Bataan Memorial Death March Honors World War II Soldiers

Special to American Forces Press Service ^ | Army Staff Sgt. Anna Doo

[Dubya]

[Dubya]

[Dubya]

[JennysCool]

Pinging you to this outstanding thread, Ronnie. Thank you, Dubya.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Wisconsin Army National Guard Soldiers...ROCK! :)

[LeavingNewYork]

Thanks very much for posting the info regarding Sgt.Siffleet.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

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NEVER FORGET

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American Veterans sharing their heroic stories with all...

...of their selflessly bringing more FREEDOM, and thus more LOVE, to the world:

The FREEDOM Committee of Orange County

http://www.fc-oc.org

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NEVER FORGET

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[Pyro7480]

Thanks. My great uncle John died of starvation during the Bataan Death March. RIP.

[Oatka]

Good post I had not seen that before.

Thanks. MacArthur should get a lot of the blame for that one. I've read both sides of the arguments, but his decision not to fall back to Bataan immediately, as per Plan Orange, was one a major factor. Everybody knew that we'd be at war with Japan** but Mac didn't do anything to build roads/defences on the peninsula. Then, after his disastrous retreat from the Lingayen beaches, he abandoned TONS of badly-needed food that would have let the troops survive a couple of more months.

Bataan surrendered April 9 - two months later, on June 7 we broke the back of the Jap Navy at Midway. Plan Orange was that as soon as war broke out, the troops were to hole up in Bataan and wait for the Navy. With the navy badly damaged at Pearl Harbor, that altered the timetable, but had those troops been fed right and held out longer, who knows?

For a sea-going version of Bataan, check out "The Asiatic Fleet" Except for the heavy cruiser Houston, the whole fleet was obsolete - and it was sent up against the world's third largest navy. Halfway down the page is a list of ships - only the subs, a badly-damaged WWI light cruiser, and a handful of the destroyers got out, everything else was sunk or scuttled.

**Back in the mid-'50s I worked with a gal who lost her husband at Bataan. She was on a ship that carried the troops over there in early '41. She said that as they went through the Panama Canal, people on the docks would yell "SUCKERS", as it was obvious war was coming.

Probably more that you wanted to know, but your reply caused me to get on my soapbox. :-)

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

I am watching “We Were Soldiers” on TNT. I often think of you, Rick Rescorla, and every other brave person who stood up for us.

Thank you—and I will never, ever forget.

[ALOHA RONNIE]

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Thank you for your kindness, Protect the Bill of Rights.

And for your LOVE of FREEDOM, as well.

http://www.Freerepublic.com/~aloharonnie/

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AR

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