“Never Forget” is an expression and political slogan used to urge others to remember the events surrounding a national tragedy.
It was first used in relation to the damages brought by World War II, starting as a sincere symbol of shared trauma.
The documentary film Children of the War by Mike Alcazaren featured the stories of some of the few remaining survivors of the Battle of Manila: Ching Africa Caluag, Fely Zafra Reyes, Lourdes Reyes Montinola, Terry Suarez Sison, Leopoldo de Guzman, and Nando Vasquez Prada.
The film, depicting one of World War II’s most devastating ground battles, had its gala screening at the Metropolitan Theatre on February 23, 2025, as part of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Manila.
It featured narratives of survival from people who were children or teenagers during this historical tragedy, which left Manila in total ruin and caused the deaths of over 100,000 civilians—either killed by the Japanese or caught in the crossfire.
Some of their stories are horrific—witnessing parents, siblings, relatives, and friends mercilessly gunned down; women molested and murdered; men stabbed by bayonets or beheaded by swords.
Also known as the Rape of Manila (February 3 to March 3, 1945), the city became one of the most devastated Allied capitals during the entire war, alongside Berlin and Warsaw. Japanese resistance and American artillery destroyed much of Manila’s architectural and cultural heritage, dating back to the city’s founding.
Between Japanese demolitions and American artillery, Manila was being destroyed from the inside and out through a series of street-by-street, house-to-house, and building-to-building battles as part of the city’s liberation.
Subjected to incessant bombardment and facing certain death or capture, the beleaguered Japanese troops took out their anger and frustration on the civilians caught in the crossfire, committing multiple acts of severe brutality.
The Japanese turned their wrath on innocent, unarmed Filipinos, indiscriminately killing everyone they found—men and women, the old and the young, the strong and the infirm, the wealthy and ordinary civilians alike.
Two men narrated their harrowing experiences during their brief stay at the campuses of two major universities along Taft Avenue: Leopoldo De Guzman at the Philippine General Hospital of the University of the Philippines (UP-PGH) and Nando Vasquez Prada at De La Salle University (DLSU).
“War is the worst thing that was invented,” Prada said in the film.
The various crimes committed by Japanese forces often shared significant similarities:
(1) The bayoneting and shooting of unarmed civilians with rifles, pistols, machine guns, and the throwing of grenades at them.
(2) The herding of large numbers of civilians into inflammable buildings, the barring of doors and windows, and setting fire to the buildings burned them alive or tying them up and throwing them in the river to drown to save on ammunition.
(3) The throwing of grenades into dugouts where unarmed civilians were taking cover, burying alive those who were not killed by the grenades.
(4) The assembling of men in large groups and the tying of their hands and then bayoneting, beheading them with a sabre on a chopping block, or shooting them.
(5) Theft from civilians of money, valuables, food, and the looting and burning of their homes.
(7) Torturing both military prisoners of war and civilians by beating, kicking in the face, burning, and making them assume contorted positions for long periods of time until they lost consciousness in the attempt to make them reveal information which the Japanese desired.
(8) General disregard of the rights of prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention.
(9) The taking of large groups of girls, as many as a hundred, to a hotel and the systematic raping of all of them, with an average of three or four men being forced on each girl.
The Japanese also forced Filipino women and children to serve as human shields on the front lines to protect Japanese positions. Those who survived were then murdered.
Babies were tossed into the air and skewered on bayonets, while some unborn children were gouged from their mothers’ wombs.
It was a dangerous journey through an apocalyptic wasteland—bodies of men, women, and even infants, beheaded, mutilated, bayoneted, or shot, littered the streets, schools, public buildings, and even places of worship. Thousands more were driven from their homes and left without food, shelter, or access to medical care.
Most of the survivors are now in the twilight of their lives. Many were merely toddlers or teenagers at the time, forced by circumstance to come of age and bear the weight of a nation under siege.
The “Memorare Manila 1945 Monument” in Intramuros serves as a symbolic “gravestone,” featuring a hooded woman slumped on the ground in despair as she cradles a lifeless child in her arms, surrounded by six suffering figures.
The toll of World War II has transcended generations. To fully grasp its impact, these accounts must be properly documented. Its lessons must be passed on to the younger generation, who will become the leaders of tomorrow.
Remembering history allows us to understand how past events shaped the present, helping us avoid repeating mistakes and paving the way for a better future.
NeverForget
