Bataan Death March

[rayjay]

I have been watching several documentaries on the March in the last couple days. Why are they shown now? Maybe its because of the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII, maybe its to justify our use of atomic weapons to end WWII, but I'm reminded of conversations over our kitchen table after my Dad and friends had a few pops. We can never let these atrocities happen to our country men again.

[danbike]

I have been watching several documentaries on the March in the last couple days. Why are they shown now? Maybe its because of the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII, maybe its to justify our use of atomic weapons to end WWII, but I'm reminded of conversations over our kitchen table after my Dad and friends had a few pops. We can never let these atrocities happen to our country men again.How come the US media reports stories about the people who perished in the A bomb attacks on Japan, but then never discuss the Allied Soldiers who died at the hands of their captors in the Imperial Japanese Military. Seems like the news is being reported from only one perspective. Then again, I guess we have to recognize that our media is not telling the entire story, but rather, telling the story that they want told.

It is interesting to read news stories about the US in foreign media. Seems our press leaves a bit out of their reports.

SON OF A VETERAN OF BOTH WW2 and the Korean War.

[Bluerauder]

We can never let these atrocities happen to our country men again.
I once worked with a guy who was a survivor of the Bataan Death March. Don't think you would ever see him in a Honda or Toyota ... to put it mildly. :(

[cruzer]

I had 2 brothers who would have been in the invasion of Japan---the dropping of the A-bombs saved hundreds of thousand lives---both American and Japanese--thank God for Harry Truman (in Ginny's and my family there were 11 combat veterans--thank God they all came home)--if you weren't there, you are not qualified to judge anyone for the decisions that were made--Sunday morning quarterbacking doesn't work when you are at war IMHO, Maury

[GreekGod]

:flag: They started it, we finished it. My dad was a POW in Germany for 6 months and received a Purple Heart for frostbite as a POW. He was captured in combat in the battle for Schmidt (Huertgen forest) while serving with the 28th Division. He was on R&R in Miami, Fla. and would have started training for the invasion of Japan if the war didn't end when it did. One plan for the invasion was to use A-bombs to pave the way! Imagine how many GI's would have died from radiation sickness by following a barage of A-bombs! Cruzer, we salute you and yours!:flag:

[rocknrod]

My dad was a British Commando in (Dubya-Dubya Eye Eye), Essex Brigade. Most people have never heard of Diepe Beach in France. The British launched a amphibious raid and were soundly beaten. My dad was one of those men on the beach. After running out of ammunition he ended up throwing rocks at em. Thank God the German commander finally came down and told them to nock it off, instead of shooting the last of the men (they shot most of them). He was a Prisoner of war. Escaped, captured. Escaped again. And fought with the underground until the Americans showed up. Four years latter. He was born right here in the good old USofA.
He retired from the Air Force.

[seans]

My dad was a British Commando in (Dubya-Dubya Eye Eye), Essex Brigade. Most people have never heard of Diepe Beach in France. The British launched a amphibious raid and were soundly beaten. My dad was one of those men on the beach. After running out of ammunition he ended up throwing rocks at em. Thank God the German commander finally came down and told them to nock it off, instead of shooting the last of the men (they shot most of them). He was a Prisoner of war. Escaped, captured. Escaped again. And fought with the underground until the Americans showed up. Four years latter. He was born right here in the good old USofA.
He retired from the Air Force.

Websters Dictionary

HERO: ROCKNROD'S Dad!

[Fourth Horseman]

My dad was a British Commando in (Dubya-Dubya Eye Eye), Essex Brigade. Most people have never heard of Diepe Beach in France. The British launched a amphibious raid and were soundly beaten. My dad was one of those men on the beach. After running out of ammunition he ended up throwing rocks at em. Thank God the German commander finally came down and told them to nock it off, instead of shooting the last of the men (they shot most of them). He was a Prisoner of war. Escaped, captured. Escaped again. And fought with the underground until the Americans showed up. Four years latter. He was born right here in the good old USofA.
He retired from the Air Force.

You've got to love that courage and determination to never quit. Out of ammo? Back to the ol' Mk.1 rock. I'd like to think that I'd have that kind of guts if in a similar situation, but I don't know. Amazing!

[GreekGod]

Wasn't the Diepe raid a 'practice' attack for the D-Day landings? rocknrod- did your dad join Essex Brigade as a U.S. citizen? The willing as well as the unwilling who served in combat were ALL heroes but I suspect rocknrod's dad would say the real heroes are the dead that paid the ultimate sacrifice.:flag:

[CRUZTAKER]

....then never discuss the Allied Soldiers who died at the hands of their captors in the Imperial Japanese Military.
Uhh huh...and the stories of cannibalism.

I am proud of all of them....my father as well. Pearl Harbor survivor. 1926-2000.

[BlackHole]

Wasn't the Diepe raid a 'practice' attack for the D-Day landings? rocknrod- did your dad join Essex Brigade as a U.S. citizen? The willing as well as the unwilling who served in combat were ALL heroes but I suspect rocknrod's dad would say the real heroes are the dead that paid the ultimate sacrifice.:flag:

And I think most of the troops were Canadian. In that raid. But what really sealed they'er fate was when the tide went out and pretty much stranded them on the beach. :( :(

[Dr Caleb]

Most people have never heard of Diepe Beach in France.

