Death March

Nakayama had come to the meeting without any specific instructions about accepting a surrender or the terms under which a surrender would be acceptable. Apparently, there was no thought in Homma's mind of a negotiated settlement. He believed that the American envoy was a representative from General Wainwright and had sent Nakayama to represent him since he was unwilling to meet with any person of lesser rank. The discussion got off to a bad start when Colonel Nakayama, fixing his glance on General King, asked: "You are General Wainwright?" When King said he was not and identified himself, Nakayama asked where Wainwright was and why he had not come. The general replied that he did not speak for the commander of all forces in the Philippines but for his own command alone. He was then told that he would have to get Wainwright and that the Japanese could not accept any surrender without him. Again King declared that he represented only the forces on Bataan and that he could not get Wainwright. The Japanese were apparently insisting on clarification of King's relation to Wainwright in order to avoid having to accept the piecemeal surrender of Wainwright's forces. General King finally persuaded Nakayama to consider his terms. He explained that his forces were no longer fighting units and that he was seeking an arrangement to prevent further bloodshed. he asked for an armistice and requested that air bombardment be stopped at once. Nakayama rejected both the request for an immediate armistice and the cessation of air bombardment, explaining that the pilots had missions until noon and that the bombardment could not be halted until them. King then asked that his troops be permitted to march out of Bataan under their own officers and that the sick, wounded, and exhausted men are allowed to ride in the vehicles he had saved for this purpose. He promised to deliver his men at any time to any place designated by General Homma. Repeatedly he asked for assurance that the American and Filipino troops would be treated as prisoners of war under the provisions of the Geneva Convention. To all these proposals Nakayama turned a deaf ear. The only basis on which he would consider negotiations for the cessation of hostilities, he asserted, was one which included the surrender of all forces in the Philippines. "It is absolutely impossible for me," he told King flatly, "to consider negotiations . . . in any limited area." If the force on Bataan wished to surrender they would have to do so by unit, "voluntarily and unconditionally." Apparently, General King understood this to mean that Nakayama would accept his unconditional surrender. Realizing that his position was hopeless and that every minute delayed meant the death of more of his men, General King finally agreed at about 12:30 to surrender unconditionally. Nakayama then asked for the general's saber, but King explained he had left it behind in Manila at the outbreak of war. After a brief flurry of excitement, Nakayama agreed to accept a pistol instead and the general laid it on the table. His fellow officers did the same, and the group passed into captivity. The battle for Bataan was ended; the fighting was over.

On April 9, 1942, after the formal agreement of General King and Nakayama in the morning, the combined Filipino-American forces on the Bataan Peninsula were totally surrendered. It was the biggest defeat in American history ever recorded. At the first hour of defeat, my grandfather refused to surrender, tried to move forward on its own, and had to hide in bushes to continue what he started. He was one of the Soldiers who still had the courage to face the enemy, but when he witnessed all of his comrades were already took the order of the Commanding General, he had no choice but to surrender. Later that day, he walked down from the Mountain and he joined the line formation with his ill, starving and wounded comrades then the Japanese officers began to confiscate their weapons. He used to think the war is not yet over and their surrender is just a temporary thing. The March began from Mariveles at approximately 9 in the morning and they never thought that it would be a very long March and later would be a "Death March." There were no available trucks for the Prisoners of War but they still had to take the March on a warm summer day. The Japanese expected only ten thousand Soldiers to be transported in trucks to the prison camp in Capas, Tarlac, but there were 76,000 USAFFE troops which were composed of 66,000 Filipinos, 10,000 Americans and it was not possible to transport such an enormous number in Military trucks. From Bataan alone, there were Soldiers who already dying in starvation and exhaustion. If a Soldier stops from marching to take a rest, look for something to eat or drink will be executed by bayonet, gunshot or will be beheaded. My grandfather with his filthy USAFFE uniform witnessed dozens of the Soldiers who were already executed along their way while marching from Bataan to Lubao, and later on hundreds were executed from Lubao to San Fernando. When they reached his hometown in Sto. Tomas, Lubao, he expected to see his mother, my grandmother Antonia or any of his relatives. When they reached the Baltazar's residence nearby the railway crossing, he saw Rafael, Felix, and his older cousin Bernardina. My grandfather Teddy could not stop the falling tears from his eyes, then they saw my grandfather tired of marching with untidy clothing, thin body with a paled face, manifesting his experience of horrors and sufferings since the outbreak of war. Felix despite the nervous feeling as there were Japanese troops along the road, waved his hand and shouted, "Teddy! Take care of yourself!" My grandfather Teddy just smiled and made a gesture saying, "I'm alright." From that moment according to my grandmother