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Post by friscohare on Apr 6, 2012 21:35:54 GMT -5
This week in SD National Guard history[/u][/url][/size] (Black Hills Pioneer, 04/06/12) April 10, 1942 - On this date in SDNG history - Bataan Death March, Philippines: Lieutenant Theodore I. Spaulding was an American Soldier on the Philippine Islands when the Japanese attacked the islands in December 1941. The U.S. and Filipino soldiers fought hard for four months, but they were finally overwhelmed and on April 9, 1942, they waived the white flag of surrender. The Japanese military had no way of being prepared to accept 78,000 prisoners. Without proper transportation for the 12,000 U.S. and 66,000 Filipino prisoners, they decided to march their POWs to Camp [O'Donnell]. The Bataan Death March began on April 10, 1942, with the POWs marching up the east coast of Bataan. The men, already desperately weakened by hunger and disease, suffered unspeakably during the march. POWs who could not continue or keep up with the pace were summarily executed. Some of the guards made a sport of hurting or killing the POWs. The Death Marchers received almost no water or food, further weakening their fragile bodies. The POWs marched roughly 65 miles over the course of about six days until they reached San Fernando. Many of them died. Lieutenant Spaulding was one of those who lived. When the war ended more than three years later, he was working as slave in the coal mines in Japan. Following the end of World War II, Lt. Spaulding remained in the Army. In March 1950, he was assigned as an army advisor to the 3rd Battalion, 196th Regimental Combat Team. He went on active duty with the 196th during the Korean War mobilization with the mission of commanding the Provisional Battalion, to train new recruits for the regiment. Spaulding remained in the Army until April 1953, when he joined the 196th RCT of the South Dakota National Guard. When the 196th RCT was de-activated, he went to the newly formed 153rd Engineer Battalion, which he commanded for nine years. He later was promoted to colonel and commanded the 109th Engineer Group. His last assignment prior to his retirement was a state appointment as the assistant adjutant general.
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Post by friscohare on Apr 6, 2012 21:37:21 GMT -5
Ben, Skardon, 94, is among fewer than 100 living survivors of the Bataan Death March in the Philippines during World War II. Skardon is a 1938 graduate of Clemson University.94-year-old survivor has vivid memories of Bataan Death March [/u][/url][/size] (Anderson Independent Mail, 04/06/12) CLEMSON — Ben Skardon says he never feels alone. In good times, just as in the worst times of his life, he feels the presence of his best friends, Henry Leitner and Otis Morgan. The three Clemson College graduates spent three years together in Japanese prisoner of war camps in the Philippines during World War II. Only Skardon would survive the war, but he said this week that he doesn't credit that to any special qualities. "I was the least active, the least helpful, the least healthy," Skardon says. "I was always incapacitated in some way." This week marks the 70th anniversary of the start of that ordeal — the Bataan Death March. The Bataan Peninsula fell on April 8, 1942, resulting in the surrender of 23,000 American soldiers and tens of thousands more members of the Philippine Army. Already weakened from four months of fighting with limited food and ammunition in the jungle, Skardon would embark on that walk weighing, at nearly 5 feet 8 inches tall, a mere 112 pounds. When the order to surrender came, he was in a field hospital fighting malaria. Thousands died of exposure; thousands more died at the point of a bayonet. Skardon said he kept his head down and stayed in the middle of the marching column of American soldiers. At least eight Clemson College students took part in the march. The special collections room of the university's Strom Thurmond Institute holds the memoirs, letters and clippings of fellow Clemson alumnus Manny Lawton who, like Skardon, survived the ordeal and lived for years to tell about it. Lawton died in 1986. Skardon is 94. His memories of the Philippines remain sharp, and he shares them with anyone who asks. He remembers names, dates, places, sensations and expressions. Inspired by the rare smell of perfume while interned, Skardon wrote an erotic sonnet about a woman he never met — he still recites it from memory. Today, Skardon lives in a neighborhood a few blocks from his alma mater, where he was an award-winning British literature professor until the 1980s. He retired from the U.S. Army as a full colonel in the early 1960s. He said that for years he did not speak about his experience in the Philippines. "I was embarrassed," Skardon said. "To come home a prisoner of war? To surrender?" Grass skirts and pith helmetsSkardon graduated from Clemson College in 1938 and was 24 when he boarded a U.S. transport ship headed for the Philippines. The country was at peace.He landed on Oct. 23, 1941, and Skardon's duty would be to advise Filipino troops on everything from marksmanship to field sanitation. None of them spoke English. For a young lieutenant, a chance to serve in the Pacific was like heaven, Skardon said. "Hula, hula; grass skirts," Skardon said. "Are you kidding me? Every year officers signed a preference sheet. I desperately wanted to go to the Philippines. White uniforms, perpetual summer." Skardon had been on the island with his soldiers for six weeks when word came that Japanese planes had bombed Pearl Harbor and the U.S. had declared war. By Christmas, Skardon and his trainees made contact with the enemy. They would fight for nearly four months. "There were these trees in the jungle with big roots," Skardon said. "That would be my command post. I'd yell at my troops from behind these roots." Skardon's cavalry consisted of men on horseback, and artillery was hauled by mule. "People can't conceive of what we fought our war with," Skardon said. "We had no radios, no phones. Everything was done by messenger. A Filipino would run back to command post. We did the best we could as far as I am concerned." Running out of ammunition and up against top Japanese infantry, the Bataan Peninsula fell on April 8, 1942. The Japanese Army quickly rounded up troops for the 80-mile march to Camp O'Donnell. Skardon said he learned on that march not to do anything foolish, to keep his head down and not make eye contact with anyone. He took off his gold Clemson College ring and rolled it into his shirt sleeve. In reading accounts over the years, Skardon said, it is clear that everybody's experience was different, depending on where you were. "I didn't see the wholesale slaughter of people, with bodies piled on either side of the road," he said. "I did see bodies in the road run over so many times it looked like they were cardboard silhouettes." The closest he came to death was when he stepped away from the column to go to the bathroom. "I have my trousers down and hear a thud," Skardon said. "Someone said a man had been bayoneted. I got running pulling my pants up and slipped between two tall guys. I thought they were coming to get me." That, he said, is when the terror set in. "You had to recognize it quickly because there wasn't any reason for what they were doing," he said. The camps and the ringSkardon spent three months at Camp O'Donnell.In the fall of 1942, he was transferred to the Cabanatuan work camp, and his final internment in the Philippines was at the old Bilibid prison in Manila. During his internment, Morgan and Leitner became Skardon's soul mates. They survived on a couple of balls of rice a day and little clean water. They would supplement the rice by catching frogs and cleaning them out with a bit of wire. "We chewed them whole," he said. "They were delicious." They also crafted dog traps for stew. They boiled pigweed to create a brownish soup reminiscent of cabbage or spinach. Work duties might include toting three-gallon buckets of water — 25 pounds each — in each hand. Weeding the okra patches was Skardon's favorite because he could slip a pod or two of the vegetable in his mouth as he went. Dysentery was rampant in the camp, and prisoners chewed on bits of burned wood to curb the symptoms. "You knew who was suffering because you could see the black around their mouths," he said. Many came down with beriberi, a thiamine deficiency that caused shooting pains in Skardon's hands and feet. "Touching my hair felt like barbed wire on my fingers," he said. Leitner spent hours squeezing Skardon's feet, which had become numb with the disease. Skardon suffered a recurring case of malaria, and came close to death when simultaneously suffering from it, beriberi and diarrhea. He lost his appetite, and a yellow discharge caked his eyes, blinding him. He was days away from "Zero" ward, the camp hospital from which no one returned. Morgan and Leitner knew about Skardon's class ring, hidden in a bamboo shoot, and let it be