In late 1941, Japan simultaneously invaded several southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines. The Philippine portion was known as the Battle of the Philippines. Most of the Filipino and United States forces defending the country were rapidly overrun or forced to retreat. A significant proportion of the Allied forces made a stand for four months on the Bataan Peninsula in the Battle of Bataan. (The pronunciation of the place name used in its vicinity is bah-tah-'ahn, but in English discussions of this subject it is almost invariably buh-TAHN.)
The march
Prisoners on the march from Bataan to the prison camp, May 1942. (National Archives)
Approximately 75,000 Filipino and US soldiers, commanded by Major General Edward P. King, Jr. formally surrendered to the Japanese, under General Masaharu Homma, on April 9, 1942, which forced Japan to accept emaciated captives outnumbering them. Captives were forced to march, beginning the next day, about 100 kilometers north to Nueva Ecija to Camp O'Donnell, a prison camp.
Prisoners of war were beaten randomly and denied food and water for several days. Those who fell behind were executed through various means: shot, beheaded or bayoneted. The commonly-used Japanese "sun treatment" forced a captive to sit silently in the humid April sun without water or even the shade of his helmet.
Meanwhile, Allied forces elsewhere in the Philippines fought on, and the column of prisoners marching from Bataan was accidentally shelled by US guns defending Corregidor to screen the Japanese artillery movements. Packed into boxcars to travel from San Fernando to Capas, the number of prisoners was further diminished by malaria, heat, dehydration and dysentery.
These problems persisted at Camp O'Donnell. About ten thousand perished while others were able to escape; approximately 54,000 reached the camp. On June 6, 1942 the Filipino soldiers were granted amnesty and released, while the American prisoners were moved to another camp at Cabanatuan. Many of the survivors were later sent to prison camps in Japan, Korea, and Manchuria in prisoner transports known as "Hell Ships."
War crimes trial
News of this atrocity sparked outrage in the US, as shown by this propaganda poster. The newspaper clipping shown refers to the Bataan Death March.
After the surrender of Japan in 1945, Homma was convicted by an Allied commission of war crimes, including the atrocities of the death march out of Bataan, and the atrocities at Camp O'Donnell and Cabanatuan that followed, and executed on April 3, 1946 outside Manila.
Commemorations
The Philippines
Every year, the captured soldiers are honored on Araw ng Kagitingan ("Day of Valor") (9 April), also known as the "Bataan Day", which is a Philippine national holiday. There is a shrine in Bataan commemorating this event.
New Mexico
The Bataan Death March is commemorated every year at White Sands Missile Range just outside of Las Cruces, New Mexico. The march which covers 26.2 miles via paved road and sandy trails allows 4000 entrants from many military units both International and the United States armed services. Several of the few remaining Bataan prisoners await the competitors to congratulate them on their success of the grueling march, however the real thanks comes from the participants to those who actually endured the actual march and encampment at Cabanatuan.