Antonia, the siblings Felix and Rafael were already planning to rescue my grandfather from the hands of Japanese oppressors. The men who had survived the long ordeal could feel justly proud of their accomplishments. For almost four months they had held off the Japanese, only to be overwhelmed finally by disease and starvation. In a very real sense, there had been "a true medical defeat," the inevitable outcome of a campaign of attrition, of "consumption without replenishment." Each man had done his best and none need to feel shame. The events that followed General King's surrender present a confused and chaotic story of the disintegration and dissolution of a starved, diseased, and beaten army. This story reached its tragic climax with the horrors and atrocities of the 65-mile "death march" from Mariveles, Bataan to San Fernando, Pampanga. Denied food and water, robbed of their personal possessions and equipment, forced to march under the hot sun, and halt in areas where even the most primitive sanitary facilities were lacking, clubbed, beaten, and bayoneted by their Japanese conquerors, General King's men made their way into captivity. Gallant foes and brave soldiers, the battling bastards had earned the right to be treated with consideration and decency, but their enemies had reserved for them even greater privations and deeper humiliation than any they had yet suffered on Bataan. How hard their lot was to be none knew but already many faced the future with a heavy heart and "feelings of doubt, foreboding, and dark uncertainty." During the first hours of the march, there were biscuits and loaves of bread distributed by the Japanese officers, and they just resting once a day in only a few minutes under the sun.

It was a hot, dangerous summer day and they were all dying in hunger and thirstiness. When they reached the town of Bacolor, Pampanga my grandfather Teddy began to lose his strength. Four times, he forcibly had to stand still and did not allow himself to go down, but after almost two days of marching with tyranny and deprivation of water and food, he eventually fell down on the rough and rocky road. There were dozens who fell down in this little town and it was forbidden, those who stop from marching shall be executed. The Japanese officers then began to group them into two columns and they were ordered to kneel down, to prepare them for execution. My grandfather was on the right side of the line when the execution from the left side begins with a bayonet. While on his knees, he started to pray while holding his rosary, he believes that God will never forsake him. There were dozens who were already executed. The executioner then moved to his left side and executed his comrade who was previous to him by impaling the bayonet on the neck. My grandfather just closed his eyes while praying on his mind all over again. The Japanese executioner then moved in front of him and prepared the bayonet to execute my grandfather when he was called by his Captain and had to leave. This was only an interval of a few seconds before the bayonet would end his life. This scene was remarkably a miracle, it was told to me by my Mother during my primary education. This unforgettable story was one of the untold miracles that occurred in the Pacific Theater during the Japanese era in the Philippines. My grandfather just smiled and rubbed the tears from his eyes, he then kissed the rosary and tried to stand. His comrade who's next to him helped him to stand up and he said, "We could still survive, while we're still alive there's no need to lose hope. Remember, we are all here to fight not only for our survival but for the country." The USAFFE Bataan Defenders marched for six days and nights without food nor water and they were all dying, they were like living dead. No one knows the exact number of deaths that occurred during the march and subsequent internment. Along the route of the main march, perhaps as many as 500 Americans and perhaps 2,500 Filipino soldiers were killed. They reached the rail-head at San Fernando, Pampanga and they were forced to enter a small chamber called Boxcar. This has a capacity of forty persons but the Japanese oppressors compressed them into approximately one hundred and fifty persons per Boxcar. The USAFFE Prisoners of War suffered from suffocation and a very warm condition as it has only very narrow openings. A Soldier POW could not move his arm or leg as they were like sardines that placed in a small container. My grandfather stated that there was no respect for human beings existed during the defeat and that was the reason why he concealed a fury to the Japanese Empire. When all the prisoners entered the Boxcar, they were transported to a camp in Capas, Tarlac known as Camp O'Donnell. When they reached the province of Tarlac, they were ordered to move out from the Boxcar and they were forced to march again for another few kilometers towards the Camp, which later became a burial place for the Prisoners of War. At approximately 16:00 of the 15th, the prisoners of war reached Camp O'Donnell and they were divided into dozens of groups to prepare them for imprisonment and later would be slavery. My grandfather could not speak, he just staring around the camp looking for something to drink or eat. When the Japanese guard turned his back and walked away to close the gate made of barbed wire and wood, my grandfather Teddy and his comrades hurriedly walked while gasping with a hard pace towards a grassy ground then gripped off some of the wet grass to zip the moist in order to ease their thirstiness. He kneeled down on the grassy ground, he looked around and saw an unripe mango on the tree, but he could not stand up. He still tried to stand up to get the fruit then they had taken some of the leaves of the tree and they ate them to aid their starvation.

