Bataan Death March

Research Paper

On April 9, 1942, the end of a battle began an event ingrained in the minds of the world. It was long tortuous march from Bataan to San Fernando that has become known as the Bataan Death March. It was a 70-mile trek on foot in harsh conditions. Most of the men were in bad shape at the start of the march, suffering from starvation and diseases. Approximately 75,000 prisoners began the journey, but in the end only about 54,000 reached the end of the march. Unfortunately for them, more anguish awaited in the form of prison camps.

                On April 9, 1942, the single largest surrender of a military force in American history occurred. Major General Edward King surrendered approximately 75,000 Filipino and American forces to Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma. They ran out of food, and would have starved before finishing the fight. They surrendered themselves by raising white flags, t-shirts, and any other white objects they could find, to let the enemy force know that they were finished fighting.

                Before the surrender of the military forces under Major General Edward King, soldiers refused to surrender themselves, and fled to join the resistance forces scattered throughout the Philippines. The resistance forces are thought to have grown to 180,000 men throughout the Philippines. Thousands of Americans and Filipino soldiers formed guerilla units, of varying sizes, whether individually, or with the encouragement of their commanders.

                At the start of the Bataan Death March, the surrendered soldiers were robbed of their keepsakes and belongings. They were disease-ridden, and starving. But even so, they were forced to endure the march to Camp O’Donnell.

During the Bataan Death March, many died of starvation, disease, dehydration, heat prostration, untreated wounds, and wanton execution. Many of them were beaten randomly, and denied food or water for days. Anyone that fell behind were bayoneted and shot, or left to die. When they were allowed to rest, it was on burning hot pavement. Many tried to get water that was alongside of the route, but they were gunned down. If they were not one of the people allowed to get water, and you tried anyway, you were shot.

                At the end, approximately two out of three soldiers who surrendered didn’t get to see the end of the war. Most of these soldiers died in the prison camps they had to endure, even after surviving the Bataan Death March to get there. The death toll was hard to assess, because of the unknown number of soldiers that were able to escape their captives. Approximately half of the Americans and almost three quarters of the Filipinos that surrendered died during the Japanese occupation.

Reviews

[Red Brick Keshner]

My grandfather marched that march and survived. His stories of that time and day are still fresh in my mind/heart. Thanks for sharing.