World War II: The Bataan Death March
The Bataan Death March was a forced transfer of Filipino and American prisoners of war by the Japanese army during World War II in April 1942. After the three-month Battle of Bataan, which ended in the surrender of Allied forces, approximately 75,000 soldiers were marched over 65 miles under brutal conditions. The marchers faced extreme heat, starvation, and physical abuse, resulting in thousands of deaths along the route. The event is remembered as a significant atrocity of the war, highlighting the harsh treatment of prisoners and the suffering endured by those involved.
Original caption: This picture, captured from the Japanese, shows American prisoners using improvised litters to carry those of their comrades who, from the lack of food or water on the march from Bataan, fell along the road. Philippines, May 1942. General notes: According to Colonel Melvin H. Rosen (U.S. Army Retired), this image is not a photograph taken during the Bataan Death March, but rather a photograph of a burial detail at Camp O'Donnell, the terminus of the "Death March". Mr. Rosen is a survivor of the "Death March".
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Following the surrender of Bataan on 9 April 1942 to the Imperial Japanese Army, prisoners were amassed in the towns of Mariveles and Bagac.
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Proviso's Involvement
Nearly 200 graduates of Proviso East High School (classes of 1938 and 1939) enlisted in the National Guard and were shipped to the Philippines. There, their company surrendered to the Japanese and undertook the infamous Bataan Death March of 1942. Those who didn’t survive numbered in the thousands. Those who did survive suffered imprisonment in a Japanese prison camp under inhumane conditions, some of them for over three years.A total of 195 Proviso High School students died during WWII in the Philippines. Their pictures and bios can be found at https://bataanproject.com/proviso-wwii-dead/.
For 50 years Maywood held a Bataan Parade, ending at Maywood Veterans Memorial Park at the corner of 1st Avenue and Oak Street, where tanks memorialized the 92nd Tank Battalion, Co. B. (Forest Park Review, 9/12/2023, “A Look Back in Time.”
For 50 years Maywood held a Bataan Parade, ending at Maywood Veterans Memorial Park at the corner of 1st Avenue and Oak Street, where tanks memorialized the 92nd Tank Battalion, Co. B. (Forest Park Review, 9/12/2023, “A Look Back in Time.”
Forest Park Servicemen
Pvt. William Sonny Ball
2nd Lt. Rudolph Henry Bisterfeldt
Sgt. Robert T. Budway
RM 3/c John Michael Cavallar
S/Sgt. Frank Thurston Chrastka
T/Sgt. Francis Joseph Conlon Jr.
Sgt. Edward Richard Csech
Sgt. Raymond Carl Gagnier
MM1/c August Michael Demma
Ens. Harry Rudolph Flachsbarth
PFC George Earl Flight
Pvt. Walter Alfred Jonas
2nd Lt. George Wendel Kaspar
1st Lt. Henry Albert Kaul
PFC Alexander Jay Kitcheos
Krieg, Ensign Earl O.
Lemm, Tec 5 Herbert H.
PFC Joseph Frank Lentine
2nd Lt. Rudolph Henry Bisterfeldt
Sgt. Robert T. Budway
RM 3/c John Michael Cavallar
S/Sgt. Frank Thurston Chrastka
T/Sgt. Francis Joseph Conlon Jr.
Sgt. Edward Richard Csech
Sgt. Raymond Carl Gagnier
MM1/c August Michael Demma
Ens. Harry Rudolph Flachsbarth
PFC George Earl Flight
Pvt. Walter Alfred Jonas
2nd Lt. George Wendel Kaspar
1st Lt. Henry Albert Kaul
PFC Alexander Jay Kitcheos
Krieg, Ensign Earl O.
Lemm, Tec 5 Herbert H.
PFC Joseph Frank Lentine