They were treated like animals, the supply of food was very seldom on a daily basis. There were few days which can be counted by your hands when they supplied enough food for a day, but often they were just eating a filthy and almost rotten food once a day. The source of water was also limited, a few pails of water must be divided to make sure all the prisoners can drink twice or thrice a day. They were severely suffered from deprivation, and no one knows how would be their fate in the hands of the Japanese oppressors. On Corregidor, the USAFIP Forces of General Wainwright continued the battle until the last supply. On the 6th of May 1942, the last unoccupied Islands of the Philippines by the Japanese, Corregidor, and the small Island of El Fraile or Fort Drum has fallen. General Wainwright had to surrender his entire forces and that was the time when the Philippines was totally invaded by the Empire of Japan. A few days before General Wainwright's defeat on Corregidor, on the 2nd day of May Chief Justice and Acting President Jose Abad Santos was executed for refusing to work and serve the Japanese Government in the Philippines which later become a Japanese Puppet State. At Camp O'Donnell, almost every day there were prisoners dying in disease and starvation. The camp's ground became a burial ground for the Prisoners of War. When there was a dead comrade, the prisoners had to dig and bury the body elsewhere. Despite the withering bodies of the prisoners, they still had to work in the camp such as cutting woods, planting a tree, and fetching water from well. Every morning there was a gathering at the center of the camp, briefing the prisoners with the Japanese policy and they had to practice a morning exercise even it is hard to move their arms and legs due to illness and health declined condition. They had no choice but to follow if they disagree, they will be hit by a Japanese guard with his bamboo stick. My grandfather Teddy was also a victim of Malaria, as the campsite was surrounded by mosquitos. He suffered for almost two weeks of high fever caused by malaria but he still survived even there were just a few supplies of medicines. He just kept on praying night after night, he did not lose hope to see his family again. His health continued to decline and his physical appearance has been altered with maturity. After six months of tyranny in Camp O'Donnell, the Japanese began to parole and grant the Filipino prisoners amnesty from October to December 1942. But Filipino Soldiers must first sign an oath or make a vow that they will never join any opposing Guerilla groups throughout the country, they will be released soon and bring them back to their families through the Mayor of their town. By the 2nd week of November, my grandfather Teddy granted amnesty issued by the Japanese camp commander. He then refused to ride in the Japanese truck for transportation, he requested to come home without any aid from the Japanese. He just walked away from the camp wearing his filthy clothes torn. At that moment, there were things troubling him. He really wanted to go home but at the same time, he still wanted to continue the battle with the Japs. He was really eager to avenge and defeat the enemy even totally in the withering state of health. When he reached a small village in his lonely pace, he saw a group with elements of USAFFE while having a confidential conversation together. He used to think that they must be an opposing group. From this moment, my grandfather Teddy was encouraged to continue what he started. They saw him approaching, then they called him and offered him a cup of coffee. The Guerilla leader said, "You look very tired, brother. Join us and let us overthrow the Japs together." He could not utter a word, his response was just a smile. He then joined the group with some of his USAFFE comrades who were also paroled from Camp O'Donnell.