The Bataan Death March of World War II

In 2014 Elias Saavedra, of Albuquerque, New Mexico died, at the age of 96. Mr. Saavedra was one of the last surviving Americans who were forced to be part of the infamous Bataan Death March, one of the most horrific events of World War II.

In an interview after his father's death Mr. Saavedra's son related that his father rarely talked about his World War II experience. When he did, he invariably began to cry and became so emotional he would be unable to continue. As a consequence Mr. Saavedra's son never did learn much about the Death March---except that it must have been very, very bad. Elias Saavedra was a member of the New Mexico National Guard, whose 1,800 members at Bataan were particularly hard it by the Death March.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur served his country's Army in various capacities for an incredible number of years -- from 1903 to 1964. He had retired from the Army in 1937 to become the Military Advisor to the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines, where he is remembered most favorably.

However, in 1941, on the eve of World War II he was recalled to active service in the Army. In this capacity he was returned to the Philippines as Commander of the US Armed Forces in the Far East. He was at his headquarters in Manilla when the Japanese Army made its invasion of the Philippines, the day after their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7th, 1941.

The Japanese quickly wiped out the American Air Force in the Philippines, and their invasion of Luzon Island and the capital city Manilla was swift. (The Philippines is a nation in Southeast Asia, made up of over 7,000 far-flung islands in the Western Pacific, which made it the key objective of the Japanese expansion in World War II.) From Manilla MacArthur and his aides were forced to retreat to the Bataan Peninsula (on the island of Luzon), and hence to new headquarters in Australia, where General MacArthur directed Allied Forces in the Far East for the rest of the war. (It was at Bataan that MacArthur made his well-publicized promise, "I shall return!" -- a promise he fulfilled in October 1944, when the Allies regained control of the Philippines.)

In spite of severe shortages of food and ammunition, and no American naval or air cover, American and Philippine forces were able to hold out against the Japanese invaders on Bataan until April of 1942 when some 75,000 Filipino and American troops were forced to surrender to the Japanese army, under the command of General Masaharu Homma.

The sheer number of so many Filipino and American troops surrendering (double the number that Homma's intelligence had indicated) seemed to catch Gen. Homma off guard and there was immediate confusion as to what to do with so many wounded, sick, and weakened prisoners.

What followed was a forced march, from the area of the city of Marivelis, at the southern extremity of Bataan to the railhead at Balanga some 65 miles to the north, where the prisoners were loaded onto trains for shipment to concentration camps. The weather was hot, extremely so, in excess of 110 degrees fahrenheit.

Survivors told that the first thing the Japanese did was make the prisoners turn their pockets inside out. Several prisoners with Japanese money or trinkets made in Japan were taken behind one of the shacks in the village and shot summarily -- as an example of what would happen to anyone who had "stolen" Japanese goods.

Then, remaining prisoners were divided into units of about 100 for the 65 mille, five-day, march north. In the beginning there were some acts of kindness by some Japanese guards---sharing of food or water or cigarettes. But this was short-lived. What followed was unremitting cruelty -- brutality, theft, even knocking prisoners teeth out to collect the gold fillings.

One, Col. Masanobu Tsuji, wasted no time and (against Gen. Homma's orders that prisoners be transported peacefully) shot 350-450 Filipino prisoners soon after they were captured. Another junior officer started the false rumor that all American prisoners were to be executed.

During the march, prisoners were given little or no food or water. Many died from this and more from the beatings, abuse, and torture ' such as "sun treatment," where a prisoner was forced to sit out in the sweltering sun with no helmet or shade.

If a prisoner asked for water he was shot. Some were forced to strip naked, or sit in the oppressive sun within sight of a cool water bottle.

Trucks drove over some of the victims who had dropped from fatigue, unable to keep up with their group.

Cleanup crews shot or bayoneted prisoners too weak to continue. Some POWs were randomly beaten or stabbed to death. It is estimated that from 5,000-18,000 Filipinos and 500-650 Americans, who started the march, did not survive to complete the march.

Once the survivors reached the railhead at Balanga they were greeted with overcrowded conditions and poor hygiene, causing dysentery and other diseases, which spread like wildfire. The Japanese provided no medical care. The American Medics did what they could, but they had little or no medical supplies.

Prisoners continued to die in alarming numbers. One survivor told that he had personally taken part in the burial of over 1,000 of his fellow prisoners.

At Balanga prisoners were crammed into metal boxcars (at least 100 to a car) for the one hour train ride to Capas and the concentration camps.

It was at least 110 degrees. The boxcars were unventilated. There were no sanitary facilities. People were packed into the cars like sardines in a can. People passed out from the heat, but they couldn't fall to the floor -- they were packed in too tightly. Though exact numbers are unknown, many prisoners died on the trains.

On arrival at Capas prisoners were forced to walk another nine miles to Camp O'Donnel, for assignment to the concentrations camps. Large numbers continued to die, at the rate of several hundred a day -- in all, some 20,000 Filipino and American died on the death march and train trip. They were buried in mass graves. Of the estimated 75,000 POWs who had started from Marevelis, perhaps only 54,000 survived.

General Homma seemed to prosper in the aftermath of the Death March. He was chosen by the Japanese government to be the Minister of Information, in the new Kuniake Kose cabinet. However, in September 1945, after the allies had won the war, Homma was arrested, and charged by the Allies as a War Crimes instigator. He was charged to be responsible, on 43 counts, of "Crimes Against Humanity," and hauled before the War Crimes Court.

He pleaded not guilty to all charges, saying he had no knowledge of such atrocities, and the resultant deaths, until at least two months after they occurred.

In September 1946 the court found Homma guilty on all 43 counts. He was sentenced to death by firing squad.

That sentence was carried out in April, 1946, ridding the world of one more of the Despots of World War II.

-- Source World War II History/Bataan Death March