VISITING CEMETERIES dedicated to American soldiers killed in the two World Wars could be a long, lonely journey, but for a retired American doctor, it was all worth the trips.

WinstonTheGreat Jamaica Lumsden -- that?s the name that appears on his passport -- recently completed a 26-year journey which took him to all the American war cemeteries and memorials around the world.

?I wanted to express my gratitude to all the soldiers who made America so blessed and to raise peace awareness,? he said.

In an interview during his visit to Manila recently, Lumsden, a retired doctor, said he decided to undertake this ?pilgrimage? of sorts when he retired in 1982.

Born in Jamaica in 1932 (Lumsden became an American citizen in the ?50s), he said he was too young to serve in the British war effort. Had he been old enough, he said he would have joined the Royal Air Force.

Lumsden had friends and relatives who joined the war, though. ?I was in Jamaica when the war started. I wanted to join the military service but I was too young,? he said. ?Many of my friends went to Europe and the Pacific to fight but they never came back.?

The last stop in his 26-year journey was the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City. It is the largest American war cemetery outside the United States, with more than 17,000 soldiers either buried or remembered on the site.

About 570 of the markers bear the names of Filipinos who served alongside American troops in World War II.

Lumsden said he has traveled extensively that he has lost count of all the memorials he visited in North America and in Europe. He paid for his own trips but added that he had to rely on the kindness of strangers several times.

To prepare himself for his trips abroad, Lumsden said he goes to the gym to keep himself healthy.

Some of the cemeteries he visited were located in France, Britain and Scandinavia. In some places, Lumsden said he sang ?Amazing Grace? as his way of paying tribute to the dead American soldiers.

In Brittany, France, he said he met a Frenchman who told him, ?I didn?t know America would thank us humbly, walking in sneakers,? referring to Lumsden in his rubber shoes.

In Germany, the retired doctor said he met a man who had served in Adolf Hitler?s army. Upon learning that he was American, the German shook his hand.

According to the German, he surrendered to an African-American soldier at the close of the war. The German combatant said he did not want to give himself up to a white soldier, fearing it could be a Nazi soldier masquerading as a member of the Allied Forces who would not think twice of sending him to his death.

Lumsden said he had been planning his visit to the Philippines for a long time. With the help of some Filipino friends he met in his hometown, he finally made it.

?I wanted to thank the Filipino-American soldiers who helped us fight in the war,? he told the Inquirer. ?I also wanted to say thank you for what you have done to bring peace.?

At the Manila cemetery, Lumsden passed by the white marble headstones with his head bowed, walking slowly because of a bad back. Every so often, he would stop by a marker and offer a prayer.

?This is the last American cemetery on my list,? he said.

During his visit, Lumsden carried with him an American flag that used to fly over an American memorial park in Sicily, Italy. The flag was given to him by the memorial?s caretaker who was touched by his project.

?This flag stood in the Atlantic area and I brought it here. So now, the flag that was over in Europe is now over the Pacific,? he said.