Balangiga bells in US sensitive in US-Philippine relations

This May 2001 photo shows the two bells of Balangiga at F.E. Warren Air Force Base outside Cheyenne, Wyoming, that signaled an attack by Filipino insurgents on occupying American troops in 1901. The arrival of President Benigno Aquino on an official visit to the US raises the possibility that the State Department will announce plans to return of the war-trophy Bells of Balangiga to that country. AP

CHEYENNE, Wyoming—Military veterans are speaking up on the possibility that the US might repatriate three church bells seized as war booty from the Philippines more than a century ago.

Their opinion? Don’t even think about it.

Two of the three Bells of Balangiga are displayed at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne. They’re part of a memorial to 46 US troops killed by Filipino insurgents in 1901. A third bell is with a US Army regiment in South Korea.

Filipinos revere the bells as symbols of their long struggle for independence. The bells gave the signal for insurgents to attack the US troops occupying Balangiga town in Samar.

New discussion about repatriating the bells has prompted Wyoming’s governor and congressional representatives to tell the Obama administration to keep the bells where they are.