Bataan POWs

[Racerbvd]

A friends father was a POW there for 3.5 years, he was also ranking officer in his camp.
Here is his testimony.

[tcar]

My Father in Law was with them on Bataan... with the New Mexico National Guard.

And, like him, was in the Cavalry, a Captain.
They killed and ate their horses; they were starving.

He was trucked to prison camp where he stayed for over 3 years years. He thought he was on the last truck as everyone else that arrived were marched there (Bataan Death March).

For fun, the Japanese pounded nails into his ears....

He weighed 85 pounds when he was rescued.

Died at 57, with, his doctor said, the body of an 80 year old.

[KevinP73]

And these men went through these things strictly from a sense of duty to the country they loved. To call them "hero's" only starts to pay them the honor they deserve.
It sickens me to hear today's generation whine about trigger warnings and safe spaces. They don't deserve the freedom these men provided for them.

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by tcar

My Father in Law was with them on Bataan... with the New Mexico National Guard.

And, like him, was in the Cavalry, a Captain.
They killed and ate their horses; they were starving.

He was trucked to prison camp where he stayed for over 3 years years. He thought he was on the last truck as everyone else that arrived were marched there (Bataan Death March).

For fun, the Japanese pounded nails into his ears....

He weighed 85 pounds when he was rescued.

Died at 57, with, his doctor said, the body of an 80 year old.

We are finishing up a DVD from film that his was in, including the POWs (Col Tisdelle included) getting off the plane, his interviews from the MacArthur documentary, American Caesar

Col Tisdelle is featured 1st at 9:15 into the video, and again in 25:39.
Been a real history lesson

[Arizona_928]

Gramps was there. The stories I heard growing up.

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by AZ_porschekid

Gramps was there. The stories I heard growing up.

Watching the Japanese propaganda, then seeing what our troops actually had to endure is a real eye opener. Hard to imagine how anyone could be so brutal and inhumane as the Japanese soldiers were

[GWN7]

A neibour growing up was a Hong Kong Vet. Basically they sent about 2,000 men to Hong Kong and shipped their equipment on another ship. The second ship didn't arrive because the equipment was used in Manila instead. He came home weighing 80 lbs and was 6'3" Died in his early 60's.

[Arizona_928]

Check out the book "operation plum".
Talks about the unit my gramps was apart of. Good photos, and summary.
The death ships were pretty bad as well. Worse then the march imho

[flatbutt]

Reading about and watching documentary footage of Guadalcanal, Tinian, Pelelu, Iwo Jima really is stunning. Those men and yes the women who served as nurses in forward areas were made of sterner stuff than we have seen since, No disrespect to veterans of Korea, VietNam and the Sandboxes intended but damn WWII in the Pacific was brutal. Ken Burns did a film about it, it wasn't completely comprehensive but it covered enough to make you choke up more than once.

[Arizona_928]

Completely understand. But it's different war back then to modern day.
Hell back when we first invaded Iraq in 03; we rolled in with soft top hmmwvs or very minimal armored ones. I think that's the latest and greatest military force.

[GH85Carrera]

One of my friends was there. To the day he died he refused to buy anything "Jap" made and positively refused to say the word Japanese, he called them all Jap. He watched many of his friends brutalized and starved to death. The Nazis were brutal but the Japanese took it to a new level of horror.

[Jim Bremner]

And we hung very few for war crimes,

[pwd72s]

Truman made the right decision...

[svandamme]

Cool video, thx

[tcar]

Originally Posted by flatbutt

Reading about and watching documentary footage of ... Pelelu, ....

The Battle of Peleliu was a terrible mistake by the US.

Island had almost ZERO strategic value.

The loss of life by US Marines (and later Army) troops was horrific. Instead of 4 days, it took months to capture the island.
Highest casualty rate for any island battle.

The US, afterwards, decided that they should have just skipped over the island... left it alone.

The PBS series "The Pacific" (The Pacific series from "Band of Brothers" people) does a good job showing this battle and consequences.

[sammyg2]

My grandfather was on Bataan, then shipped to Corregidor right before Bataan fell. Then he was shipped to Guadalcanal right before Corregidor fell.

He was assigned to MacArthur's command and because for that, was shipped out before it got ugly.
Once MacArthur was put in charge of the heavens and earth, my grandfather's crew went right into the middle of it.
He was one of the guys who patched up Henderson field (under fire) every day.

Patton would have kicked the **** out of MacArthur.
Montgomery and MacArthur would have fought to a pitiful draw with lots of scratching, hair-pulling and tears.

[BE911SC]

Originally Posted by Racerbvd

Watching the Japanese propaganda, then seeing what our troops actually had to endure is a real eye opener. Hard to imagine how anyone could be so brutal and inhumane as the Japanese soldiers were

And none of the US veterans of their brutality asked for or demanded reparations.

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by BE911SC

And none of the US veterans of their brutality asked for or demanded reparations.

Because they were Real Men, not like the wussies today...

[Willem Fick]

Years ago I came across an old book in our local library called "the Knights of Bushido". It was a compilation of eyewitness accounts detailing the death march and Japanese atrocities in general. It left me shaken to the core. I only later came to know of Unit 731. Personally I cannot for a moment reconcile myself with the fact that more Japanese personnel were not brought before court (and executed).

[David]

If you visit Bangkok, Thailand and are looking for a side trip, a couple day visit to Kanchanaburi to see the bridge over the river Kwai and Hell Fire Pass along with the museums and cemeteries is worth the time to see and learn about other Japanese atrocities in WWII.