Bataan Death March
The Bataan Death March (Japanese: バターン死の行進 Hepburn: Batān Shi no Kōshin, Filipino: Martsa ng Kamatayan sa Bataan), which began on April 9, 1942, was the forcible transfer by the Imperial Japanese Army of 60,000–80,000 Filipino and American prisoners of war after the three-month Battle of Bataan in the Philippines during World War II. All told, approximately 2,500–10,000 Filipino and 100–650 American prisoners of war died before they could reach their destination at Camp O'Donnell. The reported death tolls vary, especially amongst Filipino POWs, because historians cannot determine how many prisoners blended in with the civilian population and escaped. The march went from Mariveles, Bataan, to San Fernando, Pampanga. From San Fernando, survivors were loaded to a box train and were brought to Camp O'Donnell in Capas, Tarlac.
The 60 mi (97 km) march was characterized by occasional severe physical abuse and resulted in some fatalities inflicted upon prisoners and civilians alike by the Japanese Army. It was later judged by an Allied military commission to be a Japanese war crime.
Full article...
Books/Sources
- Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath - Michael Norman
- Bataan: The March of Death - Stanley L. Falk
Youtube
- Bataan: A 70th Anniversary Commemoration | New Mexico PBS
- Col Glenn Frazier, Bataan Death March Survivor, Interview