Trust me, up here names like Dieppe, Normandy, Kapyong, Beaumont Hamel (82% casualties, but the krauts lost the battle!) . . . Dunkirk - are not forgotten. Not for all Canuckleheads, but especially not for military brats like me.

Dad was a Lancaster pilot in WWII.

We heard as kids how Britan asked for a couple divisions from Canada to re-inforce Hong Kong. What Canada wasn't told was that Hong Kong was expendable. 17,000 were captured by the Japanese, and nearly half died in the camps.

[rocknrod]

And I think most of the troops were Canadian. In that raid. But what really sealed they'er fate was when the tide went out and pretty much stranded them on the beach. :( :(Correct. When my dada went to Canada to join, America was into the "we're not gettin involved" routine. So alot of Americans went to Canada to join up and fight. The Essex Brigade was mostly Canadian I believe.

[UAW 588]

Uhh huh...and the stories of cannibalism.

I am proud of all of them....my father as well. Pearl Harbor survivor. 1926-2000.


My father as well was a survivor. Normandy Invasion June 6, 1944 (90th Division, Utah Beach). 1922-2004. We all owe these people so much for the sacrafice that they made, so you and I can live in a country with so much freedom. God bless them all.

[rayjay]

My father as well was a survivor. Normandy Invasion June 6, 1944 (90th Division, Utah Beach). 1922-2004. We all owe these people so much for the sacrafice that they made, so you and I can live in a country with so much freedom. God bless them all.
Amen to that.

[rocknrod]

I'm not even gonna comment on the Uncle's and such. Too grimm.

[sailsmen]

US produced 50% of all weapons used in WWII, 300 thousand Killed in Action, 1 million casualties and 15 million in uniform.

All we asked for of our European Allies was the land to bury our dead.

Dropping the A Bombs on Japan saved a million US casualties and probably 3 million Japanese casualties. Remember entire Japanese villages were committing suicide when US troops arrived, there were thousands of Kamakaizy Pilots and 30 years latter Japanese soldiers were being caught in the jungle still fighting the war!

There are several documented cases of Janpanese holding beheading contest on US POWs. Many of them viewed us as sub human. They slaughtered 369,000 civilians in the Chinese Capital, Nanking!

I am 100% certain dropping both bombs was the right thing.

I rented an apartment in my house to a Japanese family and my next door neighbor is Japanese. I have no ill feelings toward the Japanese, but had I lived in 1940-45 I would have hated them!

[DeepSea117]

Anyone see The Great Raid? Good movie, got undeservedly compared to Saving Private Ryan. Grand-uncles of mine, grandfathers of my friends, all fought against the Japanese, and some survived the Bataan Death March... but they were Filipinos. The real travesty is that they were all but forgotten when the time came to receive military benefits from the U.S., after the ousting of the Japanese.

FDR reneged on a document he signed during the war, granting military benefits and citizenship to the Filipino Guerillas who fought side-by-side with the US Military, much like the ones portrayed in The Great Raid. Citizenship that was promised to the Filipino veterans was closed off to everyone after only one year (1946), and many had to wait till 1990 to finally be allowed the citizenship that was promised them. Even now, these Veterans in their 80's and 90's, live in poverty, alone and forgotten, in the hopes of surviving long enough to petition their relatives to live in the U.S. And the U.S. still hasn't given them much-deserved military benefits, even though their European counterparts such as the French Resistance received these benefits decades ago.

That is the atrocity that is still going on. Soldiers have been forgotten, but by their own government. With the price of ONE military combat fighter, the surviving veterans from the Philippines can finally get the long-ago promised military benefits and burial, instead of the ignominious and unrecognized ending in some morgue.

And I am still damned proud of them. It's just a damn shame our government treats them like so much dirt; all they got was an increase in SS benefits, and we all know how far that goes these days.

[de minimus]

My dad was a British Commando in (Dubya-Dubya Eye Eye), Essex Brigade. Most people have never heard of Diepe Beach in France. The British launched a amphibious raid and were soundly beaten. My dad was one of those men on the beach. After running out of ammunition he ended up throwing rocks at em. Thank God the German commander finally came down and told them to nock it off, instead of shooting the last of the men (they shot most of them). He was a Prisoner of war. Escaped, captured. Escaped again. And fought with the underground until the Americans showed up. Four years latter. He was born right here in the good old USofA.
He retired from the Air Force.
I take my hat of to your Dad. He's a hero. The attack upon Dieppe took place on August 19, 1942. 6,100 troops were involved, of whom approximately 5,000 were Canadians, the remainder being British Commandos and 50 American Rangers. Naval and air support was eight Allied destroyers and 74 Allied air squadrons (eight belonging to the RCAF). Of the 5,000 Canadians who were involved only 2,200 returned to England, and many of these were wounded. There were 3,367 casualties, including 1,946 prisoners of war; 907 Canadians lost their lives.

Your dad, who was probably with the Essex Scottish regiment didn't get off of the beach other than one platoon who made it into the town.

There is some contemporary thought that the raid was a useless slaughter though I think the more accurate assessment is that it was necessary for the successful invasion of the continent two years later on D-Day.