Manila American Cemetery & Memorial, Manila
Situated close to what is now Manila’s financial district lies the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, the largest US military cemetery in the world. Situated on 152 acres of land, the cemetery holds the graves of American and Filipino servicemen and women who lost their lives in New Guinea or the Philippines during World War II. Managed and maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission, the 17,191 gravesites are divided into 11 plots and set in a circular pattern. Each gravesite is marked by a solid white marble cross with the name, rank, branch of service, home state and date of death of the soldier. Among those 17,191 buried at the Manila American Cemetery, there are 20 sets of brothers and 29 recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor.
At the far end of the cemetery stands the chapel and memorial. Positioned on either side of the chapel are two hemicycles, each containing 24 pairs of tablet walls inscribed with the names of the 36,282 missing individuals whose remains could not be located at the end of the war. The eastern hemicycle lists the names of the United States Army, Army Air Force, Coast Guard and part of the US Marine Corps, while the western hemicycle lists the names of the Unites Stated Navy and the other part of the US Marine Corps. As for some of the 32,520 Americans and 3,762 Filipinos missing, their remains have since been identified and are marked on the memorial with a rosette next to their name. At each end of the two hemicycles, two large rooms stand with 25 large mosaic maps. Each map depicts a scene from the Unites States Armed Forces' involvement in the Pacific, China, India and Burma. Carved into the floor of these rooms are the seals of all the American states and territories.
Each year on the 29th of May, the Manila American Cemetery hosts a Memorial Day Ceremony and on the 11th of November, a Veterans Day Ceremony.