The Bataan Death
March
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You and your group began the march
on April 12, 1942?
Yes. We began walking the next morning. It was about eighty miles from where we
started to where we ended up. It doesn't seem very far, but we were in such
awful condition that eighty miles was a heck of a long way to walk. It took six
days to get to
On the first day, I saw two things I
will never forget. A Filipino man had been beheaded. His body lay on the ground
with blood everywhere. His head was a short distance away. Also, there was a
dead Filipino woman with her legs spread apart and her dress pulled up over
her. She obviously had been raped and there was a bamboo stake in her private
area. These are instances I would like to forget.
I'm sure. How awful! So, you started
marching at Mariveles and walked eighty miles to
No, but most prisoners did. The captured soldiers on the West Side walked
partially up the
What was the typical day like on the march?
We walked all day. At night, the Japanese took us to a field to sleep. You
would lie down and pass out right there.
You started at sunup and walked all day until night. Did you stop along the
way?
You just kept walking.
What would you do if you had to go
to the bathroom?
If anyone had to, they went right in
their drawers as they walked. If you stopped or got off to the side, you would
have been bayoneted or shot. I didn't go to the bathroom
because I had nothing to pass. Body fluid came out in sweat. I don't recall
going to the bathroom until we got up to
You just kept walking. There was no food or water during the day. At the
end of the day you were escorted to a field, or wherever they wanted you to
sleep. The next morning it would start all over again?
Yes. In the morning, we would get up and start walking. That went on for six
days.
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What was the Oriental Sun Treatment?
During the day, at some point, the Japanese would call a halt. We would go to
an open field and sit down. We just sat
there, the hot sun beating down on us like mad.
After an hour or so, they would get us up and we would start walking again.
Was there any shade?
If there was any shade, the Japanese found it. Guards still walked around where
we were. You could have slipped away any time, but where would you have gone?
The Japanese probably wanted to
rest. Did you have anything to keep the sun off you?
We had no shade whatsoever! I was fortunate because I had my helmet on.
They let you wear it?
Yes. Some other soldiers had helmets but many others were bareheaded.
Didn't everybody get terribly sunburned?
We were used to it. If you didn't have a hat on, though, it was tough.
Did the Japanese issue different clothing?
We wore the same clothes we had on when we were captured.
As you walked, were the Japanese constantly yelling and pushing or did they
just walk along with everyone else?
It depended on us. If we got below a certain walking speed, they would start
hollering. As long as you kept a fairly decent pace, they didn't say or do
anything. It wasn't a fast pace, just kind of shuffling along. The last two
days we walked in close formation.
The Japanese weren't too keen on a forced march?
No. They had to walk along with us.
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March
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Did you walk on the blacktop
highway?
Yes. We had been starved for such a
long time we were really run down. We looked like a bunch of stragglers. We
didn't get anything to eat for four days.
Along the way, Filipinos would try to give us food. The Japanese shot some of
them.
Finally, the last two days, everyone got one rice ball each day to eat.
How large were the rice balls?
They were about the size of the amount of rice you could get in a coffee cup.
You didn't eat a thing for
four days and you were already starved when you were captured.
That's right. We weren't given any
water either. There was good water all around us. Artesian wells flowing
everywhere! They would not let us go and get it. Men went stark raving mad!
Soldiers broke ranks and ran towards the water.
They went completely insane because they had to get it. They never got it! Of
course, you know what happened to them.
Our soldiers were shot
before they reached water?
That's right.
Did you ever drink stagnant water?
If you were lucky, that's just what you got. We drank foul smelling and
stagnant water from the ditches. Some guys got terrible diarrhea. Fortunately,
I didn't get any ill effects from drinking it.
There were clean artesian
wells nearby but you had to drink stagnant water?
Yes. You scooped it up as you walked.
We were not allowed to go to the artesian wells, which were about half a block
from the road. We were able to get water at night by collecting
canteens. You didn't dare get too many or they would rattle. We would handle
them very carefully and quietly sneak off to an artesian well. You held a
canteen under water and filled two or three of them. Then we came back and
passed them around. If the Japanese had
caught us, that would have been it! We would have been shot.
Fortunately, I was never caught.
Did they ever cook food in front of you but not serve it?
