Posted on 08/09/2003 7:36:04 PM PDT by Tacis
LOL!
And that Ariel Sharon was behind it all.
Actually...it was launched from a Schwinn.
Right. Sure you did. Accidents do happen, I guess.
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 Camp O'Donnell. The first time I urinated, I thought I was going to die. It burned like sin.
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.
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.
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.
Alf Larson - Bataan Death March Survivor
A moment of silence for Mr. Alf Larson and his fellow prisoners please
Of course we can expect on December 7 this year and every year that the same recognition of Japan's attack on us at Pearl will be solemnly stated at CNN and other American news outlets. No? (/sarcasm)
Prairie
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