American and Filipino victims of the Bataan Death March
“WWII in the Pacific Victims of the Bataan Death March.jpg.” MMimedia. Public Domain. n.d. Web. 23 April 2013.
The Bataan Death March left 5,000-11,000 American and Filipino Soldiers dead and many more on the verge of death. The Japanese treated the innocent Japanese POW’s like dogs. Prisoners were shot, beheaded, bayoneted buried alive, tied to poles, hit with baseball bats, and worse (“Capture and March”). There were units called buzzard squads whose job was to murder stragglers (Peterson 4). The roads were covered with the dead bodies of American and Filipino Soldiers. Some guards were abusive, but if one was lucky, they would get nice guards (“Capture and March”). The prisoners were miserable. They only got two rice balls over the whole trip and no water (Peterson 3). One survivor said in his remembrance of the Bataan Death March that “I lost track of time. I had to blank everything out and focus straight ahead.” (Peterson 5). Another prisoner recalled that there was a Japanese soldier randomly swinging a baseball bat in the middle of the road who did not care who he hit (Peterson 5). To many people it seemed impossible that anyone could survive the Death March.