A Loss of Honor? The Bataan Death March

• Index
• The Japanese Perspective
• Battle
• The March
• The Camp
• Liberation
• Afterword

Afterword
 

    In 1989 a Bataan Memorial March was started. It is an annual Army training marathon taking place in New Mexico. This marathon was established to honor the soldiers who defended the Phillipines in WWII and the many who died on the Bataan Death March.

Several memorials have been placed in honor of the soldiers who died on the Bataan Death March or in Japanese prison camps. The picture above is of a memorial at Camp O'Donnell.

Several times (1995, 1999, and 2001) POW and Civilian internee groups have sued the Japanese or Japanese companies asking for compensation under the War Claims Act ,which states that POWs and captured civilians can receive a certain amount of money for each day they are imprisoned. Each time the lawsuits have been unsuccessful.

Unlike the brutal treatment of the Japanese the Americans considered the troops very honorable for fighting so long and then living through the atrocities of the Death March. When they arrived home the American troops were met with parades in their honor and crowds cheering.

All photos used courtesy of National Archives unless stated otherwise.