In all of the training that has taken place for
The Bataan Memorial Death March, I think that I may have become a bit self absorbed in the race itself, rather than the reason for the race. These last two days I have gotten a very sober reminder. I have had a copy of
My Hitch In Hell for some time now, but I planned on reading the book this week as one final push for motivation to complete the race on Sunday. Being an educated man and a student of history, I felt that I knew quite a bit about the Bataan Death March. After reading the first half of
My Hitch In Hell, I realize that I didn't fully understand the outright evil that our American fighting men were subjected to.
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| Bataan Death March Survivors |
I've just finished the chapter that recounts the actual march. Our men were murdered by the Japanese. They were beaten to death, shot, bayoneted, buried alive, beheaded, and starved. To read an eye witness account of the Bataan Death March has at the same time sickened me and made me appreciate and love those American men that were subjected to such despicable and inhumane treatment at the hands of the Japanese.
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| National Archives: The Japanese forced Filipino civilians to view murdered troops. |
It is our job as Americans that we never forget our history. We especially must never forget the sacrifices of those that have helped preserve our Nation and way of life. As a society, we have somehow gotten ourselves in this twisted way of thinking where it is perfectly okay to embrace any type of filth or immoral behavior that we can produce. That's called being open-minded or tolerant. We've become so "open minded" our brains have fallen out. We fail to remember our history because it is unpleasant to recount. Look again at the picture above. Our men were murdered by the Japanese at Bataan. This is real. This is not a novel, movie, or video game. These events really happened, and we owe it to those men to keep their memory alive.
We, as Americans also owe it to those men to be fully aware that they fought the Japanese enemy for many weeks before they simply ran out of supplies. These were fine American fighting men that were essentially "sacrificed" because U.S. Forces were unable to get to them for support. The Japanese had a stranglehold on the vast Pacific at the time, and our heroes at Bataan were left all alone. They fought and killed the enemy as long as they could, but after exhausting their reserve of ammunition, food, and other vital supplies, they were ordered by their commanders to surrender. These were great Americans.
On April 9, 1942, General MacArthur, from his headquarters in Australia, paid tribute to the defenders of Bataan:
"No Army has ever done so much with so little. Nothing became it more than in its last hour of trial and agony. To the weeping mothers of its dead, I say only that the sacrifice and halo of Jesus of Nazareth has descended upon their sons and that God will take them unto Himself."
May we never forget the men of Bataan.
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