History of the Bataan Death March Memorial

History of the Bataan Death March Memorial. . , World War II came to the Philippines the same day it came to Hawaii (December 7, 1941) and in the same manner-a surprise air attack. In the case of the Philippines, however, this initial strike was followed by a full-scale invasion of the main island of Luzon three days later. By early January, the America and Filipino defenders were forced to retreat to a slim defensive position on the island's wester Bataan Peninsula. , The American and Filipino forces fought from an untenable position until formally surrendering to the Japanese on April 9, 1942. The Japanese immediately began to march some 76,000 prisoners (20,000 American, the remainder Filipinos) northward into captivity along a route of death. When three American officers escaped a year later, the world learned the unspeakable atrocities along the 60 mile journey that became known as the Bataan March. , Japanese butchery, disease, exposure to the blazing sun, lack of food, and lack of water took the lives of approximately 5,200 American along the way. Many prisoners were bayoneted, shot, beheaded or just left to die on the side of the road. "A Japanese soldier took my canteen, gave the water to a horse, and threw the canteen away," reported escapee. "The stronger were not permitted to help the weaker. We then would hear shots behind us." The Japanese forced the prisoners to sit for hours in the hot sun without water. , The ordeal lasted five days for some and up to twelve days for thers. Although the Japanese were unprepared for the large number of prisoners in their care, the root of the brutality lay in the Japanese attitude that a soldier should die rather than surrender. A warrior's surrender meant the forfeiture of all rights to treatment as a human being. Of the 20,000 American troops surrendering only 1,700 survived. , Four of the American soldiers who survived the inhuman treatment of the Bataan Death March were from Wood County, Wisconsin, namely: Elmer Blonien of Rudolph, Clinton Guelzow of Wisconsin Rapids, Floyd Dotter of Pittsville, and Peter Karaliunas of Blenker. Blonien died following the contracting of malaria and eventual infection of his spleen. A Japanese doctors attempt to remove his infected spleen resulted in his death in the prison camp in Cabanatuan, in the Philippines. Guelzow, Dotter and Karaliunas spent the balance of their 3 1/2 years in Japanese prisons where they were forced to work in copper and coal mines before being liberated from prison camps following the dropping of the atomic bombs and were eventually returned to their home towns, families and civilian life. , Following the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945, the eventual date of surrender took place on August 15, 1945, hence freedom for all the prisoners of war. , The United State of America used the atomic bomb against those who attacked us without warning at Pearl Harbor, against those who had starved, beaten or executed American prisoners of war. It was used in order to shorten the agony of war and in order to save the live of thousands and thousands of young Americans.