Cata-al World War II Museum

We returned to the Cata-al World War II Museum in Valencia, outside of Dumaguete, Negros Oriental, determined to take photographs and obtain permission to publish an article about this museum-in-a-garage that impressed the both of us so much. So we're going to be diverting from the regular programming to dedicate this post to not only the museum, but the rich and often devastating history of the region over the last several hundred years. If anyone reading this post is ever to visit Dumaguete, we highly recommend taking the short journey to Valencia to visit this museum and fill your mind with the stories that are entwined in the very fabric of this land and the soul of the people.

This is the Cata-al War Museum, situated in the garage of the Cata-al family.

And this is Felix Cata-al, the owner of this collection, who we had the privilege of spending several hours with, listening to his wealth of knowledge of the war and the stories he has acquired from his father, who served in the war. The most impressive aspect of this truly vast collection of war materials is that Felix himself has been collecting it since he was five years old, most of which he found himself simply by walking through the hills near where he lives. Knowing that so much war material could be found within walking distance of this house left an incredible impression on us as we came to understand not only the ferocity with which the war was fought here in the Philippines, but the weight of history that can be found all around us yet is remembered only by the stories that are shared, as the land no longer shows the signs of this conflict that took place merely 70 years ago. 

 Three and a half 1000 pound bombs stand sentry at the front of the house. These were commonly known as "Big Mamas," and the concussion radius of these bombs could be felt for three kms over flat terrain. Claire (holding one of Felix's puppies, her favourite part of the exhibit) is standing for size reference. 

At the front of the collection stands a series of weapons used by the Japanese army during the Second World War. In the foreground are components from and complete models of Arisaka Rifles, fixed with bayonet attachments. The steel of the bayonets is still in excellent condition: Felix dropped a one peso coin on the ground and pierced it with the bayonet attached to one of the rifles. The rifles have a range of up to 2000 meters and fire a caliber of shot that is too small to cause fatalities in most cases. We were informed that the Japanese strategy was to wound as many enemy soldiers as possible, knowing that it would take another four fighters away from the battle in order to clear the wounded soldier from the field. Behind the rifles stands the Hotchkiss Heavy Machine gun, which was a highly effective weapon during the Second World War for the fact that it did not need to be disassembled and reassembled upon relocation of the weapon. Two to four soldiers could carry the weapon fully assembled by use of two poles that stick out at the front of the weapon's stand and a handle at the back that very closely resembles a bicycle handle. This meant that the Japanese could have their heavy machine guns operating much faster than the enemy, whose machine guns had to be reattached at a swivel over the stand before they were operable.

This is how most of the displays are arranged in the museum, packed full of examples found within walking distance of the museum itself. Every single piece of ordinance was disarmed by Felix himself, who had no experience disarming weaponry nor any field guides to give him instruction. 

A shot of a shot through a shot.

We were shown these two crumpled bullets to illustrate the concussive force of a 500 pound bomb going off in close proximity. I would not want to see what the 1000 pounders could do...

This is a collection of glass vials containing poisons for contaminating enemy water sources (foreground), and medicines for treating wounded and sick soldiers (background).

Water was transported using these sealed glass vials. Here, Felix displays one that he found entirely intact with distilled water still inside. I have yet to comprehend the logic in transporting water through war zones in glass containers.

This image was striking to me, found in one of the books in Felix's library. The middle image shows Japanese buddhist monks struggling to move a massive ornate iron bell into place in an iron melting facility. Bells like these, hand made over 200 years prior to the war, were taken from monasteries throughout the entire nation of Japan to meet the iron requirements of the war effort. It strikes me as sad that some of the finest cultural artifacts in the land were melted down to make the bombs that caused destruction of an unprecedented scale, and shows some of the cost associated with the phrase "victory at all costs." The Japanese soldiers and airmen, knowing that the bombs they dropped were melted down from these sacred ornaments, actually treated their bombs as sacred objects. Park benches, lampposts, and household furnaces were stripped for their iron from every Japanese city during the war as well, and it is said that towards the end of the war there was not a strip of iron visible in any Japanese city.