known among the Japanese guards that such a ring was available for food in trade. They secured a young chicken and a can of potted meat. "They boiled the chicken and even fished the marrow out of its bones with a wire," Skardon said. "Nothing edible remained." His appetite returned, and he revived. "They saved my life," he said. Hell shipsThe U.S. Army invaded the Philippines in the fall of 1944, and was within weeks of advancing on Manila when the Japanese government ordered removal of all "able-bodied" POWs to forced labor camps in Japan. By now, Skardon and his friends were interned at the Bilibid prison in Manila, which still stands today. On Dec. 13, 1944, the Japanese loaded 1,619 men onto an unmarked Japanese liner called the Oryoku Maru. According to records in Clemson University's Lawton papers, Skardon, Morgan, Lawton and Leitner were among them. "Thus began a 47-day nightmare of horrendous inhumanity and barbarism," Skardon said. "The lack of air and water, the confined space, the constriction of movement produced near panic. A few became crazed with heat and thirst." Men were dying within hours of being crammed into the ship's hold. Some areas of the ship had no ventilation, and there were no latrines. The next day, American pilots, unaware of POWs on board, strafed and bombed the Oryoko Maru as it was moored in Subic Bay about 50 miles east of Manila. Skardon got out of the stifling hold through a hole in the stern. "A bomb burns out all the oxygen in the air," Skardon said. "You feel like you are choking. I stayed in my spot in these bays until I heard a voice, 'You bastards, get off this ship. It's on fire.'" Climbing up, Skardon found Leitner. "We put our arms around each other and he said, 'Ben we are in a hell of a mess,' and we started laughing," Skardon said. Skardon swam ashore dreaming of a chance to escape to Manila. He was rounded up with other survivors and placed on a second ship, which launched and got as far as Taiwan before U.S. Navy bombers struck. He was sitting a foot away from his friend, John Shaw, when shrapnel flew through the hold. "I held him as he died," said Skardon, himself struck on the head with a falling beam. "I lifted his shirt and saw a small mark in his chest. He went out like he was sleeping. A shred of steel must have hit his heart." The remaining survivors were transferred to a third ship, which reached Japan on Jan. 30, 1945. The superstructure was covered in ice when the ship landed. About 400 men had survived the journey. Morgan had died, and Leitner would die of pneumonia in a Japanese camp a few weeks later. "When I was separated from Henry and Otis, mainly I became despondent," Skardon said. "We were bonded in the truest sense." By the time Skardon reached Japan, he weighed 90 pounds. Liberation and returnFrom Japan, Skardon was moved to Manchuria in April 1945. That's where he was when the Russian Army came and liberated the prisoners in August 1945. When liberation came, Skardon said, he felt nothing toward the Japanese. "The elation of being free and knowing you were going home took over," he said. "It's not forgiveness. It's forgetfulness. So many people died needlessly." He was shipped home to Oliver General Hospital in Augusta, Ga., where he stayed for six months. He warned the hospital's young nurses not to touch his feet, still sensitive from beriberi. "They decided to see if it was real," he said. "I won't tell you what happened, but it was real. I came out of that bed." He still feels the pain sometimes. Still, he gained weight quickly, and went for weekend cruises with other soldiers, golfing and swimming. "Those were the glory days," he said. In the spring of 1947, Skardon met his future wife at a debutante ball and married her two months later. They would have four children and today have eight grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. "I'm just a happy man," Skardon said. "I don't ever have a bad day."
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Post by friscohare on Apr 6, 2012 21:47:29 GMT -5
Walt StrakaDeath march survivor looks back [/u][/url][/size] Last area survivor of Bataan Death March looks back (Brainerd Dispatch, 04/06/12) With each passing year Bataan Death March survivor Walt Straka marvels at his own good fortune as he remembers his fellow soldiers who died during the brutal trek to a Japanese prison camp at World War II’s outset. The deadly march came after ill-equipped and outmanned U.S. soldiers on the Philippine peninsula of Bataan were ordered to surrender to the Japanese on April 9, 1942. Seventy years later, Straka lives on his own, drives a car and does his own grocery shopping. While he’s not immune from the aches and pains that accompany most 92-year-olds, he says he’s relatively pain free. “I just thank God every night, I don’t have it,” he said of the chronic pain, noting that many his age are in wheelchairs or hobble as they walk. During the grueling march Straka suffered from malaria, dysentery and malnourishment. Physical abuse was part of their everyday lives. A Japanese soldier once rammed a rifle into his back when he stepped out of line. Reports have varied but it’s estimated thousands of U.S. and Filipino soldiers died on the approximate 60-mile journey to a Japanese prison camp. “You didn’t get any food,” Straka recalled in a recent phone call from his Texas vacation home. “You kept getting weaker and weaker. I lay in bed and wonder how in the hell I survived it. I absolutely can’t hardly fathom it.” The suffering didn’t end when he returned home. For years, Straka was plagued with nightmares stemming from the horrors he had witnessed as a prisoner. The cruelty, Straka said, was almost unimaginable. “It’s hard to believe any human would treat another human like that,” he said recalling his wartime captivity. “I’m fighting for my country, I’m a kid. I didn’t start the war.” The term Post Traumatic Stress Disorder hadn’t yet been coined in the 1950s but it’s a good bet many of the Bataan Death March survivors who were lucky enough to return home suffered from that condition. Many of his fellow prisoners who returned home died in their 50s, years before their peers who had endured the ravages of war. It was hard for them not to rely on alcohol or tobacco to an excessive degree, Straka said. “They couldn’t control their smoking,” he said. Straka said he empathizes with modern era veterans who return home and develop mental health problems and sometimes wondered if the hard knocks the World War II soldiers suffered during the Great Depression made them a little stronger. “I don’t think they’re as tough as we were,” he said. “Most kids (in the Depression) didn’t have enough to eat. I know how soft my kids had it compared to me. I think that’s probably got a lot to do with it. You didn’t baby people. People had to work.” Straka served with Brainerd’s 34th Tank Company, Minnesota National Guard, which had been federalized, combined with other units and redesignated as the 194th Tank Battalion. It was the first tank unit in the far east before World War II started. The unit received three Presidential Unit Citations for its defense of vital positions before being ordered to surrender. According to a 2010 proclamation issued by the state of Minnesota, of 82 officers and men of the 34th Tank Company who left Brainerd, 64 accompanied the 194th overseas to the Philippines. The proclamation stated “Three were killed in action and 29 died as POWs. Only 32 survived to return to Brainerd after the end of World War II; one man was wounded and evacuated, two were sent to officer candidate school and 29 survived captivity.” While fighting the Japanese, Straka said members of his battalion felt isolated and expendable. Tales of Japanese soldiers’ cruelty to prisoners had preceded the actual fighting. “I was more scared to surrender than to fight,” he said. “Your d**n right they (the reports of savagery) were accurate.” The names of some of the Brainerd area survivors who returned home are familiar to those who have attended or read about Brainerd’s Bataan ceremony. To the post-World War II generations the men of the 194th were familiar — not as 20-something soldiers but as aging veterans who dutifully paid tribute to their fallen comrades each year. Survivors like Russell L. Swearingen, Ralph Hollingsworth, Henry Peck, and Hortense McKay, a member of the Nurse Corps, did their best to see that the horrors of Bataan were not forgotten. Those survivors are gone now. Straka is the only survivor of that 194th Tank Battalion who lives in the Brainerd area. He said when he’s eating in a restaurant and wearing his Bataan Death March hat people will occasionally buy him breakfast — their way offering tribute to a World War II hero. He plans to be at the 10 a.m. Bataan ceremony at the Brainerd National Guard Armory and hopes many others are as well. “I hope they come out and support it,” Straka said. “I think it’s only proper. A town the size of Brainerd, with that many losses and that kind of record ...They’ve got to be reminded.”
