce a 23-24 inch height and a mouth diameter of about 20 inches. It also bears the Franciscan emblem.

Removal to the United States
After the Balingiga incident mentioned above, the town was recaptured on September 29, 1901 by 55 men of Company G, 9th Infantry. That unit departed the town the same day, and was replaced by 132 men from Companies K and L of the 11th Infantry Regiment which garrisoned the town until relieved on October 18, 1901. When the garrisoning the 11th Infantry departed, they brought home the war trophies. These included two large bronze bells cast in the late 19th century and a much older cannon. The bells were taken because one or both had been used by the insurgents to signal the attack on Company C, 9th Infantry. The cannon had been taken from the plaza in front of the church because it looked like it might make a good war trophy.

The 11th Infantry redeployed to Fort D.A. Russell in Wyoming, arriving on March 23, 1904. On May 16, 1905, the Cheyenne Daily Leader newspaper reported that the cannon had been mounted on the parade ground near the flagpole along with other relics from the Philippines "...to include the famous bell which gave the signal for the massacre of a whole company. " Two large bells three feet tall and a seven foot cannon were proudly displayed in front of the flagpole on the parade ground of the fort.

A sign was installed over one of the bells that said; "This bell hung in the church at Balangiga, Samar, PI, and rung the signal for the attack on Company C, 9th U.S. Infantry, Sept 29 [28], 1901. Taken by Company L, 11th Infantry and detachment of Company K, 11th Infantry, the first units to reach the scene after the massacre."

The sign above the bell erroneously credited units of the 11th Infantry with being the first to reach Balangiga after the battle. After further research, the sign was changed in 1911 giving proper credit to Company G, 9th Infantry, for recapturing Balangiga.

In 1927, Fort Russell was renamed Fort Francis E. Warren. On 7 October 1949, it became Francis E. Warren Air Force Base.

In 1967, a curved red brick wall constructed in the Warran AFB trophy park for the bells, with a bronze plaque on the wall between the bells telling the story of the Massacre at Balangiga. , a faint inscription was visible on the back of both bells, reading: USED BY PHILIPPINOS [sic] TO SOUND SIGNAL FOR MASSACRE OF COMPANY "C" NINTH INFANTRY AT BALANGIGA P.l. 28TH SEPTEMBER 1901

, a glass case housed the bells along with a 400-year-old British Falcon cannon. This seven-foot cannon is described in F.E. Warren Air Force Base's fact sheets as a Queen Mary Tudor cannon forged in 1557. The bell in the possession of the 9th U.S. Infantry Regiment is kept at the 2nd Infantry Division Museum in Camp Red Cloud, Uijeongbu. It had previously been displayed at the unit's Camp Hovey headquarters.

Attempts at recovery
In the mid-1990s, during the term of Fidel V. Ramos as Philippine president, attempts were initiated by his government to recover all or a portion of the bells from Bill Clinton's administration. The United States government has been adamant that the bells are US government property, that it would take an Act of Congress to return them and that the Catholic Church has no say in the matter. For their part the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines hold the position that the bells are inappropriate as trophies of war.

In 2002, the Philippine Senate approved Senate Resolution No. 393, authored by Aquilino Pimentel, Jr., urging the Arroyo administration to undertake formal negotiations with the United States for the return of the bells.

In 2005, the bishop of Borongan, Samar, Bishop Leonardo Medroso and Balangiga parish priest Saturnino Obzunar wrote an open letter addressed to President George W. Bush, the United States Congress and the Helsinki Commission, requesting them to facilitate the return of the bells. That same year, the Wyoming Veterans’ Commission favored the return of the Filipino-American War relics, however, Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal stated that he disagreed with the Commission and opposed returning the bells. On January 13, 2005, United States Congressman Bob Filner had introduced H.Res.313, urging the President to authorize the transfer of ownership of one of the bells to the people of the Philippines. The resolution died on January 3, 2007, with the sine die adjournment of the 109th United States Congress.

On September 26, 2006, United States Congressman Bob Filner, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Congressman Ed Case co-sponsored House Concurrent Resolution No. 481 urging the president of the United States to authorize the return of the church bells. The resolution died on January 3, 2009, with the sine die adjournment of the 110th United States Congress.

In 2007, Napoleón Abueva, the Philippines' National Artist for sculpture, wrote American Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney asking for her help in the bells' recovery.

On October 25, 2007, during the 14th Congress of the Philippines, Senator Manny Villar filed Senate Resolution No. 177, a resolution "expressing the sense of the Senate for the return to the Philippines of the Balangiga Bells which were taken by the US troops from the town of Balangiga, Province of Samar in 1901".

, the bells remain under US government control.

In popular culture
A Chicago-based, Philippine-American theater company called The Pintig Cultural Group presented a musical based on the incident, The Bells of Balangiga.