Death March retraced

MARIVELES, Bataan — Professional runners, who pay tribute to the survivors of the Death March during World War II every year, stayed home during the Araw ng Kagitingan on April 9 to observe Good Friday. But they are not about to give up their annual crusade to honor the heroes of the march.

Today and tomorrow, the runners will again retrace the 104-kilometer journey of the heroes in a non-competitive relay marathon from the Death March Kilometer Post Zero here to the old train station in San Fernando, Pampanga. This will be the 19th year of the marathon.

Ed Paez, president of the San Fernando Runners Unlimited Inc. (SaferRun), said the opening rites will start with survivors of the Death March, mostly now in their 80s, completing the first 20 meters of the stretch toward San Fernando.

Among the participating survivors are Enrique de la Paz and Juan Lejano. They will be joined by Mayor Angel Peliglorio. The runners will carry the flags of the Philippines, the United States and Japan.

The annual relay marathon started in 1985 through the efforts of New Zealand marathon runner Max Telford.

Paez, however, recalled that in the first relay marathon, Telford did not allow Filipinos to run side by side with him and were told to run behind his back-up vehicle.

Paez said he and his fellow runners were "stung by the humiliating experience" and resolved to interview Death March survivors so that he and his group could retrace the march more correctly.

"For one thing, a Filipino and not a foreigner should have been the first to make such a successful attempt. So when I learned that Telford took the wrong route, I organized my group and retraced the infamous Death March according to its original route in 1942 to make sure correct history is preserved for future generations of Filipinos," he said.

The Death March started from this town on April 9, 1942 and ended at the train station in San Fernando where the American and Filipino prisoners of the Japanese forces were dragged into train carts. In Capas, Tarlac, they were again made to walk another eight miles to the O’Donnel concentration camp.

"They were starved and mistreated, often kicked or beaten along the way, and many who fell were bayoneted," said one historical account.

Of the 70,000 who started out in Mariveles, only about 54,000 reached the concentration camp. Some 7,000 to 10,000 died along the way, while the rest escaped.