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Post by friscohare on Apr 8, 2012 17:00:51 GMT -5
Texas Rep. Ron Paul, 90 Congress Leaders support equity of Filipino WWII vets [/u][/url][/size] (Asian Journal, 04/07/12) LOS ANGELES – A week after the Bataan Day celebration, lobbyists will visit the US Congress the second time in a month’s time to press for sub-committee hearing on HR 210, “The Filipino Veterans Fairness Act of 2011,” which will provide full recognition to the US military services of the remaining 50,000 Filipino WW II veterans and full benefits to the veterans, widows, and their families. Lobbyists find inspiration in Texas Rep. Ron Paul, a war veteran himself and Republican presidential candidate who openly endorsed the bill in a public rally in Nevada. “We are pleased to announce Ron Paul’s unwavering legacy of supporting veterans by announcing he will support and co-sponsor HR 210,” said John Tate, national campaign manager. “HR 210 provides a small thank you for an enormous debt of gratitude owed the Philippines and America’s most heroic individuals.” “We cannot afford to have half-American veterans. Enough with token recognition,” said Rep. Jackie Speier, CA-D San Mateo/San Francisco who introduced HR 210 with current 90 bipartisan co-sponsors from the House. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised to vote for the bill once it reaches the plenary. Pelosi said, “We will make sure that no veteran is left behind.” With the great amount of political support from the House and the local communities, lobbyists are not cowed by the opposition of Senators Daniel Inouye and Diane Feinstein to introduce companion bill in the Senate. “Bataan is about endurance and hope in an uphill battle,” said Felino Punsalan, 94 and WW II veteran. “Full equity is a struggle but we are hopeful that as we fight to the last drop, we are redeeming our pride as true American veterans deserving of unquestionable full recognition by the government we served.” Senator Feinstein defers to Senator InouyeCalifornia Senator Dianne Feinstein opposed the introduction of Senate companion bill of HR 210. During the second phone conference at Feinstein’s local office in San Francisco in the presence of ten veterans and widows, the DC legislative staff from DC explained that Feinstein pays high respect and thus defers to the opinion of the Hawaii Senator, who previously opposed introducing a companion bill, because “he is an expert on how the Senate works.” In the Senate, most legislative aides refer to Filipino equity as Inouye bill. “Why would the Senator defer to someone outside of the state when majority of California have openly supported the bill? We are her constituents and 30 of the total 53 US Representatives in California are now co-sponsors,” said Regalado Baldonado, a WW II guerilla veteran and member of the Justice for Filipino-American Veterans (JFAV). He added, “We need a leader who can decide independently.” Feinstein in her letter to veterans dated March 1, 2012, cited the budgetary constraint as reason for her opposition. “…Congress must debate the appropriate level of spending for the coming fiscal year in the context of many other pressing needs in the budget.” “In the 45-minute negotiation, we discussed the issue of money in passing and maybe spent less than three minutes; the rest was centered on Inouye and her deferral to his position. This is not about money at all,” said Baldonado. The cost of full benefit of the equity bill is estimated to be less than 1% of the total budget of the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA). The typical estimate of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) covers all benefits for ten years including monthly pensions but given the average age of 90 of veterans, they are only expected to live for the next three years, thus cutting benefits abruptly. Inouye champions opposition in the SenateIn his letter to Commander Francisco Obina dated September 29, 2011, Inouye said, “I believe the lump sum was and is the best benefit we could achieve for the Filipino WW II veterans. I was just grateful that I was able to provide them with something as opposed to nothing.” Inouye historically supported full recognition and full equity for the Filipino veterans since 1993 until 2008 when the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation Fund (FVEC) was enacted. Instead of full benefits that include lifetime monthly pensions, the Filipino veterans received one-time lump sum payment of $15,000/$9,000 with a quit-claim provision disallowing them to ask for future benefits. Most widows were disqualified from any lump sum benefit. To date, 24,000 veterans have been denied out of the 42,000 who applied for lump sum. “It’s very sad that Senator Inouye is trapped in the framework of ‘something is better than nothing’ in addressing 66 years of injustice to the Filipino veterans who sacrificed for this Nation,” said Arturo Garcia, a Los Angeles based pro bono Congressional lobbyist and JFAV National Coordinator based in Los Angeles. “The lump sum was another partial recognition. It was a good start but is definitely not full recognition and full equity. Historically Inouye agreed with the veterans to pursue equity slowly by getting partial benefits one after the other. However, when the FVEC was enacted, Inouye completely backtracked from his promise to ultimately pursue full recognition and full benefits. It just like opening old wounds as we commemorate the 70th Fall of Bataan Day against Japanese invaders.” ” Garcia added. During WW II, 250,000 Filipinos joined the United States Armed Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) to defend the Philippines, a member of the US Commonwealth of Nations. US President Roosevelt promised that Filipinos will be recognized as American soldiers with full benefits like any other American soldiers. After the war in 1946, the US Congress enacted the Rescission Act that took away full recognition of the US military service of the Filipinos. To this day, Filipinos are not considered American veterans.
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Post by friscohare on Apr 8, 2012 17:02:50 GMT -5
Bataan Death March remembered 70 years later[/u][/url][/size] Albuquerque mayor honors 1,800 New Mexicans in Death March (KOAT, 04/07/12) ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - During World War II, the Japanese army forced thousands of American and Filipino soldiers to walk 65 miles to a prisoner of war camp, and officials said 1,800 were from New Mexico. In the past 70 years, stories have surfaced of pain, suffering and brutality on that inhumane six-day trek. But, a simple story of hope emerged Saturday, a story straight from one of New Mexico's Bataan Death March survivors. "At the sight of Japanese brutality, we fell silent because we could not imagine such brutality," Death March survivor Atilano David said. Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry honored the soldiers with a proclamation Saturday and the Philippine consulate general thanked them for their sacrifice. "For months, we marched silently and without knowing what was in store for us. Staring blankly in space, we hoped to die slowly in our hearts," David said. David said suddenly a strange and wonderful thing happened while on the Death March. "A little boy smiling broadly in the window put his little hands together and began to clap steadily," David said. And suddenly, David said the marchers stood high, lifted their heads and walked strongly. "For one shinning glorious moment, a little boy in the sun who was clapping his hands together made our human spirits soar into the skies," David said. One message strongly made during the proclamation was that New Mexicans, Americans and Filipinos cannot forget the sacrifice the soldiers made. Ten years ago today, the Bataan Memorial Park in Albuquerque was dedicated to honor the New Mexican soldiers.
