|
Of the original group of POWs, there were about
1300 Americans and 300 others, mostly British who arrived in November
1942.
The Americans
had been defending Bataan and Corregidor in the Philippines. The
defenders of Bataan had fought fiercely, despite being on sharply
reduced rations for 4 months before they were surrendered to the
Japanese on April 9, 1942.
Roughly 80,000 American and Filipino men were
forced on the “Bataan Death March”. Some men marched as far as 70 miles
with no food or water as they suffered from disease and severe
malnutrition. Between 5,000-10,000 men died on the march. Those who
couldn’t keep up were killed by Japanese bayonets, swords and bullets.
Many were killed for no real reason.
The defenders of Corregidor continued fighting for
another month and were surrendered by General Jonathan Wainwright on 6
May 1942. While the men from Corregidor were spared the dealth march,
they too had been on reduced rations and were weak and malnourished.
The conditions at the Camps O’Donnell and
Cabanatuan were horrendous, offering little food, water or sanitation.
Disease ran rampant among the POWs, biting flies covered them, maggots
grew in festering wounds, shelters were so crowded that there was no
place to lie down, and men weak from dysentery and starvation were
forced to bury their friends. Another 18,000 men died in the first six
weeks at camps O’Donnell and Cabanatuan.
Next, the POWs
were taken to the port in boxcars with 100 men in each. There was no
food, water, sanitation, ventilation, or room to lay down. Men died
without falling until the boxcars were unloaded. The survivors were then
put in the holds of “Hell Ships” in conditions as foul as the camps.
They arrived in China to encounter freezing weather while wearing
tropical clothing.
The picture to the
right is of what is believed to be the last remaining box car in which
the men traveled from Cabanatuan to the coast to be shipped to Japan,
Korea, Taiwan, and China. |
Painting ”At a Roadblock on the Road to Bataan”
Donated by Tony Mehldahl
|
