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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth visited Manila American Cemetery today, paying respects to the more than 50,000 WWII service members buried and memorialized at the site.
During the visit, ABMC staff shared the story of Minnesota-native and Medal of Honor recipient Cpt. Willibald Bianchi, who is commemorated on the Walls of the Missing.
Bianchi showed extraordinary courage while fighting in the Philippines, leading a charge against enemy forces despite being wounded multiple times by enemy fire. After the fall of Bataan, he was captured by Japanese forces and endured over two and a half years as a prisoner of war, surviving both the infamous Bataan Death March and the Oryoku Maru Hellship. Even through these horrible surviving conditions, Bianchi continued to support his fellow soldiers, some of whom would later say that they owed their lives to him. He later lost his life on the Hellship Enoura Maru off the coast of Formosa, present day Taiwan, and his remains have never been recovered.
Secretary Hegseth also participated in the installation of bronze rosette next to the name of recently identified Army 2nd Lt. William B. Bucey, who served with the 121st Infantry Regiment, Philippine Army. After engaging in guerrilla operations against Japanese forces, he was captured and imprisoned at Cabanatuan POW Camp #1, where he died on Oct. 31, 1944. His remains were accounted for by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency on March 3, 2025.
This marked Secretary Hegseth’s inaugural visit to an ABMC cemetery.