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Post by friscohare on Apr 8, 2012 17:03:34 GMT -5
Cecilia Gaerlan visits with her father, Luis, at his San Francisco home. Cecilia, of Berkeley, has written a book about the Bataan Death March. Luis, now 92, is a survivor of the march.Commemoration marks 70 years since Bataan Death March[/u][/url][/size] (San Jose Mercury News, 04/08/12) Monday is the 70th anniversary of one of the most harrowing chapters in the history of the U.S. military -- the defeat of U.S. and Philippine forces defending the Bataan Peninsula, a 60-mile-long strip of land east of Manila. In the days and months that followed the fall of Bataan, the Japanese forced American and Filipino troops to walk more than 60 miles to a prison camp. More than 15,000 of the troops died during what came to be called the Bataan Death March. The daughter of one Filipino veteran is helping to organize a commemoration of the fall of Bataan, to be held Tuesday on the Cal State East Bay campus. "When I was growing up in the Philippines, I used to hear about the war from my father, who survived the Death March, as well as his incarceration," said Cecilia Gaerlan, whose 92-year-old father, Luis, a San Francisco resident, has difficulty speaking because of a traumatic brain injury. Cecilia Gaerlan, of Berkeley, has written a novel titled "In Her Mother's Image" that describes the experiences of a young girl in the Philippines during the war and as an adult 30 years later. She said the commemoration was inspired by the sponsors' concerns that, unlike Pearl Harbor, the events at Bataan have been largely forgotten. "I was surprised to learn that not too many people know about it," she said. The fall of Bataan came during the darkest days for U.S. forces in the Pacific after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. On Dec. 8, the Japanese attacked the Philippines, where the U.S. Army Air Corps had concentrated the bulk of its Pacific forces. By January 1942, 12,000 U.S. and 63,000 Filipino troops had withdrawn to Bataan, in eastern Luzon. They held out for three months as rations dwindled and disease spread among the troops. After the allied surrender, the Japanese marched the surviving defenders more than 60 miles to Camp O'Donnell, a prison at the southern end of the peninsula. Along the way, more than 15,000 of the troops died of disease or malnutrition, or were shot or bayoneted to death. Many more died in the camp in the weeks that followed, and many of those who survived spent the rest of the war in forced-labor camps in Japan and throughout the occupied territories. "They went into captivity in very bad shape," said Fred Baldassarre, of Hayward, whose father, James, was a Bataan survivor. "In the weeks before they surrendered, 50 to 200 men a week were dying of diseases or starvation. They had no business marching around anywhere." James Baldassarre was in Manila when he received orders to go to Bataan after the Japanese attack, Fred Baldassarre said "After the death march and Camp O'Donnell, he was sent to Manchuria," he said. "The first winter was pretty horrific, where guys were coming from the tropics and having to deal with arctic conditions." After the war, James Baldassarre testified at the war crimes trial of Gen. Masaharu Homma, the Japanese commander during the invasion, Fred Baldassarre said. Homma was convicted and executed in 1946. The fall of Bataan came at the beginning of a battle for the Pacific that was to continue for more than three years, culminating in the atomic attacks on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Japanese surrender. The few surviving Bataan veterans are getting up in years. "There are no more than 10 left in the Bay Area and the three youngest ones are 88," said Fred Baldassarre, who heads the historical society Battling Bastards of Bataan. "They joined the army when they were 16." Many affected by the war were even younger. John Ream, of Kensington, a former civilian prisoner of war, was 10 when his family was sent from Manila to a prison camp in the mountains. He and his father, mother and three sisters sat out most of the war there, where he said conditions were bad, but better than those in the military prisons and labor camps. "We had two missionary women who shared the same toothbrush for three years," said Ream, of the Bay Area Civilian Ex-Prisoners of War, and one of the sponsors of Tuesday's remembrance. "Cooking oil was impossible to obtain, so we were using cold cream as cooking oil when we could find something to cook." J.D. Merritt, of Cape Coral, Fla., a friend of Fred Baldassarre, was in an army field hospital on Bataan when it was overrun by Japanese troops. He said he fled into the jungle when the Japanese began bayoneting the patients. Merritt, 92, eventually was captured and spent the war in forced labor as a stevedore on the Manila docks. He said his Filipino girlfriend died in a refugee camp when Japanese troops burned it to the ground. Only about 13,000 of the 75,000 U.S. and Filipino forces that surrendered at Bataan were still alive at the end of the war, Merritt said. COMMEMORATION OF 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF BATAAN DEATH MARCH When: 4-6 p.m. Tuesday Where: Cal State East Bay Theater, 25800 Carlos Bee Blvd., East Loop Road, Hayward Cost of admission: Event is free of charge to the public
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Post by friscohare on Apr 8, 2012 17:04:17 GMT -5
Remember our prisoners of war[/u][/url][/size] (Herald Times Reporter (Wisconsin), 04/08/12) An important observance falls in April. April 9 is designated as Prisoners of War Remembrance Day in Wisconsin. This is one of many special days of recognition of Wisconsin veterans during 2012, the year Gov. Scott Walker deemed "The Year of the Veteran." Monday marks the start of the infamous Bataan Death March in the Philippines, during World War II. Thousands of American prisoners of war and Filipino allies died or were killed. Approximately 12,700 former prisoners of war are still alive in the United States, with about 250 of them from Wisconsin. Of the 99 members of the Wisconsin National Guard Tank Unit from Janesville, only 33 of them — one-third — survived imprisonment by the Japanese after being captured at Bataan during World War II. Ernie Nordquist from Milwaukee, for example, was captured on the Bataan Peninsula despite a valiant attempt by American and Philippine soldiers to stop thousands of Japanese invaders. Another Wisconsinite held prisoner after capture on Bataan was Herb Hanneman. He was held for 3½ years in the Philippines and Japan. He and his fellow soldiers were captured by the Japanese when their boat did not make it to shore on the Bataan Peninsula, and they endured a trying situation of working in a labor camp with very small amounts of food to eat. Another former POW of World War II is Clif Syverud, whose plane was shot down while flying on his 21st mission to Leipzig, Germany in May 1944. He spent