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The Army Chief of Staff and the Mayor of Madrid unveil a statue dedicated to the Heroes of Baler

Monday, January 13, 2020

Number: 7802

In Madrid

The work is by the sculptor Salvador Amaya

The work is by the sculptor Salvador Amaya

The Mayor and the JEME unveiled the plaque

The Mayor and the JEME unveiled the plaque

The ceremony included a military parade in the square

The ceremony included a military parade in the square

The Heroes of Baler now have their own tribute in Madrid, 120 years after the siege in the Philippines. The Mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, and the Army Chief of Staff (JEME, to use the Spanish acronym), General Francisco Javier Varela Salas, unveiled the statue in the Conde del Valle de Súchil Square. Amongst the officials present was the Vice-Consul of the Philippines, Ralf G. Roldan.

After the military parade, the JEME and the Mayor greeted the descendants of some of the soldiers of the detachment who had gathered in the square. In this group was a great-great-grandchild of one of the members of the detachment, about whom the Mayor said: “He will know where he is going, because he is aware of where he has come from, and of all that we have built together. It all comes from our heroic Armed Forces, to whom we owe so much throughout our history.”

The statue – financed by public donations through the Army Museum Foundation’s initiative – was created by the sculptor Salvador Amaya, based on a sketch by the painter Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau. The JEME thanked him for his work and assured him that his work is “a symbol whose representation is the authentic feeling of the fulfilment of duty.” Furthermore, he noted that this ceremony “complements all the tributes which were created throughout 2019 to commemorate the heroic actions” of the detachment in Baler.

The 1st ‘Inmemorial del Rey’ Infantry Regiment and a commission from the Philippines Battalion participated in the ceremony, with the latter group wearing the striped uniform which the Spanish unit wore in 1898. At the end of the ceremony, the ‘Last men in the Philippines’ Association gave a commemorative medal to the Mayor and the JEME.