On the wall of the mountain behind the Colonnade. This is the third among the seven plaques on the wall.

Plaque

A rectangular bronze plaque commemorating the 31^st U.S. Infantry Regiment. The inscription is written in English in raised lettering. The reliefs above the message are the 31^st Infantry Division insignia and the regiment’s insignia and coat of arms. Below the message is the relief of the 31^st Infantry Regiment Association logo. Col Charles Steel, the Commander of the unit, is also mentioned on the plaque.

In WWII the 31st Infantry Regiment was part of the US-Philippine Division after the war referred to as the 12th Infantry Division. On 8 December 1941, Japanese planes attacked U.S. military installations in the Philippines. A 31st Infantry sergeant on detail at Camp John Hay in Baguio became the campaign's first fatality. After landing in northern and Southern Luzon, the Japanese pushed rapidly toward Manila, routing hastily formed Philippine Army units that had little training and few heavy weapons. The 31st Infantry covered the withdrawal of American and Philippine forces to the Bataan Peninsula. Unfortunately, the peninsula had not been provisioned with food and medicine and no help could come in from the outside after much of the Pacific fleet was destroyed at Pearl Harbor and mid-ocean bases at Guam and Wake Island were lost.

Despite starvation, disease, no supplies, obsolete weapons, and often inoperative ammunition, the peninsula's defenders fought the Japanese to a standstill for 4 months, upsetting Japan's timetable for Asia's conquest.

When M.G. King announced he would surrender the Bataan Defense Force on 9 April 1942, the 31st Infantry buried its colors and the cherished ‘Shanghai Bowl’ to keep them out of enemy hands. Some of the 31st's survivors escaped to continue resisting, but most underwent brutal torture and humiliation on the Bataan Death March and nearly three years of captivity. Twenty-nine of the regiment's members earned the Distinguished Service Cross and one was recommended for the Medal of Honor, but the entire chain of command died in captivity before the medal recommendation could be formally submitted. Roughly half of the 1600 members of the 31st Infantry who surrendered at Bataan perished while prisoners of the Japanese.

Perhaps of note, the Shanghai Bowl was later recovered due to the efforts of Cpt. Earl R. Short (who had buried it) after his release from a POW camp, and Col. Niederpreum. He returned to Corregidor Island under the orders of Major General Marshall in September 1945 to retrieve the bowl from its hidden location. While he was able to pinpoint the area, others had to continue the excavation until it was located in December 1945. The Bowl and Cups were found a yard and a half from where Cpt. Short had remembered them to be. And so the trophy and symbol of the 31st Regiment was returned to them.

Source of information: en.wikipedia.org

31ST INFANTRY REGIMENT

UNITED STATES ARMY

(AMERICA'S FOREIGN LEGION)

COL CHARLES S. STEEL COMMANDER

   DEDICATED TO THE MEMBERS OF THE 31ST INFANTRY REGIMENT

AND ATTACHED UNITS THAT FOUGHT FOUGHT IN THE DEFENSE OF THE

PHILIPPINES DURING WORLD WAR II, DECEMBER 7, 1941 TO APRIL 9, 1942.

   GALLANT FIGHTERS AGAINST ALL ODDS LEAVING A HERITAGE OF

UNDYING COURAGE.

PRO PATRIA

THE 31st INFANTRY REGIMENT ASSOCIATION

APRIL 9, 1983

WILLIAM SNIEZKO, COMMANDER 1982-83