During the day, the Japs would tell us we would get
rice balls when we got to our nighttime destination. When we got to the field
where we were going to spend the night, you could see and smell food cooking
across the road.
They would give some excuse why we couldn't have any. I don't remember exactly
what the excuses were. They usually had to do with some phony rule infraction
on our part. Anyway, they would eat the
food in front of us but we wouldn't get any. I remember this happened two nights out of five on the march.
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Were you injured in any way on the march?
I don't remember what day it was because things were kind of hazy on the trip.
On the march out of
The Japanese showed no mercy to
anyone did they?
No. If people would fall down and
couldn't go any further, the Japanese would either bayonet or shoot them. They
also would bayonet prisoners who couldn't keep up.
Those who stepped out of line or had fallen out of ranks were beaten with clubs
and/or rifle butts. Some American
prisoners who couldn't keep up were run over by Japanese vehicles. I saw the
remains of an American soldier who had been run over by a tank. I didn't see
the actual event but the Japanese just left his remains in the middle of the
road. We could see them as we walked by.
Once you were put in a field for the night, did you ever have to get up and
march again?
Yes. They would make us march anytime! For example, we were put in the field at
the end of the day.
Just after we got comfortable and settled down, they would come and tell us to
get up. We would start out marching again. If they got us up in the middle of the night, we would march the rest of
the night and all the next day until night. Then, we were put
in a field again.
What about wounded
American soldiers?
They were expected to keep up like
everyone else, regardless of their condition. But, some wounded prisoners just
couldn't go on. They were either bayoneted, beat with clubs, rifle butts, or
shot. Some soldiers had diarrhea so bad that they couldn't keep up and the
Japanese shot them.
Did you ever see the "Buzzard Squads?"
No, I didn't see them because they were behind us. We heard them, though. It was their job to "take
care of" or "finish off" any stragglers or those who fell out
and couldn't continue. Each separate group on the march had
their own so-called "Buzzard Squad."
They would "clean up," i.e. murder anyone who fell behind?
Yes.
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March
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One of the most horrifying
aspects of this march was that some of our American soldiers were even buried
alive?
Yes. They were buried alive in slit
trenches, which we used for bathroom facilities.
When the trenches were almost full, the Japanese would take a detail of
prisoners to fill them up with dirt. On one occasion I saw a soldier who had
diarrhea really bad and went to the bathroom. After he finished, he could
barely get up. He slipped and fell backwards into the trench. The Japanese ordered the prisoner detail to cover him
up right there, which they did. They had no choice!
The Japanese were brutal and cruel to American soldiers?
I'll tell you, everything you have read or heard about those little yellow
slant-eyes happened on the march! After the march was over, I didn't see any
men buried alive.
What did the Japanese do with the bodies of soldiers who died or were
killed along the way or in the concentration camps?
On the march, they took their dog tags
off and left them along the roadside. I didn't actually see
this, but found out about it later. It was probably the only humanitarian thing
they did. As we walked along, we could
see the bodies of decomposing American soldiers and Filipino women who had been
mutilated and obviously raped. I'm sure the dogs in the area got fat!
In the prison camps the bodies were cremated.
They could have taken the dog tags off for insensitive reasons. If the bodies were ever found, they
couldn't be identified. Or, they could have kept them
for identification purposes. Did you see the Japanese driving American-made
vehicles, Fords, Chevrolets, and GMC's?
Yes. They would drive along the road in captured American equipment, hauling
troops, etc. The trucks had our big star on them with US Army and
What were you feeling and thinking about as you were walking along?
Once the march started, everything just
sort of froze in my mind. I was pretty numb the whole time. I didn't think and
I didn't feel. I was like a robot and just kept moving. Other than daylight or
dark, I lost all track of time. I had to blank everything out and focus
straight ahead. I lived from day to day, in fact, hour by hour. The only thing
I thought about was the moment and, "The good Lord willing, I'll get through
the day."
Were there any women on the march?
(Jane)
No. There were quite a few of nurses working at field hospitals in the
There were a number of marches. It wasn't just one long continuous march,
right?
Yes. We weren't one close-knit group by any means. When the Japanese got a
bunch together, say one hundred or so, that group would start walking. You
might get the impression it was one long line, but it wasn't. One group would
start and then a couple of days later, another one came along. When we got to
our destination,