the next year as a prisoner of war in several German camps, including Stalag Luft IV, before being liberated by British troops. Other former POWs from our state who have had compelling experiences they've told about include former Vietnam War POW Don Heiliger, who was captured in 1967 while piloting an F-105 on his 44th combat mission and spent nearly six years as a prisoner of war. Kevin Hermening is a former Marine who was held hostage at the U.S. Embassy in Iran from 1979 to 1981. And, Laurens Vellekoop, a veteran of Desert Shield/Desert Storm was held captive in Iraq in 1990. The experiences of those World War II veterans and all who have been taken as prisoners of war remind American citizens that our military service members have sacrificed and endured much, and in return deserve benefits and care. My department is aware of the dedication of veterans who have served their nation and state, and the importance of providing them with the benefits and services they've earned. In each of our nation's conflicts, American prisoners of war have endured tremendous physical and mental hardships. Families suffer periods of waiting and uncertainty, and welcome any news about their service member. My own family was made aware of this when my father was shot down and taken prisoner during World War II. This year the WDVA participated in a ceremony on April 6, presented in advance of the day by the VA Hospital in Madison, with Vietnam veteran Stephen Leopold as the featured speaker. Gov. Walker has signed a proclamation designating April 9 as Prisoners of War Remembrance Day in Wisconsin. It is important that we recognize the sacrifices of those who have suffered captivity in foreign lands while serving our country. At the same time, let us continue to keep in our thoughts those who are currently serving overseas and remember our service members who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
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Post by friscohare on Apr 8, 2012 17:04:53 GMT -5
Noy to lead Araw ng Kagitingan rites today [/u][/url][/size] (The Philippine Star, 04/09/12) ANGELES CITY, Philippines – President Aquino will lead today’s 70th Araw ng Kagitingan rites at the Dambana ng Kagitingan in Mt. Samat, Pilar, Bataan – his second as head of state. The President will put a wreath at the shrine upon arrival and then pause for prayer as a World War II veteran and a high school student toll the bell. The Philippine Information Agency (PIA) said Aquino will then award trophies to this year’s winners of Araw ng Kagitingan’s oratorical, painting and essay writing contests. Japanese Ambassador Toshinao Urabe and United States deputy chief of Mission Leslie Bassett will deliver messages before the president’s keynote address, the PIA noted. The affair commemorates the historic day on April 9, 1942 when some 75,000 Filipino and American soldiers stationed in Corregidor and Bataan formally surrendered to the Japanese army under Lt. General Masaharu Homma. They became prisoners of war and were forced to participate in the infamous Death March towards a concentration camp in O’Donnel in Capas, Tarlac. The Dambana ng Kagitingan was built atop Mount Samat in 1966 in memory of those soldiers. The shrine’s most distinct feature is a 92-meter Memorial Cross that is made of marble, steel, and concrete. At the base of the cross is a bas-relief sculpture depicting important historical events and battles in the Philippines.
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Post by friscohare on Apr 8, 2012 17:06:36 GMT -5
Trip to the past. From left, US war veterans Warren Jorgenson, Wayne Carringer and Jim Collier pose before a boxcar during their visit to the Capas Memorial Shrine.Death March survivors and their ‘boxcar’ [/u][/url][/size] (Manila Standard Today, 04/08/12) CAMP O’DONNELL — Six survivors of the Bataan Death March during World War II had a glance of the “boxcar’’ that transported them to the San Fernando terminal 70 years ago during their visit to this former Japanese concentration camp, where the prisoners of war were held. “After 70 years I’m back and I’m proud,” said Warren Jorgenson, 91, of the 4th Marine Regiment, who was among the defenders of Corregidor at the height of the Japanese invasion. Jorgenson and five other Philippine war veterans—Wayne Carringer, 91, of North Carolina, and member of the 27th Bomb Group of the US Army Air Corps; Jim Collier, 88, of the US Army’s 59th Coast Artillery; Bob Ehrhart, of the 4th Marine Regiment; Ed Night, of the US Army’s 43rd Infantry; and Lawrence Nelson, of the US Army’s 1st Cavalry—relived the past while touring the Capas National Shrine on Saturday. The veterans were accompanied by students from the College of the Ozarks during their 10-day tour of the various significant sites—including Camp O’Donnell in Balanga City, and Mount Samat in Pilar, Bataan—to celebrate the 70th anniversary of “Araw ng Kagitingan” or Day of Valor. “I feel good,” Collier said as he agreed to a photo shoot by the Manila Standard. The 240-square-foot boxcar, a World War II relic, is on display in Camp O’Donnell. It is one of the last known surviving freight cars of its kind and one of the major tourist attractions of the national shrine. “It was the mute witness to the human sacrifice and heroism of all the victims of the death march,” the marker says. Carringer experienced the Death March after his capture by the Japanese soldiers. From Mariveles in Bataan to kilometer 102 at the old train terminal in San Fernando, the prisoners endured severe heat, hunger, and thirst. The terminal was reconstructed, and it now serves as a “memorial to the horror of war, to man’s inhumanity to his fellow man.” The prisoners were forced to board the boxcars, which could accommodate only 50 people but were made to hold up to 150. The prisoners got off on the train terminal in Capas, and from there they were ordered to walk 10 kilometers to reach Camp O’Donnell, which Carringer described as a “death factory.” “We were burying a lot of our fellows there a day, and most of us were too weak,” he said. “We had to bury our own dead. They were buried in mass graves, just barely covered over,” Carringer says in a book owned by the D.H. Ramsey Library—Special Collections, in North Carolina.
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Post by VeeVee on Apr 8, 2012 21:34:24 GMT -5
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Post by friscohare on Apr 8, 2012 22:30:47 GMT -5
Vic, that is an awesome website! Thanks for sharing. It's a must see for the Bataan buff. The banner alone is intriguing:
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Post by friscohare on Apr 8, 2012 22:32:43 GMT -5
WWII vets remember fallen comrades in Corregidor [/u][/url][/size] (GMA, 04/09/12) World War II veterans and their relatives disembark from the Navy's BRP Bacolod after a trip from Manila to Corregidor Island on Monday to celebrate Veterans Week at the Filipino Heroes Memorial Park on the island fortress.
