Balangiga bells The Balangiga bells are three church bell s taken by the United States Army from the town church of Balangiga , Eastern Samar in the Philippines as war booty after reprisals following the Balangiga incident in 1901 during the Philippine - American War . One church bell is in the possession of the 9th Infantry Regiment at Camp Red Cloud , their base in South Korea , while two others are on a former base of the 11th Infantry Regiment at F . E . Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne , Wyoming . At least one of the bells had tolled to signal the surprise attack by the Filipinos while the Americans were eating breakfast . The attack claimed the lives of more than forty soldiers of the US garrison posted in the town . Balangiga incident . On September 28 , 1901 , Filipino freedom fighter s from the village of Balangiga ambushed Company C of the 9th U . S . Infantry Regiment , while they were at breakfast , killing an estimated 48 and wounding 22 of the 78 men of the unit , with only four escaping unhurt . The villagers captured about 100 rifles and 25 , 000 rounds of ammunition . An estimated 20 to 25 of the villagers had died in the fighting , with a similar number of wounded . In reprisal , General Jacob H . Smith ordered that Samar be turned into a " howling wilderness " and that any Filipino male above ten years of age capable of bearing arms be shot . From the burned - out Catholic town church , the Americans looted three bells which they took back to the United States as war booty . The 9th U . S . Infantry Regiment , however , maintains that the single bell in their possession was presented to the regiment by villagers when the unit left Balangiga on April 9 , 1902 . Smith and his primary subordinate , Major Littleton Waller of the United States Marine Corps were both court - martial led for illegal vengeance against the civilian population of Samar . Waller was acquitted of the charges . Smith was found guilty , admonished and retired from service . The bells . Balangiga , which became a parish on September 27 , 1859 , may have taken four years to raise the funds needed to acquire their first church bell . This is believed to be the large 1863 bell now in Wyoming . It bears what is probably an Augustinian emblem and has a mouth diameter of 31¼ inches and height of 30 inches . The name inscribed on the bell , " R . San Francisco " , it is believed , belonged to the parish priest at that time . Acquisition . After Balangiga became a separate parish on Sept . 27 , 1859 , the town probably took four years to raise funds to acquire its first church bell . It was cast circa - 1863 and has a mouth diameter of inches and height of 30 inches . It is inscribed with a name , R . San Francisco , who was probably the parish priest at that time . The town probably acquired its second bell , cast circa - 1889 and having a mouth diameter of inches and height of inches , in 1889 through the initiative of Fr . Agustin Delgado , whose name is inscribed on the bell . The third and smallest bell may have been acquired in 1895 , through the initiative of Fr . Bernardo Aparecio . This is the bell now kept by the 9th U . S . Infantry Regiment in Camp Red Cloud , South Korea . Estimates of its size deduce a 23 - 24 inch height and a mouth diameter of about 20 inches . It also bears the Franciscan emblem . Removal to the United States . After the Balingiga incident mentioned above , the town was recaptured on September 29 , 1901 by 55 men of Company G , 9th Infantry . That unit departed the town the same day , and was replaced by 132 men from Companies K and L of the 11th Infantry Regiment which garrisoned the town until relieved on October 18 , 1901 . When the garrisoning the 11th Infantry departed , they brought home the war trophies . These included two large bronze bells cast in the late 19th century and a much older cannon . The bells were taken because one or both had been used by the insurgents to signal the attack on Company C , 9th Infantry . The cannon had been taken from the plaza in front of the church because it looked like it might make a good war trophy . The 11th Infantry redeployed to Fort D . A . Russell in Wyoming , arriving on March 23 , 1904 . On May 16 , 1905 , the Cheyenne Daily Leader newspaper reported that the cannon had been mounted on the parade ground near the flagpole along with other relics from the Philippines " . . . to include the famous bell which gave the signal for the massacre of a whole company . " Two large bells three feet tall and a seven foot cannon were proudly displayed in front of the flagpole on the parade ground of the fort . A sign was installed over one of the bells that said ; The sign above the bell erroneously credited units of the 11th Infantry with being the first to reach Balangiga after the battle . After further research , the sign was changed in 1911 giving proper credit to Company G , 9th Infantry , for recapturing Balangiga . In 1927 , Fort Russell was renamed Fort Francis E . Warren . On 7 October 1949 , it became Francis E . Warren Air Force Base . In 1967 , a curved red brick wall constructed in the Warran AFB trophy park for the bells , with a bronze plaque on the wall between the bells telling the story of the Massacre at Balangiga . , a faint inscription was visible on the back of both bells , reading : , a glass case housed the bells along with a 400 - year - old British Falcon cannon . This seven - foot cannon is described in F . E . Warren Air Force Base ' s fact sheets as a Queen Mary Tudor cannon forged in 1557 . The bell in the possession of the 9th U . S . Infantry Regiment is kept at the 2nd Infantry Division Museum in Camp Red Cloud , Uijeongbu . It had previously been displayed at the unit ' s Camp Hovey headquarters . Attempts at recovery . In the mid - 1990s , during the term of Fidel V . Ramos as Philippine president , attempts were initiated by his government to recover all or a portion of the bells from Bill Clinton ' s administration . The United States government has been adamant that the bells are US government property , that it would take an Act of Congress to return them and that the Catholic Church has no say in the matter . For their part the Catholic Bishops ' Conference of the Philippines hold the position that the bells are inappropriate as trophies of war . In 2002 , the Philippine Senate approved Senate Resolution No . 393 , authored by Aquilino Pimentel , Jr . , urging the Arroyo administration to undertake formal negotiations with the United States for the return of the bells . In 2005 , the bishop of Borongan , Samar , Bishop Leonardo Medroso and Balangiga parish priest Saturnino Obzunar wrote an open letter addressed to President George W . Bush , the United States Congress and the Helsinki Commission , requesting them to facilitate the return of the bells . That same year , the Wyoming Veterans ’ Commission favored the return of the Filipino - American War relics , however , Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal stated that he disagreed with the Commission and opposed returning the bells . On January 13 , 2005 , United States Congressman Bob Filner had introduced H . Res . 313 , urging the President to authorize the transfer of ownership of one of the bells to the people of the Philippines . The resolution died on January 3 , 2007 , with the " sine die " adjournment of the 109th United States Congress . On September 26 , 2006 , United States Congressman Bob Filner , Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Congressman Ed Case co - sponsored House Concurrent Resolution No . 481 urging the president of the United States to authorize the return of the church bells . The resolution died on January 3 , 2009 , with the " sine die " adjournment of the 110th United States Congress . In 2007 , Napoleón Abueva , the Philippines ' National Artist for sculpture , wrote American Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney asking for her help in the bells ' recovery . On October 25 , 2007 , during the 14th Congress of the Philippines , Senator Manny Villar filed Senate Resolution No . 177 , a resolution " expressing the sense of the Senate for the return to the Philippines of the Balangiga Bells which were taken by the US troops from the town of Balangiga , Province of Samar in 1901 " . , the bells remain under US government control . In popular culture . A Chicago - based , Philippine - American theater company called The Pintig Cultural Group presented a musical based on the incident , " The Bells of Balangiga . "