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I´ll tell you

I´ll tell you

The Red Crosses earned by the ‘Last Ones in the Philippines’

 

I´ll tell you that 337 days can be longer than 120 years. I´ll tell you how, 120 years ago, in 337 days and 336 nights, the defenders of the San Luis de Tolosa church in Baler earned two Red Crosses each. The first was a result of their heroic behaviour in defence of the town until the 7th of August 1898, when they drove back the enemy’s attempt to raid and burn the church, and the second was earned by their heroic defence from the 8th of August 1898 until the 2nd of June 1899, as stated by two Royal Orders from the 28th of September 1899 (Official Journal no. 215), in consideration of the important services provided by the Army’s forces stationed in Baler.

 

I´ll tell you

I’ll tell you that in total, there were 62 Silver Crosses for Military Merit with red distinction, 2 first class María Cristina Crosses and two promotions for merit in war. According to a notice in the Official Journal no. 195 from Tuesday the 5th of September 1899, a trial was held in the General Captaincy of Castilla la Nueva in order to be able to grant the Cross of the Royal Military Order of San Fernando to those who had earned it according to its regulations.

I’ll also tell you about the soldiers who, on the 26th of June 1898, observed how the inhabitants started to abandon Baler until it was left deserted, most of them carrying a loaded combat backpack. It will take some time to know exactly which medals the Heroes of Baler had before the siege started because there were many bayonet attacks, attacks on the trenches, ambushes and operations which these young Spaniards, scarcely over 20 years old, experienced in the Philippines; and then came Baler. But let’s go back, when no one knew what awaited them in Baler and they had already earned several Red Crosses.

I’ll tell you that before the siege of Baler, on the road from Santo Domingo to Silang on the 15th and 16th of February 1897, Corporal Vicente González Toca earned a Silver Cross for Military Merit with red distinction, and another one in the operations and taking of Pérez-Dasmariñas on the 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th and 28th of February and the 4th of March 1897; and another in the taking of the Anabo trench on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th of March 1897; and another in the taking of Maragondon town on the 11th of May of the same year. A hero for whom 337 days and 336 nights become very long and who was executed after attempting to desert.

I’ll tell you that Corporal Jesús García Quijano, before he knew that he was going to experience the siege of Baler, was awarded the Silver Cross for Military Merit with red distinction for military exploits on the road from Santo Domingo to Silang on the 17th and 18th of February 1897, and another for the services and work on campaign from the 24th of February to the 15th of April of the same year. He also received another award which does not appear in the Official Journal of the Ministry of War.

I´ll tell you

The soldiers left Santo Domingo for Silang on the 15th of February. The next day, after a four and a half hour skirmish, they occupied what was for the insurgents the indomitable position of Silang. On the 24th they left for Pérez-Dasmariñas, defended by Emilio Aguinaldo himself, and on the 25th the attack on this town was carried out, in which the enemy, sheltered in the church and the convent, put up a strong resistance. There, they arrived to fight with bayonets and with machetes in the complex system of trenches. There’s so much to tell you about…

I´ll tell you

I’ll also tell you that Private Luis Cervantes Dato, before going into the church in Baler, already had a Silver Cross for Military Merit with red distinction for his behaviour in the sustained combat against the insurgents in López on the 23rd of April 1897, where they came face to face with a larger enemy and managed to defeat them.

I´ll tell you

And I’ll also tell you that Private Antonio Bauza Fullana wore the medal on his chest before the siege where he was wounded in the defence of Baler between the 15th and 17th of October 1897, that there were 3 sieges in Baler and that some of the Heroes of Baler were veterans of the previous one. And I’ll tell you that Private Timoteo López Larios also earned the Silver Cross for Military Merit with red distinction for his military exploits. And that the nurse Bernadino Sánchez Caínzo won it in the Bayamán action and in the taking of Pamplona (Philippines), and that Private of Military Administration Marcelo Adrián Obregón was proudly photographed with his three Red Crosses upon his return to Spain.

I’ll tell you that to this list we should add many more Crosses which were lost in wartime due to requests and petitions which never reached their destination. Many who fought in the Philippines never knew that they had received an award.

And now, I´ll tell you what happens when these kinds of men are besieged in a church, with the enemy thinking they will surrender soon (as had happened with other garrisons). I’ll tell you that 337 days and 336 nights are longer than 120 years, perhaps eternal in art, the only thing which can redeem the future.

On the occasion of marking 120 years since the Heroes of Baler left San Luisa de Tolosa church ‘with honours’, the Red Crosses series is going to pause, with the help of the investigator Miguel Ángel López de la Asunción, to consider the military exploits of the ‘Last Ones in the Philippines’ and the famous siege.

 

I´ll tell youé

 

 

 

The Heroes of Baler gained 62 Silver Crosses for Military merit with red distinction, two First Class María Cristina Crosses and four promotions for merit in war.