The piece above is an airman's jacket, issued to the pilots and airmen flying in Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy. Inside the jacket is a map of France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Western Germany, that could be used to help a downed pilot escape capture and return to service. The idea of putting the map inside the jacket was that it would not be mistakenly left behind, as a map in a dossier might be. This piece was donated by an American visitor to the museum.

Not every piece in the museum is from the Second World War. This case showed artifacts collected from the Spanish Colonial period in the Philippines. This necklace may have at one time belonged to Queen Elizabeth I of England, if the stories are to be believed.

This piece was appraised by one of the women who served Princess Diana and is apparently worth over 10, 000 British pounds. A quick reminder, this stuff is sitting in a garage.

Here Felix wields a traditional Cebuan executioners sword, dating back to before the colonial period, some four to five hundred years ago. This sword has been in his family since it was forged back in the days of kings here on Negros.

This case contains several katanas (samurai swords) used during the Second World War. The top shelf contains a machine-made sword in the back, displaying traditional cloth wrapping at the hilt, and a hand-made sword in the foreground of the case with a wire wrapped hilt. The middle shelf contains an ornate ivory sword reserved for harakiri (also known as seppuku), which is the samurai ceremony of suicide through self disembowelment. This sword would have belonged to an officer in the Japanese ranks. Behind the sword, on the right side of the case, is the camera with which Felix's father photographed the war. Below are a series of photographs from his collection. These original photographs have never before been published.

This is the city of Manila towards the end of the war.

 This photo shows the surrender of the Japanese forces stationed on Negros. This surrender came in mid-September 1945, over a month after the atomic bombs were dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and over two weeks following the formal surrender of the Japanese Empire to the Allied powers. Felix told me a very interesting story about how the Japanese fleet had disembarked an immense amount of gold ingot on Negros before meeting the American fleet in a final stand that brought the destruction of Japan's two greatest war ships, and that the Japanese had buried that gold somewhere in Negros. Apparently, this was the reason that the Japanese general posted on Negros held out beyond the formal surrender of the Japanese Empire. If the story is to be believed, the Japanese buried treasure would today be valued in the hundreds of billions of dollars. According to Felix, ten thousand people lost their lives, many of them Japanese soldier conscripts from Korea, in order to protect the secret of that buried gold before the troops there surrendered. Who knows whether this is true or not, but Felix seems convinced not only in the existence of that buried treasure, but that him and his sons are the only remaining people alive who know of its location. He says that every time he goes walking in the hills, he is followed by locals hoping that this might be the day he goes to retrieve that treasure. True or not, it makes a pretty compelling story.

This lighter commemorates the formal surrender of the Japanese Empire that took place on September 2, 1945 on the warship U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

Here Felix stands wearing a Japanese soldier's hat, holding an Arisaka rifle. He was full of incredible stories and a encyclopedia-like knowledge that kept me captivated for several hours, and a humour to that knowledge that made our visit to his museum something very special. Some of my favourite quotes from that day were of Felix showing me the executioner's blade and explaining that even after decapitation the head can remain conscious for over four seconds, and he said, "there is no instant death, only instant coffee!"; and, upon showing me a plastic model of the famous scene of the American flag being hoisted atop Mt. Suribachi on Iwo Jima that played an incorrect version of the American national anthem, he flipped it over to show it was made in China as he said, "God's hand was once the maker of all things, but no longer... everything is now made in China."

Once again if anyone reading this is planning on visiting the Visayan Islands of the Philippines I highly recommend a trip to Dumaguete on Negros and a visit to this museum in Valencia. If you do, remember to donate, as the whole operation is run by donations. Felix has yet to go uncover that buried treasure, after all! Thanks for reading!