[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 35 (Wednesday, March 25, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S2581]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           BATAAN DEATH MARCH

 Mr. REID. Mr. President, during the early days of World War 
II, General MacArthur withdrew his forces from Luzon to the Bataan 
Peninsula. These forces were responsible for delaying the Japanese 
timetable for conquest by four months and for keeping the Japanese 
forces tied up in the Philippines. After four months of fighting, the 
combined American and Filipino forces were forced to surrender. Many 
perished in the fight, those that survived were in poor health or were 
wounded.
  Following the surrender of forces in April 1942, the Japanese marched 
the 70,000 prisoners the length of the Bataan peninsula to prisoner of 
war camps. It is estimated that more than 10,000 perished during the 
Death March.
  The tragedy and horror of the Death March is almost impossible to 
imagine. The prisoners were marched with little food and water from the 
southern end of the Bataan Peninsula to San Fernando, a total of 55 
miles. From San Fernando, the prisoners were taken by rail to Capas 
where they were marched the final eight miles to Camp O'Donnell. Many 
of the prisoners were weakened from disease and from months of 
fighting. Those that fell behind were beaten badly by the Japanese 
troops--a prisoner unable to get up was often executed on the spot. Two 
out of every three Americans who fought at Battan failed to return 
home, having either died in battle, during the Death March, or in 
prison camps.
  This week, 80 survivors of the Bataan Death March are meeting in 
Reno, Nevada for the American Defenders of Bataan & Corregidor Western 
Chapter Convention. I want to take this opportunity to recognize some 
of the heroic veterans who were part of MacArthur's army which held off 
the numerically superior Japanese forces on the Bataan Peninsula for 
four long months. These heroes not only survived the horrific battle 
and the subsequent Death March, but also endured internment in POW 
camps in the Philippines, Manchuria, Korea, and Japan.
  Several of the Bataan Death March survivors attending the convention 
are from my home state of Nevada. I'd like to recognize these veterans 
in the Record: Arthur Bartholf, Bill R. Black, John Bowler, Richard 
Breslin, Raymond Cavellaro, Chesley H. Irvin, Ralph Levenberg Donald 
McDougall, Patrick E. Morris, Manuel Navarez, Douglas Northam, Tomas 
Pagaliluan, John D. Pasini, John Perkowski, Steve Rogers, George Small, 
Karl D. Tobey. There will also be survivors from California, Arizona, 
Oregon and Washington at the convention this week.
  Mr. President, I speak for myself, for everyone here in the Senate, 
and for all Nevada citizens, I am deeply appreciative for the 
sacrifices these heroic men made who survived such horrific 
circumstances surrounding the Bataan Death March. I know this is a debt 
which we can never completely repay, but nonetheless it is so important 
to say--Thank you for your dedication and devotion to protecting our 
freedom and liberty.

                          ____________________