The Siege of Bataan & Corregidor

The Siege of Bataan and Corregidor. Kissimmee Lakefront Park. , (Side 1) , Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan invaded the Philippines on December 8, 1941, forcing General Douglas MacArthur and his forces to withdraw to the Bataan Peninsula for their last stand against the advancing Japanese Imperial Army. The adjoining fortified island of Corregidor at the entrance to Manila Bay became the headquarters of all American and Filipino forces., Outgunned, they took on the Japanese on Bataan for 99 days, living on less than half-rations. With food, medicine, ammunition and any hope of being rescued gone, over 76,000 exhausted men - most of them Filipinos - surrendered to the Japanese on April 9, 1942. Corregidor, with its 11,000 defenders, fell on May 6, 1942. The prolonged defense of Bataan and Corregidor upset Japan's timetable and saved Australia., Then came the tragic Bataan Death March , the tortuous 65-mile trek to the prison camps with no food, water or rest. According to the International War Crimes Commission, 10,300 people , including men, women and children , died of disease, starvation, sadistic beatings and outright execution during the march. Many of those who survived the camps were shipped to Japan, Korea and Manchuria, and sold as slave labor to factories and mining companies., Of the 36,000 Americans who defended Bataan and Corregidor, only about 7,000 were left at war’s end. They received their campaign ribbons when they returned to the Philippines in September 1945, before heading to the United States., (captions) , Route of the Death March , The Assembly Point. American and Filipino soldiers streamed into Balanga by foot and by truck. As they gathered for what was to become a death march they were crowded into open fields under the hot sun. , Death March Begins April 9 , Transfer To Freight Cars , Trail’s End. The survivors who straggled through the gates of Camp O’Donnell did not know how many of their fellow soldiers had failed to make it., (Side 2) This monument , is dedicated , to the , Americans and Filipinos , who served , in defense of democracy , in the Philippines , during World War II , , especially in , Bataan and Corregidor, , and on the , Infamous Death March., A project of the , Filipino-American community , and , The City of Kissimmee , 1994.