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Post by friscohare on Apr 9, 2012 23:43:24 GMT -5
Joe Lajzer talks with his daughter, Katie Mason, at the nursing home. Said Mason of the death march: “... I am really shocked at how many people do not know what I’m talking about.”Bataan's survivors are almost gone[/u][/url][/size] (San Antonio Express-News, 04/09/12) Joe Lajzer is far into a long life and his memory isn't what it was, but folks who know him might think he'd never forget the Bataan Death March or life as a POW. There are gaps in his recollections and long pauses as Lajzer ponders his past, but old visions come back to mind with some gentle nudging. “Dad, did you have any pets in the prison camp?” his daughter, Katie Mason, asked while talking of the march that began 70 years ago today. “I had a pet at the prison camp,” he replied, thinking of a puppy that slept next to his head, “but they ate him.” At 93, Lajzer speaks softly and isn't easy to understand, but his story is still being told. Mason, 62, of Canyon Lake and others in his clan continue to share his tale. A small cadre of Americans determined to preserve the history of troops who survived the death march and brutal Japanese POW camps is doing the same thing. They're telling the stories because most of America's World War II veterans are dead. The VA projects that 1.5 million veterans out of 16.1 million who served will be alive in September. Caroline Burkhart, vice president of the Descendants Group of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, said 200 or so survivors of those battles might be alive. “Most of them spent 3½ years in Japanese POW camps under the worst conditions,” said Burkhart, 64, of Baltimore, Md. They were starved and brutalized after Bataan fell, and an estimated 75,000 or more American and Filipino troops marched 55 miles. It was a savage journey, with thousands dying or fleeing into the jungle. Lajzer lagged after hearing that weak troops would ride in a truck, but ran for his life as a soldier charged him with a bayonet. “If a Filipino or somebody tried to slip some water to one of the POWs, the Japanese would either bayonet them or just with their swords cut off their heads, behead them, or shoot them,” said Joe Alexander, a San Antonio native who lied about his age to join the Army. He was a POW at 15. Abel Ortega was a private at the time of his capture. He died two days after his 90th birthday in August 2009, but he never forgot the sting of defeat and the horrors that shadowed captivity. His son heard the stories as a child but only later realized their importance. “You just kind of took that for granted, that you knew in your mind your dad was a war hero, he was a POW, he was on the Bataan Death March,” said Abel Ortega Jr., a San Antonio insurance claims adjuster. “But it probably didn't sink in until, I guess, I was in my early 20s and I was reading a book by another POW,” he continued. “It hit me at that point and I couldn't wait to get home that afternoon and run in and give Dad a hug and a kiss, and then tell him how much I loved him and respected him, and how much he was my hero.” The Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor was started by the survivors, but their 2009 convention in San Antonio was the last the POWs put on. Since then, the descendants group has taken over that task and also educates students. The story, however, isn't known to everyone. A ninth-grader in Idaho wrote Lajzer, “I'd never heard of it before. It's tragic that we, as people, would allow that to be forgotten so quickly.” “I have no problem telling people about the Bataan Death March and I am really shocked at how many people do not know what I'm talking about,” Mason said after sharing the letter. The stories are surreal. Even before Bataan fell, medicine was scare. Food rations were cut twice during the 1941-42 siege. “My dad told about eating monkeys and finding snakes,” Burkhart said. “It's horrible,” said Alexander. “We don't talk much about it because things that happened were hard to believe unless you were there. You tell people things and they tell you, ‘It can't be.'”
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Post by friscohare on Apr 9, 2012 23:46:50 GMT -5
Upland Chronicles: Whaley was part of infamous Bataan Death March[/u][/url][/size] (The Mountain Press, 04/09/12) Silas J. Whaley grew up in Big Greenbrier Cove where Whaleys were a dime a dozen. His great-great-grandparents, William and Mary Ann Ogle Whaley, settled in the Porter’s Creek section of Big Greenbrier, which was then called “the Injun Nation” around 1830, where they raised 15 children. Born June 1, 1914, Silas was one of eight children of William McPherson “Mack” Whaley and Pearlie E. Whaley. His siblings included Ferrida, Willard, Carlos, Flora (McConnell), Lillard (Chance), Burl and H.R. After an earthquake occurred in 1916, Silas’ father, Mack, was working at the foot of Brushy Mountain in a field just above the spring when his mother, Pearlie, went out to fetch some water and discovered the spring was dry. By the time Pearlie called Mack and he arrived the water was again flowing. Water would flow from the spring for seven minutes and then stop for the next seven. Mack made a long trough out of lumber and placed it through the rocks so the water would flow outside. The water would rise and overflow the trough. People came from near and far to witness the mysterious “Spasmodic Spring.” While growing up, Silas played in the hollows, streams and fields in Big Greenbrier Cove. Along with his entire family, he attended Friendship Missionary Baptist Church. As a child, he often entertained family and friends by contorting his stomach into unimaginable positions. As a matter of fact, Silas could suck in his stomach until it appeared as if he had no stomach at all. The family moved to Sevierville when the Great Smoky Mountains National Park acquired their farm. Homesick for the mountains, His father died in 1932 and his mother passed away a year later. After attending Sevier County High School where he played football, Silas moved away. His sister Lillard Chance later recalled “He just couldn’t stand it around here after our momma died.” Using his unique ability to contort his stomach as a means of employment, Silas traveled around the country performing in circus acts and county fairs. He billed himself as “The Man without a Stomach.” In a letter to his sister dated Feb. 27, 1941 Silas wrote, “Surprised to hear that I am in the army? I didn’t wait for the draft, but enlisted for three years. I am leaving for the Philippine Islands. … Maybe I will get to see some action over there against Japan.” Pvt. Silas Whaley was stationed on Corregidor Island in Battery G of the 60th Coast Artillery Regiment where he was assigned to the communications section and had a job stringing telephone lines. In the last letter Silas wrote to his sister, dated Nov. 23, 1941, he inquired about Christmas gifts and home. He asked about the weather in Sevierville, comparing it with 100-degree temperature in Philippines. Silas hinted that the U.S. might soon be at war with Japan, concluding “we can whip the Japs in 6 months. Answer me soon and don’t worry. I’ll be O.K keep writing to me often.” In May of 1942, Corregidor Island fell and the Japanese captured the American soldiers including Pvt. Whaley and forced them to march to a prison camp in what became known as the Bataan Death March. On May 7, 1942, members of the Whaley family in Sevier County received news from Washington that their brother was a prisoner of war of the Japanese. Later they were informed that he had died in captivity. The following year his sister Lillard Chance received a certificate of meritorious from President Roosevelt, which stated “In grateful memory of Private Silas J. Whaley, A.S. No. 190506483, who died in the service of his country in the Southwest Pacific area. He stands in the unbroken line of patriots who dare to die, that freedom might live.” A survivor of the death march, writer Abie Abraham, wrote about his experiences in a book, “Ghost of Bataan Speaks.” He told of the torture and impossible conditions the soldiers endured on their forced march. Abraham and Whaley built a bond while enduring the unimaginable conditions of the prison camp. In the book, Abraham mentioned that Whaley often reminisced about his friends, raccoon hunts and how beautiful the mountains were in Sevier County. Gen. Douglas MacArthur assigned Abraham to walk the Death March trail again at the end of the war, looking for American soldier’s graves and disinterring the dead so their bodies could be sent home to be buried near their families in the United States.For more than two years Abraham discovered graves that contained the bones of thousands of soldiers who had fallen along the way and hundreds who were shot by Japanese firing squads because they were too sick to keep up or were executed as examples of Japanese authority. Abraham found Whaley’s grave and with it a bottle with a note inside. He said the note read, “Tell Mom good-bye for me.” However Whaley’s relatives believe Abraham misread it because their mother was already dead. Silas often called his sister Moll. Her full name was Lillard Molly, and the Whaley family believed the note was meant for her. The date Pvt. Whaley died is recorded as May 21, 1943. His remains arrived in Sevierville on April 20, 1949. Silas is buried near his parents in the Pigeon Forge Baptist Cemetery. Abie Abraham later wrote a second book, “Oh God where are you?”, detailing more stories about the infamous Bataan Death March. Abraham died on March 22, 2012, in Butler, Penn. He was 98. On the dedication page of a copy of “Ghost of Bataan Speaks” he sent to Silas’ sister Lillard Chance, Abraham wrote “In memory of Private Whaley who bravely fought in defense of the Philippines. Sevierville can be proud of such a brave soldier.”
