The American soldiers were eating breakfast in Balangiga’s town square when Filipino villagers, including men disguised in dresses, attacked them with bolo knives. Forty-eight Americans died.

The year was 1901 and for the United States Army, the massacre in the central Philippines was the worst since Custer and his troops were slaughtered at the Battle of Little Bighorn, 25 years earlier.

In retaliation, the United States commander ordered his forces to kill every male older than 10 and turn the central Philippines island of Samar into a “howling wilderness.” American troops killed civilians, burned houses and destroyed food supplies.

They also carted off three church bells as war trophies.

Now, 117 years later, the bells are on the verge of returning home.