About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 1 (December 11, 2018)

handle is hein.crs/govyby0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service S Updated December 11, 2018 The Return of the Bells of Balangiga to the Republic of the Philippines, in Context Background on the Balangiga Massacre On September 28, 1901, during the Philippine-American War (1899-1902), Filipino guerrillas reportedly rang the bells of the Catholic Church at Balangiga, a small town on the eastern island of Samar, to signal an attack on U.S. troops who were occupying the town. The guerillas ambushed soldiers of Company C, 9th Infantry Regiment outside the army barracks. An estimated 44-48 American soldiers were killed and dozens more were wounded. Brigadier General Jacob F. Smith launched a retaliatory campaign, ordering the 11 h Infantry Regiment to burn Balangiga, to turn Eastern Samar into a howling wilderness and to shoot any Filipino male above 10 years of age. Thousands of Filipinos, including non-combatants, were killed. Smith was court-martialed for his brutality and forced to retire. The 11 h Infantry seized all three church bells-some refer to them as war trophies. One bell was given to the 9th Infantry. The 11 h Infantry took two bells and returned with them to Fort D. A. Russell (now F. E. Warren Air Force Base) in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1904. In 1967, the two bells from Fort D. A. Russell were placed in a curved red brick wall constructed as a memorial at Warren AFB with a bronze plaque between the bells recounting the massacre at Balangiga. See Figure 1. The bells remained at the fort while the 9th Infantry kept its bell and has it on display at the U.S. Army's Camp Red Cloud, Uijeongbu, South Korea. Figure I. Two of the Bells of Balangiga on Display in Wyoming Source: Wyoming State Historical Society website at https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/bells-balangiga Prohibition on the Return of Veterans Memorial Objects Federal law (10 U.S.C. §2572(e)) prohibits the transfer by the United States of any veterans memorial object to a foreign country or entity controlled by a foreign government or to any person or entity for the purpose of an ultimate transfer to a foreign government or entity. The law defines veterans memorial object as any object or physical structure that * is located at a national cemetery, war memorial, or military installation in the United States; * is dedicated to or otherwise recognizes the death in combat or combat-related duties of members of the armed forces; and * was brought to the United States from abroad before 1907 as a memorial of combat abroad. The prohibition on the transfer of veterans memorial objects expires on September 30, 2022. NDAA Provisions in FY2000, FY2006 and FY2013 The first moratorium on returning the bells was attached to the FY2000 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) (P.L. 106-65, Section 1051) enacted on October 5, 1999. This provision was a response to the Clinton Administration's willingness to return one of the bells to the Philippines, in cooperation with then President of the Philippines Fidel Ramos's efforts to obtain the bells during the 1990s. Ramos proposed a compromise for the United States and the Philippines to share the two bells in Wyoming. The bells would be recast and duplicates made with both the United States and the Philippines receiving an original and a duplicate bell. The Philippine government expressed willingness to absorb the costs involved. However, U.S. veterans groups, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Wyoming congressional delegation opposed the bells return. In the 2000s, then governor of Wyoming, Dave Freudenthal, also opposed their return. Opposition in the United States centered on the dangerous precedent of destroying the veterans memorial at Warren Air Force Base if the bells were removed according to members of the Wyoming congressional delegation. Continuing opposition by several veterans groups and politicians in the United States over the years halted any further discussion. Subsequently, Congress passed the FY2006 NDAA (P.L. 109-163, § 1061) on January 6, 2006, which extended the moratorium through FY2010. This provision was again extended to September 30, 2017, in the FY2013 NDAA (P.L. 112-239, §355), enacted on January https:/crsreports.congress.go,

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most