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Post by friscohare on Apr 9, 2012 23:52:40 GMT -5
Cpl. Tillman Rutledge, an undated photo, likely 1947 or later. (Rutledge joined the Army Air Forces in 1946 and stayed in the Air Force until his retirement. The photo has him wearing a USAF non-com's uniformA Texan Remembers Bataan[/u][/url][/size] (Houston Public Radio, 04/09/12) Tillman Rutledge was seventeen when he joined the Army in 1941. He’d just had a fight with his girlfriend, the head cheerleader at his high school in Merkel. “I decided I’d show her. So, the recruiting sergeant at Abilene, Texas said, ‘Join the Army, and see the world.’ Well, he was right. It took me five years and eight months to get back to my family.” Rutledge was shipped to Manila to join the 31st U.S. Infantry Regiment. Eight months later, Japan invaded the Philippines. Rutledge soon found himself part of a fighting retreat on the Bataan Peninsula. He and his fellow soldiers held out for more than four months. But on April 9, word came down that General Ned King had surrendered the U.S. and Filipino forces. Rutledge’s unit was sent to Mariveles at the southern tip of Bataan. The Japanese put them on the Old National Road to begin a forced march of 55 miles. The men received no medicine, no food, no water. They marched day and night in broiling heat. Those who slacked their pace or broke ranks were beaten, shot, even run over with tanks. “They seemed to take great glee in bumping us off. If you fell on that march, and nobody helped you, you were gone.” Those who made it as far as San Fernando were sardine-packed into boxcars and shipped to Camp O’Donnell, a Philippine Army base the Japanese had turned into a POW camp. Many survived the march only to asphyxiate on the train. “Twenty-two thousand people disappeared in a matter of nine days.” There was no relief at O’Donnell either. The Japanese told the men they were not prisoners of war but captives and would receive no mercy. They worked the men to exhaustion. Malnutrition and disease ran rampant. “They were carrying them out the barracks up to what they called the hospital. Well, men hid under the barracks to keep from going. It wasn’t a hospital. It was nothing but a morgue.” Rutledge survived O’Donnell, as well as a series of otherPOW camps in both the Philippines and Japan. I asked Rutledge what kept him going. He spoke of Charlie Davis, one of his many friends who didn’t make it. “Charlie said, ‘I’ve had enough, Tillman. I just can’t do it anymore.’ I slapped him. I cussed him. I did everything I could to make him angry at me, enough to … but it didn’t do any good. And that’s the whole thing. If you ever give up hope, if you ever say, ‘Well, it’s no use, we ain’t going to make it.’ You ain’t going to make it.” Now 88, Rutledge is one of a handful of Bataan survivors left. He’s determined to make sure people know the truth about the march for as long as he remains to tell it. A full account of Tillman Rutledge’s experiences on the Bataan Death March and as a POW, from his 1946 testimony: battlingbastardsbataan.com/till.htm.
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Post by friscohare on Apr 9, 2012 23:57:29 GMT -5
Bataan Day? What's that?[/u][/url][/size] (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 04/09/12) Err… Uhm… I don’t know. Several individuals in Caloocan City could not quite summon a response when asked if they knew why April 9 had been declared a holiday. Joey Isaias, a jeepney driver who plies the Malabon-Monumento-MCU route, took a few seconds to think before answering that the extra day was in anticipation of the heavy influx of motorists returning from the provinces after the Holy Week break. “Isn’t it because (the government) didn’t want vehicles to build up on the streets on Sunday or something?” the 45-year-old asked. Isaias said he had not watched television for a long time and had heard about the day being declared a holiday from friends. Asked if he had heard of the Fall of Bataan, or Araw ng Kagitingan, he said: “Yes, I think I have.” However, he said he could not remember what it was all about, he said. Even younger people were at a loss when they were asked why they thought government offices remained closed Monday. An engineering sophomore at a Malabon-based university who identified himself only as “Caloy” said that all he knew was that Monday had been declared a holiday. He did not really know why but it “didn’t really matter,” he said. What was important was that he had more time to play his favorite computer game. “Actually, I don’t know. I just know I’m playing Dota with my friends later,” he said with a laugh. He admitted that he had a history subject way back in high school, but everything that he had learned “had gone down the drain.” “After my exams, I completely forgot about everything already,” he said. He has not had any history courses in college yet, he said. Kat Villaruel, a stall vendor in her early 20s, scratched her head when asked if the Fall of Bataan rang any bells. Villaruel, who sells DVDs, admitted that she had never heard of the event, much less read anything about it. She doesn’t do much reading in the first place, she said. “I usually get information by watching TV, but I haven’t been watching lately,” she said. Asked why she thought Monday had been declared a holiday, Villaruel replied, “Honestly, I don’t know.” ___________________________________ Why Bataan warriors surrendered[/u][/url][/size] (Cebu Daily News, 04/09/12) (On April 9, 1942, the US commander of Luzon forces in Bataan surrendered more than 76,000 men, mostly Filipinos to the Japanese. Most of the prisoners of war were forced to endure a 90-mile “death march” to captivity at Camp O’Donnel in Pampanga. — Editor) April 9, 1942, is a day etched forever in hearts of the brave men who fought in Bataan. A day when the Filipino nation mourned while the Free World pondered with awe. Japan thought the Philippine Islands would be captured in a few days of fighting and feared that impregnable Singapore would fight for as long a year. They guessed wrong. Singapore crumbled in less than two months. Bataan fought off Lt. General Masaharu Homma’s 14th Army for three humiliating months before capitulating. But not in shame. Never in Asia, in the 1940s had so few fought so many for so long under the most adverse of circumstances. The USAFFE defenders in Bataan were outnumbered and outgunned by seasoned combatants of the Imperial Japanese Army, which was supported by war ships, bombers, and fighter planes, tanks, and cavalry fighters. They were well fed, amply supplied with medicine to treat their wounded. The G.I. Joes of the U.S. Army and the Filipino soldiers of the Philippine Army were unceasingly exposed to hunger. Food ran out in the first month of battle. The rest of their food supplies and medicines remained in the warehouse at Manila Harbor awaiting transport to the battlefield only to be looted by civilians or captured by the Japanese Army. The Bataan defenders had to suffer the onslaught of malaria. No mosquito nets were issued to Philippine Army soldiers in the USAFFE unlike the American troops and Filipino troops of the Philippine Scouts, a contingent that was part of the U.S. Army. The canvass shoes with rubber soles issued to Filipino soldiers in USAFFE wore out during the flawed training process making them victims of hookworm attacks because they were barefoot in the Bataan battlefield. American troops and the Philippine Scouts wore sturdy leather boots. A surplus of leather boots lay idle in Manila warehouses. Their sizes were too large for the smaller feet of Filipino soldiers. No steel helmets, Khaki Uniform To underscore the discrimination of Filipino soldiers in the USAFFE, they were not issued khaki uniforms. They were given maong or blue denim uniforms. Neither did they get steel helmets like the Americans and the Philippine Scouts. Filipino soldiers were given cotton caps. Many went bare-headed. Filipino soldiers were issued hand-me-down World War I 1917 vintage Enfield rifles whose extractors snap into two easily without spare parts to replace them. The Americans and Philippine Scouts were armed with modern Garand rifles. In 1940 General Douglas MacArthur requisitioned 83,500 Garand rifles for the Philippine Army in USAFFE but the request was denied by the War Department in Washington for reasons unknown. The Americans and Philippine Scouts were given shelter halves and blankets. None were issued to Filipino soldiers in USAFFE who shivered in their fox holes in the cold night air in Bataan. Many caught colds and pneumonia with the exposure to the elements. Singapore fell because many of the colonial Indian troops of the British Army defected to the Japanese Army, falling victim to Japanese Propaganda that Asia was for the Asians. Filipino warriors of USAFFE in the Philippine Army fought and died with the Americans and the Philippine Scouts in the brotherhood of war despite their being discriminated in supply and weaponry. After learning than more than half of the Philippine Army warriors perished in Bataan, Commonwealth President Manuel Quezon wrote U.S. President Roosevelt on Feb. 8, 1942, for the U.S. to immediately grant independence so that the Philippines could declare a status of neutrality and request that U.S. and Japanese soldiers mutually withdraw from the Philippines in order to save the lives of remaining Filipino soldiers in Bataan. President Roosevelt wrote a personal message to MacArthur allowing the surrender of Filipino troops but not American soldiers in Bataan. General MacArthur refused. He wanted them to fight until the entire force of Bataan defenders was wiped out.
