Preview

Bataan Death March

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
427 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Bataan Death March
Bataan Death March The Bataan Death March is infamous for being one of the greatest inhumanities of WWII.
In the spring of 1942, Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle led a raid and had American carriers set off a squadron of B-25s to Tokyo and other Japanese cities. This attack troubled the Japanese because they felt their homes were no longer safe. This was done even though in all earnest America was not exactly ready to battle Japan, but military command demanded them to do something (English 122).
The Japanese took thousands of prisoners and both American and Philippine captives were forced to march to prison camps. The Japanese treated the P.O.W.'s so poorly that U.S. war posters depicted them as inhuman monsters. Filipino's and GI's had to carry wounded and sick comrades in litters, and were beaten during this 6-12 day "death march" in scorching heat. Some ten thousand died on the way, fifteen thousand soon died after reaching the camp from disease, wounds and exhaustion.
On the part of survivors from the "death march" it became known as one of the greatest displays of heroism and human will power. Considering all of the prisoners that were taken by the Japanese, there were so many allied fighters all throughout Bataan that it had taken days and days before the word of surrender reached them all. The death march began at the Mariveles where Japanese forces accumulated around seventy-six thousand prisoners. Then went along to Camp O'Donnell and later moved to Camp Cabanatuan.
The Japanese supply line was barely sufficient to support their own troops, so the prisoners were forced to walk this treacherous terrain to the prisoner of war camp at Camp O'Donnell with no food or water.
The Bataan Death March was anywhere from 65-90 miles long. Prisoners were suffering from a variety of different things. They were exhausted, dehydrated, diseased, and starving. They were forced to stand next to fresh streams of water, but could not drink any of it. If a

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Kokoda Track Terrain

    • 325 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The soldiers there all struggled to have sleep which weakened them. The Kokoda track was so harsh that it captured many lives from both sides and left others starving. All in all the Kokoda Track was no stroll in the park.…

    • 325 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    On April 18th, 1942, James H. Doolittle planned and led the first air attack on Japanese after they attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor. This was the most daring operations by the United States in the young Pacific war at this time and was known as the Doolittle Raid. The attack was launched from the aircraft carrier Hornet. Doolittle wired a Japanese piece medal he had received prior to the war to the first 500 pound bomb to be dropped on Tokyo. In order for the over loaded planes to take off, the carrier had to run at full speed. The Hornet could hold sixteen planes and it was nearly impossible for the raiders to land back on the aircraft carrier after the bombing so they were forced to land in China.…

    • 292 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    at sea for days with little supply and hope to live. There are many reasons why the men died as a…

    • 466 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Eisenhower said, “Okay we will go,” on June 5th, 1944. Sending out over 20,000 airborne troops and 195,000 naval troops. Once the airborne troops landed, they headed into France to close off bridges and railways creating a brake for the Allies. On June 6th, 1944 all naval forces including 6,939 naval vessels and 1200 warships appeared through the fog on Normandy’s shore. The first attack by the Germans at 6:30 a.m. hitting a plane and destroying U.S. Destroyer loosing 24 men, and 240 surviving men were in 54°F water.…

    • 569 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    were an escape from the war, the death, and the suspicion of not returning home. Immediately upon the…

    • 464 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The putting of the Japanese Americans in these camps due to their background was a horrible…

    • 788 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    3. “They moved like mules. By daylight they took sniper fire, at night they were mortared, but it was not battle, it was just the endless march, village to village, without purpose, nothing won or lost. They marched for the sake of the march.” (Page 15)…

    • 1977 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many men were dying in this camp. May it be from disease or simply lack of supplies the focus of the matter is that they stayed until the end of their lives. They believed in this cause enough to never give up and had pushed through the hardships as much as one possibly could. About half of the men were far too ill for battle. (Doc. A) Every soldier was needed and haven been stricken with illness made every healthy soldier a necessity. Approximately 1800 to 2500 men had lost their lives to the wide spread disease so even the smallest attempt to help fight the war was very much appreciated. (Doc. A)…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    During World War II, a time of confusion and fear settled around America. Previously respected and average everyday citizens became feared and outcast by most people in the United States. “All citizens alike, both in and out of uniform feel the impact of war in greater or lesser measure (Justice Hugo Black).” The government declared that all the people of Japanese descent living along the Pacific coast be sent to live in concentration camps where the living arrangements were not the most pleasant and were overcrowded.…

