Fort William McKinley becomes Fort Andres Bonifacio

Photo shows the officers of the 57th Infantry, which was based at Fort McKinley. Photo from Philippine Scouts Heritage Society website

Fort William McKinley was established in 1901 during the Philippine-American War. The fort was located in the Rizal area south of Manila. The base was named after the American President, William McKinley, who advocated and implemented the “Benevolent Assimilation” of the Philippines.

The new fort replaced Fort Santiago which was in Intramuros or the walled city of Manila. The American Military-Governors had been using Fort Santiago as their headquarters since Manila was captured from the Spanish on August 13, 1898.

The United States Military-Governors also maintained a residence at Malacañang Palace, which previously had been the residence of the Spanish Governor-Generals.

In 1901, the American Secretary of War, Elihu Root, approved a large military reservation south of Manila. This military reservation became the site of Fort William McKinley. The original size of the fort was eight thousand acres. The Army Corp of Engineers conducted most of the construction and development of the fort.

Shortly, the fort became the headquarters of the United States Philippine Department. The department commanded, oversaw and controlled all United States Army functions in the Philippines.

The Philippine Division, which was subordinate to the Philippine Department, was based at Fort McKinley. The US Army only maintained one division in the Philippines. The division was scattered throughout the main island of Luzon and other Philippine islands.

Most of the soldiers in the division were infantry, field artillery and coast artillery. Since the coast artillery soldiers were posted at coastal fortification on Luzon, most of the soldiers stationed at Fort McKinley were infantry and field artillery.

The Philippine Scouts comprised half of the active-duty soldiers in the Philippine Division. The number of Philippine Scouts were approximately 12,000 soldiers. The scouts were recruited, trained and assigned in the Philippines. Most were commanded by American officers. The scouts were some of the best soldiers in the United States Army.

The facilities at Fort McKinley increased in size, quality and benefits over the years. Most of the buildings surrounded the all-important parade grounds. The infantry and cavalry conducted formations and processions on the parade grounds.

There was adequate enlisted housing for soldiers.  The officers were given housing on Officer’s Row. There was a swimming pool and an Army Club. There was also a polo field, which was a popular sport at Fort McKinley. There was a well-stocked post exchange, which even had its own tokens.

In 1911, the US Army had planned a flight school at Fort McKinley. The pilot training program was called the Philippine Air School.  The school officially opened on March 12, 1912. Following several plane crashes, the remaining planes were reassigned to Corregidor Island. The flying school was discontinued at Fort McKinley.

There was a United States Army Hospital affiliated with Fort William McKinley. The hospital in Manila was named Sternberg General Hospital, named after Brigadier General George Miller Sternberg, who was a United States Army physician. Dr. Sternberg conducted extensive research on tropical and infectious diseases.

By December 7, 1941, there were over 100 United States Army nurses stationed at Sternberg General Hospital and Fort McKinley.

There was a brief mutiny at Fort William McKinley on July 7, 1924. The Philippine Scouts were well respected United States soldiers, but they objected to lower pay and benefits than their American counterparts of the same rank. The mutiny was quickly suppressed. The leaders of the mutiny were placed in prison. The pay and benefit disparities were not rectified.

Fort McKinley in the 1920s and 1930s, like most US Army facilities in the Philippines and the United States, received minimal appropriations from the US Congress. The neglected Fort McKinley became antiquated.

The amount of the appropriations changed dramatically in the early 1940s. Imperial Japan was aggressively conquering Asia and Southeast Asia. The Military Advisor to the Philippine Commonwealth Government, General Douglas MacArthur, was recalled to active duty into the United States Army in July 1941.

The general was placed in charge of the newly created United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE).  The Philippine Commonwealth Army and the Philippine Department were incorporated into one organization, USAFFE.

Prior to the creation of USAFFE in 1941, Fort McKinley became a significant training facility for the Philippine Commonwealth Army. Most of the 120,000 members of Philippine Commonwealth Army were poorly trained reserves. The fort specialized in schools for signal and medical services. Unfortunately, there were language barriers which made the training very difficult and challenging.

Once General Douglas MacArthur became the head of the USAFFE, he did not use Fort McKinley as his headquarters. The general worked at his penthouse apartment at the Manila Hotel and the former Military Advisor’s offices at Intramuros.

Since Fort William McKinley was the headquarters for the Philippine Department and the Philippine Division, it was severely damaged by Japanese bombers and fighter airplane strafing in December 1941.

The Philippine Division was never consolidated as a normal army division and was dispersed at various locations on Luzon. This problem contributed to the poor performance by the division after the Japanese Imperial Army invasion at Lingayen Gulf and Lamon Bay in December 1941. The scattered components of the Philippine Division retreated to Bataan.

Today, Fort William McKinley is the headquarters for the Philippine Army. The base is called Fort Andres Bonifacio. The fort was transferred from the United States to the Republic of the Philippines in 1949. Andres Bonifacio was a leader in the Philippine Revolution of 1896 against Spain.

Within the boundaries of old Fort McKinley is the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial. The cemetery contains the graves of both Americans and Filipinos who died during World War II, 1941 to 1945.

* * *

Dennis Edward Flake is the author of three books on Philippine-American history. He is a Public Historian and a former park ranger in interpretation for the National Park Service at the Eisenhower National Historic Site in Gettysburg, PA. He can be contacted at: [email protected]