War vets remember notorious Death March

On his death bed last month, retired colonel Bartolome Gacad wore a T-shirt that read: "Justice for the Filipino WWII veterans."

It was a powerful reminder of a controversy that has resonated for six decades, after what military historians have described as one of the worst atrocities of World War II.

With each passing year, the veteran lines are getting thinner. But their search for justice endures.

Drafted into service by US President Franklin Roosevelt to fight under the American flag in July 1941, the young Filipino volunteers say they were promised the same benefits as their American comrades. But five years later the Rescission Act of 1946 removed their entitlements.

Retired colonel Rafael Estrada, now 87, remembers all too clearly when the order came to report for duty. "We were not being called to defend the Commonwealth of the Philippines or its president Manuel Quezon, but to defend the United States, its flag and its constitution.

"Within weeks some 100,000 young men had answered the call. I will always remember being told, equal pay for equal risk.

"When the Japanese invaded we were far from prepared for it. But we fought them every inch of the way. In the end, low on rations, low on ammunition... General Edward King, who had become our commanding officer, surrendered," Estrada said.

Just before noon on April 9, 1942, the guns fell silent over the Bataan peninsula on the northern shores of Manila Bay.

What remained of the 80,000-strong US forces in the Philippines would then endure the notorious Bataan Death March — a 100-kilometer march to the Camp O’Donnell concentration camp in Pampanga through blistering heat with barely any food and water.

An estimated 5,000 troops died in the three-day march and some 23,000 young Americans and Filipinos perished in the weeks and months that followed the surrender.

Estrada recalls: "It was incredibly hot. We had little food and little water and men just dropped to the side of the road and died.

"We couldn’t do anything. We couldn’t stop to help them or we would be killed. We just kept on walking. When we got to San Fernando they packed us into freight cars, jammed us in like animals for the trip to the Camp O’Donnell concentration camp. You can never imagine what it was like. Young men suffocating to death right in front of you. They died standing up.

"Then we had to endure the diseases that infested the camp. In time we Filipinos were released, but not before some 23,000 American and Filipino soldiers had died either in the camps or on the march itself."

Yesterday, veterans of the Bataan campaign gathered at the Capas National Shrine in Tarlac province to remember those who died.

But for many of the veterans now in their late 70s and 80s, the remembrance will be tinged with lingering bitterness towards the country under whose flag they fought... the United States.

At present there are two bills pending in the US Congress relating to the Filipino veterans. One is to restore full benefits to all veterans and the other is to pay veterans a pension of $100 a month.

According to Estrada, chairman and founder of the Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, about 5,000 veterans from the Bataan campaign are still alive today, although less than 2,000 are registered.

Wenceslao Rodriguez has spent the past 57 years fighting for his benefits. According to the US Army Records Center, Rodriguez does not exist, despite being awarded two bronze silver stars by the US army.

The US government did grant veterans who qualified US citizenship and recently, medical benefits to those veterans living in the US.

The US government has also given some $2 million to the veterans’ medical center.

Noteworthy also — if nothing else but as recognition of their brave sacrifice — is a letter written by former US President Harry Truman to the president of the US Senate on May 18, 1946: "The standing Philippine Army was made a part of the armed forces of the United States by the president’s order of July 26, 1941. Certain guerrillas, who so courageously carried on the war against the enemy after the fall of the Philippines, were recognized as members of the Philippine army, hence a part of the army of the United States.

"The record of the Philippine soldier for bravery and loyalty is second to none. Their assignment was as bloody and difficult as any other American soldier. Under desperate circumstances, they acquitted themselves nobly," Truman said.

Estrada counts himself lucky to have survived. "I am grateful for what the US military has given me throughout my military career... very grateful. But everyone who fought for the American flag is entitled to the benefits that were promised."

However, he reflects: "We have bills before Congress now trying to reverse the decision made in 1946. Many of those congressmen have never been to war... they probably have never heard of Bataan." — AFP