    • 523 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    While some may argue that the Japanese in these internment camps were treated fairly, many returned to their houses after their captivity to find another (white) family living in them, and all of their belongings gone. But while the Japanese were in the camps, they were given enough food to live on, and lived in a quasi-communist environment, which is ironic considering the "anti-red" hatred and fear that was sweeping across the US. In the case of Manzanar, which is in the Sierra Nevada's, the interned were given one bunk in a large tar-paper barrack for each family, equal but small rations of food each week, and the able-bodied were given menial jobs that they were not paid for (i.e. building more barracks, although they had attended law school or had studied medicine.) (http://thesierraweb.com/lonepine/manzanar.html) But according to the aforementioned website, "The camp was surrounded by barbed wire." and "Guards with machine guns were posted at watchtowers, with orders to shoot anyone who tried to escape." These quotes were said by former California Congressman Norman Mineta, who was 10 years old when he was taken from his home in San Jose, California, and put onto a train headed to Manzanar. (http://thesierraweb.com/lonepine/manzanar.html)…

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    What was the role of the POW camps and what treatment was received by the prisoners and what did the prisoners do in the camps? During World War II over 140,000 prisoners were kept in Japanese’s camps. These camps took away the prisoners clothes, food and anything they have been carrying through-out the war. The prisoners who lived in these camps were contained by guards, the guards were cruel and abusive mentally and physically. These type of camps were often kept as a secret to the rest of the world. Prisoners were given jobs to do during the day to keep the busy and at the end of the day the lack of protein provided in the food is unreal. In the book Unbroken Louie was kept in one of these awful camps under strict rules made by “The Bird.” “The Bird” whose real name is Mustsohio Watanabe was in charge of everything and everyone in the POW camp.…

    • 270 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Australian Pows

    • 863 Words
    • 4 Pages

    100,000 POW’s were originally crammed into the space, however during the following weeks and months many moved out to labour camps across South-East Asia or to work along the Burma-Thailand railway. Changi was considered well-organised, with little Japanese interference with the POW’s, with only guards patrolling outside of wire fences. However, this left POW’s to fend for themselves – growing and scavenging food such as rice, boiled grass and any creatures unfortunate enough to cross their path – which included monkeys, rats and snakes. Australian POW’s were forced to work in the nearby area, including an airstrip for Japanese supplies, while simultaneously surviving on only 200 calories – half of what they needed – with one soldier writing that there were “6 deaths in 24 hours” caused by starvation (Stan Arneil, 1943). Pictures from the time show POW’s with sunken eyes, exposed ribs and bone thin limbs – much which was caused by cholera. It should be note that Changi was considered “safe” and “comfortable” compared to many other work camps – further indicating the horrendous experience of Australian POW’s in…

    • 863 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “These camps were surrounded by barbed wire and military police. Along with loss of freedom, family's shared a single room (often without plumbing and little heat), ate in communal dining halls,endured harsh weather, and suffered mental and physical stress of being confined against their will.”( Japanese American Internment) That means that many people lost their freedom and it also lead to many deaths and sickness. People were not getting much food, education and health care. With Fred Korematsu arguing against the constitution many people start to leave the United States to start rebuilding their lives. When people started to go back to their own countries the war started to die down due to the immigrants…

    • 600 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thier living quarters were crowded and dirty, they had to eat old food and moldy bread. “Their new home was a horse stall” (Carnes 97). Interned Japanese Americans had to live in whatever was available at the time. Sometime this included dirty, and poorly cleaned buildings. “The officers passed out cloth sacks for everyone to fill with hay for mattresses” (Carnes 97). This quote shows that the Japanese Americans had to sleep on an uncomfortable and rough bed every night. The location of the first camp was in San Bruno, California. The people in the camps were treated poorly by others. There were only two people who were not Japanese Americans when Sox’s family was dropped off at the bus location, one of the two was Mrs. Perkins. This woman provided work for Nee when she needed it. The camps were not entirely safe for the Japanese Americans but were fenced off and guarded by armed men. This was more to prevent escape than to prevent from getting in. Sometimes the guards would think that someone is trying to escape because they are too close to the fence and would shoot first and ask questions later. Congress needed a way to attempt to repay those who were interned and decided that $20,000 to each surviving internee along with a formal apology from the Nation. I think that this is fair for the most part. Although these people lived in horrible conditions with little possessions they deserved to…

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The meaning of the word death marches was where all these prisoners had to walk for miles to get to concentration and death camps. The event was the movement of prisoners in Germany.There was a significant role for the Nazis, it was that…

    • 431 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays