Background Article

Two Death Marches

The Bataan death march survivors began arriving at Camp O'Donnell on April 12, 1942, after five to ten days of walking and pretty much ended by April 24, 1942.  Corregidor fell on May 6, 1942 and these prisoners were not involved in the infamous "death march".  There were 11,800 U.S. forces on Bataan and several thousand Philippine Scouts.  On Corregidor there were about 15,000 American and Filipino troops.

• Of the 11,800 American soldiers on Bataan on April 3, 1942 about 1500 were sick or wounded.

• About 9300 Americans reached Camp O'Donnell after completing the "death march".  Some had escaped to Corregidor before it fell in May.

• About 650 Americans died on the march.

• During the march, Japanese guards shouted commands in Japanese to the soldiers who fell out of the march.  If the prisoner did not rise, he was shot, bayoneted, or often beheaded by Japanese non coms and officers on the spot and left on the side of the road.

• Between 44,000 and 50,000 Filipinos arrived at Camp O'Donnell after completing the "death march".

• Estimates are that between 5,000 and 10,000 died on the death march.

• During the first 40 days in Camp O'Donnell, another 1,500 Americans died.  Another 25,000 Filipinos died by July, 1942.

• The survivors of Corregidor were held in the open sun for two weeks without shelter, before being taken across Manila Bay to Manila and then by train to prison Camp Cabanatuan.

• In June 1942 the Camp O'Donnell prisoners began arriving at Camp Cabanatuan also

• During the first 9 months at Camp Cabanatuan 3,000 additional American war prisoners died.

• During WW II 48% of allied war prisoners died in Japanese captivity while only 2% of war prisoners died in German captivity (not sure if this included the hundreds of thousands of Russian prisoners that were killed by the Nazis while prisoners).

• Dien Bien Phu in what is now called Vietnam, fell to the Viet Minh on May 7, 1954 after 56 days of WW I style, hand to hand, daily intense artillery bombardment type combat.  French defenders and their allies finally surrendered and were marched by the Viet Minh over 300 kilometers  to a general holding area.  Walking about 12 kilomers per day, it took about 25 days to make the trek.

• 3,700 French and allied wounded were forced to make the march, many walking on bandaged stumps. Almost no food or water was provided.  Anyone falling behind was left in the jungle.  The Viet Minh did not kill the stragglers which was the Japanese custom, they were just left to die.

Dien Bien Phu Statistics

• Many casualties went unreported as about 2,000 troops deserted but were all captured later.

• Estimated Additional Killed May 6 & 7 -        400

• Estimated Additional Wounded May 6 & 7 -  400

• Approximate number of war prisoners that started the final 300 kilometer march was 9,000 (3,700 wounded).

• An additional 858 wounded were held back at Dien Bien Phu and were eventually flown out under the truce

• Total captivity time lasted 4 months and about 4,500 of the 9,000 war prisoners died on the march or in the holding camp.

• The 4,500 prisoners who lived were all skin and bone similar to the Nazi concentration camp survivors of WW II and many never fully recovered from their ordeals.

I just read that a South Korean soldier age 72, who was taken captive by the North Koreans during the Korean War, recently escaped to China.  China returned the captive to the North Koreans in January, 2005 without hesitation.  How many allied troops captured during the Korean conflict, were left in captivity and never repatriated, is not known.

Mickey Moulder

The crazy Islamic fundamentalists are really scary but I think that the Chinese, Korean, Vietamese and Japanese penchant for cruelty during war time is equally cruel and inhumane.  We have two Japanese cars in our household (both Mazda's, hence Ford).  But does that make it right?  All of us now own Chinese made everything so go figure!

Time heals all wounds. Should it?

Mr. Bill Pollard who once lived and worked in Thailand for Ford, adds this footnote:

While living in Thailand I visited the site of the Kwai River bridge and a cemetery with 6000 military graves, mostly Brits and Austrailans.  Part of the railway still operates and for about a dollar you can ride the narrow guage train over the bridge and about 20 miles beyond.  The bridge still functions although the center spans were bombed out and later replaced.  There is no trace of the original wooden bridge left but it was used only briefly and replaced with the iron one within months of its completion.  The story of the building of that railway is enough to make you cry..

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