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Araw ng kagitingan (“Day of Valor”) is a national public holiday in the Philippines, celebrated on the 9th of April. The day is also known as “Bataan Day”.

Araw ng kagitingan commemorates the fall of the Bataan peninsula during World War II after months of fighting between the Philippine and American armies against the invading Japanese. The united Philippine-US army, depleted of food, medicine and ammunition, was forced to surrender to the Japanese on 9th of April, 1942. The now prisoners of war consisted of 68,000 Filipinos and 11,796 Americans. The Japanese, unprepared for the large number of prisoners, decided to move them by foot from Bataan to another base located 140 kilometers (90 miles) away in San Fernando.