Only a few are still alive
Most people are aware of Pearl Harbor but not too many people have even heard of the tragedy of Bataan. More soldiers died in Bataan than in Pearl Harbor and yet the defenders of Bataan do not even garner a footnote in today’s history. Many of them died of illness and starvation as America abandoned them in the battlefields of Bataan.
The price of peace was paid dearly by the defenders of Bataan . And yet, their place in history has been ignored, derided and even maligned. Despite the lack of training, meager resources and a broken promise from the United States that help was on the way, the men of Bataan fought a fierce and bitter battle that disrupted the timetable of the Japanese occupation enabling the Allied Forces to harness the resources that turned the tide of war in the Pacific.
After the fall of Bataan on April 9, 1942, around 63,000 Filipino and 12,000 American soldiers surrendered to the Japanese Imperial Army. Approximately 15,000 Filipino and 750 American soldiers, mostly sick and emaciated, died during the 60-mile march to their prison camp at Camp O’Donnell where more prisoners subsequently died. And yet, not even a year after the war ended, the veterans’ benefits of the Filipinos under the United States Armed Forces of the Far East were rescinded by President Truman in 1946. To this day, these rights have not been fully restored nor their sacrifices honored. Only a handful of the Bataan veterans are still alive and their memories of this seminal event are quickly fading. – by Cecilia Ilano Gaerlan