Seattle Parks and Recreation will host the dedication of a monument honoring the Filipino defenders of Bataan and Corregidor during World War II. The dedication will take place from 1 to 2 p.m. on Saturday, February 4 at Dr. Jose Rizal Park, 1008 12th Ave. S.

The dedication is sponsored by the officers and members of the Bataan and Corregidor Survivors Association and their families. The date February 4 is significant because it is the date in 1945 when General Douglas MacArthur liberated Manila.

At the time of Pearl Harbor, General MacArthur’s troop strength in the Philippines was about 100,000. After several months of siege, on April 3, 1942, the Japanese Fourth Army attacked US-Filipino forces in the Bataan Peninsula. These forces, suffering from malnutrition and disease, deteriorated until on April 9 and May 6, 1942, US forces surrendered to the Japanese.

The Japanese Army planned to move the 78,000 people, now prisoners of war, from Bataan to Camp O’Donnell, and marched them some 65 miles under the worst of circumstances. Many died from heat, exhaustion, and dysentery. During and after the march, between 5,000 and 10,000 Filipino and between 600 and 650 US prisoners of war died.

Dr. Jose Rizal Park is a favorite gathering and picnic spot for members of the Filipino community. It became a park in 1971 and was named after Dr. Jose Rizal, a Filipino patriot who made lasting contributions in medicine, political and social reform, engineering, and other disciplines. He was executed after being accused of complicity in the Filipino insurrection of 1896. (Excerpted from Brandt Morgan’s Enjoying Seattle’s Parks.).