Aug. 22, 2025 The Battling Bastards of Bataan We're the Battling Bastards of Bataan,No Mama, No Papa, No Uncle Sam,No aunts, no uncles, no cousins, no nieces,No pills, no planes, no artillery pieces,And nobody gives a damn! -Frank Hewlett, 1942 Return to Bataan Death March Overview.
April 29, 2015 Service and Sacrifice: Master Sergeant Charles B. Causey When the Japanese attacked the Philippines, Causey was the flight line maintenance chief of the 20th Air Base Group at Nichols Field. Causey survived the Battle of Bataan, an attack from a guard on the Death March, and three years in a prison camp before being loaded onto a hell ship.For two weeks,
April 29, 2015 Service and Sacrifice: Chaplain Robert Preston Taylor Chaplain Taylor was awarded a Silver Star for his bravery in Bataan for assisting with the evacuation of wounded from the front lines while under heavy fire before the surrender. On the Death March, Taylor was beaten and tortured during the March for helping others. While at a prison camp in
April 29, 2015 The Aftermath: Prison Camps and Hell Ships Due to Japan’s inhumane treatment of the POWs, as many as 11,000 died on the Death March. And yet, the survivors’ suffering was not over – more than 20,000 POWs died in the first two months of imprisonment at Camp O'Donnell. Thousands more died of malnourishment, disease, exhaustion, physical abuse,
April 29, 2015 Bataan Death March: Japanese Brutality The Bataan Death March began on April 10, 1942, when the Japanese gathered an estimated 78,000 prisoners (12,000 US and 66,000 Filipino) to march up the east coast of Bataan. The POWs were given no indication of how far or how long they would need to march through the intense tropical heat. The
April 29, 2015 The Last Days on Bataan On December 8, 1941, the Japanese destroyed two-thirds of the American aircraft in a surprise attack on Luzon. The island was home to both the Filipino capital city of Manila and headquarters of United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE). Within weeks, the Japanese invaded the island on
April 29, 2015 Service and Sacrifice: Captain William “Ed” Dyess As commander of the 21st Pursuit Squadron, Dyess flew aggressively against the Japanese whenever one of the few remaining P-40s on Bataan was serviceable. In defense of Bataan, he served as an Infantry Officer, leading his unit against Japanese amphibious landings. Before the surrender order was
April 29, 2015 The Provisional Air Corps Regiment After Japanese air raids decimated USAFFE bases and the relocation of operational bombers were diverted to Australia, the USAFFE were left with only a handful of aircraft. Without aircraft to support the remaining maintenance, communication, intelligence, ground, and aircrew squadrons formed two
April 29, 2015 The Battle of the Points In a gamble, the Japanese tried to outflank the main line by landing a force of 900 men on January 23, 1941, in southern Bataan, followed by another 300 reinforcements four days later. US and Filipino Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines, to include the PACR, fought from fortified beaches hoping to repel
April 29, 2015 The Cost of Being Unprepared While under siege, the US Army realized that there were inadequate supplies for the nearly 80,000 troops and 26,000 civilian refugees.Surviving on only 800 calories a day, the defenders of Bataan had been subject to three months of malnutrition, disease, and infection. By March, most of the troops