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Post by friscohare on Apr 10, 2012 0:00:25 GMT -5
Gov. Susana Martinez on Monday shakes hands with Tony Reyna, former Governor of Taos Pueblo and a Bataan veteran, at the outside the Bataan Building in Santa Fe where the New Mexico National Guard hosted a ceremony honoring the 70th anniversary of the surrender of Bataan in the Pacific theater of World War II.Veterans gather to commemorate Bataan anniversary[/u][/url][/size] (The Santa Fe New Mexican, 04/09/12) Members of the New Mexico National Guard, Gov. Susana Martinez, Santa Fe Mayor David Coss, and military officials gathered on Monday morning at the Bataan Memorial on Galisteo Street to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Fall of Bataan. About 1,800 soldiers from the 200th Coastal Artillery of the New Mexico National Guard were among the 70,000 soldiers to surrender at Bataan to Japanese forces and suffer the subsequent Bataan Death March. When the surviving veterans returned to New Mexico after World War II, they established the memorial and gather each year to remember their comrades’ sacrifice in the Pacific. The annual ceremony includes readings by army officials, a 21 gun salute, and music played by the 44th New Mexico Army National Guard band. Gov. Martinez was this year’s guest speaker. “Seventy years later," Martinez said, "we still feel the profound impact this had on our state.
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Post by friscohare on Apr 10, 2012 0:02:23 GMT -5
Japan reiterates apologies for WWII atrocities[/u][/url][/size] (GMA News, 04/09/12) The Japanese government on Tuesday reiterated its apologies for the “hardships and pain” they inflicted on many Filipinos 70 years ago during the World War II. “Seventy years have passed since those cruel days. I wish to pay my greatest tribute to those who endured hardships and pain. I solemnly pray for those souls who paid the ultimate sacrifice,” Japanese Ambassador Toshinao Urabe said in his speech during the Philippines’ commemoration of Araw ng Kagitingan in Mt. Samat, Bataan. “I also hereby express our heartfelt apologies and deep sense of remorse for the tragedy,” he added. He said the Japanese today are a far cry from the Japanese of past generations as they are now “solidly behind the peace constitution.” Urabe also thanked Filipinos for helping the Japanese people during trying times, particularly after last year’s earthquake and the ensuing tsunami and nuclear accident. He said that despite all the suffering during the war, Filipinos chose to stay with the Japanese in Fukushima even after the nuclear accident that resulted from the earthquake and tsunami. He also expressed appreciation for the statement of President Benigno Aquino III last year that the Philippines has had no greater friends than the United States and Japan. Urabe said the US is now their closest ally as he cited the 15 naval vessels, 140 aircraft and 16,000 personnel deployed by the latter to help them after the disaster last year. “They were hand in hand with the Japanese clearing the debris and transporting relief goods. It was a moment when many ordinary Japanese recognized that a friend in need is a real friend,” he said. He also thanked past Philippine leaders for having the wisdom to overcome the bitterness and choosing the strong alliance they enjoy today. “It is the responsibility of our generation and those who follow us to continue on this path by sharing fundamental values such as democracy, freedom, respect for human rights, and rule of law,” the Japanese envoy said. “We have… common ground. Peace and prosperity for all is what we seek. Sa pagkakaisa tayo ay malakas, sa pagkawatak-watak tayo ay babagsak,” he added. Japan has expressed apologies for the atrocities of World War II since 2009 in the US. In his speech, Aquino noted the alliance between the Philippines and Japan, saying history teaches that violence brings nothing. “Ang bansang dating kalaban ay isa nang kaibigan. Ngayon, nabubuhay na tayo nang mapayapa, at natutuhan ang aral ng kasaysayan: walang naidudulot ang karahasan; hindi matatamo ang kaunlaran kung hindi makikipag-ugnayan sa mga karatig-bansa; nasa interes ng lahat ang pakikipagtulungan,” he said. “Matagal nang natuyo ang dugong dumanak sa ating mga lupain; tinangay na ng hangin ang amoy ng pulbura; at naibsan na ang hapdi sa pagbabalik-tanaw,” Aquino added. ___________________________________ Japanese envoy apologies for atrocities to Phl during WWII [/u][/url][/size] (Philippine Star, 04/09/12) MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Toshinao Urabe expressed today apologies for the atrocities committed by then Japanese soldiers during World War II. "Seventy years have passed since those cruel days. I wish to pay my greatest tribute to those who endured hardship and pain. I solemny pray for those souls who paid the ultimate sacrifice. I also hereby express our heartfelt apologies and deep sense of remorse for the tragedy," he said during the Day of Valor rites held in Mt. Samat Shrine in Pilar, Bataan province. He said that the Japanese people now are far cry from the Japanese in those days. He said that despite all the sufferings during the war, the Filipinos now are the "most friendly people." Urabe also said that the United States, which fought hand in hand with the Filipino soldiers against the Japanese Imperial Army several decades ago, is now Japan's closest ally. On April 9, 1942, about 76,000 American and Filipino defenders on Bataan surrendered to the Japanese and they were forced to endure the so-called Bataan Death March wherein about 10,000 of them died or were murdered.
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Post by hughdotoh on Apr 10, 2012 8:00:01 GMT -5
Why does the Inquirer article claim racism and discrimination re: issue gear? Last I checked, the Commonwealth Army was under Commonwealth budget, and this was in an economy just starting to recover from the Great Depression.
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Post by VeeVee on Apr 10, 2012 21:30:32 GMT -5
Why does the Inquirer article claim racism and discrimination re: issue gear? Last I checked, the Commonwealth Army was under Commonwealth budget, and this was in an economy just starting to recover from the Great Depression. Those who write these news articles suffer from the same ignorance and bias of every other person. Let's just hope nobody would hang on to the words the report wrote and take them as facts.
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