Group photo of 28 of the 30 survivors of the Bataan Death March who attended their second reunion held at the Bahnhof Hotel in Darmstadt, Germany, April 8-9, 1949. All survivors served in the European Theater of Command (EC) at the time of the reunion. The two women in the picture are most likely Mrs. Earleen Francis and Mrs. Carmen Sewell who both served as Army nurses and survived the Bataan march and married fellow survivors. A third U.S. Army nurse survivor who also attended the reunion was 1st Lt. Eleanor M. Garen. (Gordon Curvan/Stars and Stripes)
This article first appeared in the Stars and Stripes Europe edition, Apr. 9, 1949. It is republished unedited in its original form, including offensive terminology now considered offensive but commonly used at the time.
We had seen it coming for many weeks. The “Voice of Freedom”; from Corregidor had told us, “Help is on the way,” but now, with Hongkong, Singapore, Malaya and the Netherlands East Indies all in the hands of the Japanese army, and with the Japanese navy dominating the Western Pacific and the China Sea, all of us felt that help would not arrive in time.
Since Jan. 7, 1942, all troops in Bataan had been on half Filipino-rations. If you do not know what that means, ask a survivor. Medical supplies had been almost exhausted on the many casualties and the great number of malaria and dysentery cases, and no resupply was available.
Artillery ammunition had been strictly rationed since March 1. Grenades, mortar and small-arms ammunition were at-shockingly low levels, and no resupply was available.
The two hospitals were taxed beyond their capacity with malaria and dysentery cases. No more such cases could be sent them. New cases had to remain in organization areas to be treated by local medical corps men. In the majority of cases rest was the only treatment.
Since Jan. 26, when Japanese attacks from the north had forced the withdrawal of the I and II Corps to the reserve battle position, no ground had been lost to the enemy. They had made four landings on the west coast of Bataan – all of them pushed back into the sea. The enemy had dug a salient into the reserve battle position, but it was wiped out, although with heavy losses for us and annihilation of the enemy caught in the pocket.
The Japanese air force, with complete air superiority, had had a Roman holiday since our surviving bombers and most of the remaining P40s had gone to Australia. Gen. Douglas MacArthur had been ordered to Australia and Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright had become the commander-in-chief and had gone from Bataan to Corregidor.
The Japanese army had given us a rest since about Feb. 25. They had underestimated the job. They had sent a boy to do a man’s work. Why did not the Japanese let us starve to death and rot on Bataan and Corregidor? We believed oriental “face” was the cause. Now they were preparing for the kill.
Our intelligence reports indicated fresh troops were arriving, probably from Malaya. On March 22 our patrols ran into furious opposition, indicating a closer approach to our lines of heavier Japanese forces. New Japanese warships joined the craft already in Philippine waters.
Two of the survivors attending the Bataan Death March reunion in Darmstadt, Germany on April 8-9, 1949. Possibly Mrs. Eileen Francis and her husband, Maj. Garnet P. Francis. Mrs. Francis was a U.S. Army nurse when serving in Bataan. (Gordon Curvan/Stars and Stripes)
Survivors of the Bataan Death March at their reunion held at the Bahnhof Hotel in Darmstadt, Germany, April 8-9, 1949. The two women in the picture are most likely Mrs. Earleen Francis and Mrs. Carmen Sewell who both served as Army nurses and survived the Bataan march and married fellow survivors. (Gordon Curvan/Stars and Stripes)
On March 25 the Japanese air force increased its bombing of Bataan along our front and rear areas. The few prisoners caught alive were from fresh divisions. On the night of March 28-29 the enemy hit our II Corps (on the east flank) but by morning the line had been reestablished. On March 30, as if in reprisal, the Japanese air force bombed the base hospital on South Bataan, killing men on their stretchers and nurses and doctors who had stayed at their sides. On, March 31 the Japanese Manila radio said, “the raid was unintentional.”
The Battle of Bataan took on a sinister note from the morning of April 3 on. The enemy shelled the positions of the I and II Corps and their infantry tore holes in the middle of the II Corps. New waves of shock troops hit the II Corps line on the night of April 4-5, and Japanese barges, mounting 75-MM guns, struck the rear of the II Corps from Manila Bay.
The situation on the II Corps’ front grew worse and the enemy, with new companies of tanks, supported by dive bombers, drove deep holes in the II Corps positions on April 5. Continued attacks caused the beginning of the disintegration of the II Corps on April 6 and 7; the situation was hopeless.
Maj. Gen. E. P. King, Jr., the commander of Bataan, sent his chief of staff to Corregidor to inform Wainwright of the hopelessness of the situation and the fact that he might have to surrender.
Wainwright, who had his orders from MacArthur not to permit surrender, sent back a message to King not to surrender but to attack.
To the garrison on Bataan, ill-fed, depleted from malaria and dysentery, with medical supplies, food and ammunition running out, this order was given without a full realization of the conditions in Bataan.
On April 8 the II, Corps was again rolled back, even though available troops from the I Corps, on the west side of Bataan had been rushed over to help stem the tide. So, at 6 am on the morning of April 9, King sent the Japanese an offer of surrender. The Japanese accepted, but the order to cease fire did not get to the Japanese front lines for another 24 hours.
The firing eventually stopped and the Japanese moved in to enjoy the spoils. The terms of surrender required all U.S. and Filipino troops to assemble at their various headquarters, pile their arms and all military equipment and await the arrival of Japanese officers.
On the arrival of the Japanese, the U.S. officers and troops were told to take whatever baggage they could carry and were directed to march to the south toward Mariveles. The Filipino officers and men were segregated but marched by the same roads.
Japanese soldiers looted everything they desired — rings, watches, fountain pens, knives and pesos. At points along the road the prisoners were required to deposit all baggage. Each prisoner was then directed to keep his canteen, mess kit, one blanket, one change of underwear and one change of socks and his toilet articles.
The Japanese had made no provisions for feeding or providing water for their captives. The weather was hot, the sun was bright and brassy. So, from the surrender of Bataan, started the nightmare and the horrors of the Death March — the trek from southern Bataan to San Fernando, a long, slow, tortuous march. For some it meant disease from which they never recovered; for others, death from a Japanese bayonet or pistol; and for the rest the humiliation and the horrors of Japanese prisoner-of-war camps.
Will our country always be so shortsighted? Is our way of self-government so unwieldy that a repetition of Bataan can occur? Lest we forget — recall sharply and vividly the days of Pearl Harbor, the fall of Bataan, the fall of Corregidor.
About the author:
Brig Gen Clinton A. Pierce, now Augsburg Military Post commander [per 1949 ed.], was promoted during the battle of Bataan to brigadier general, and the same day became the first American general to be wounded.
When Bataan surrendered, Pierce was taken prisoner by the Japanese. He was among those Americans forced to take the Death March, from Bataan south to San Fernando.
After three years, Pierce was liberated in Manchuria by the Russians on Aug. 25, 1945.
