News-Info-Alerts

Re: Batan Appreciation Day

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: November 21, 2003

"The Source for Navy News
Bataan Appreciation Day Honors World War II, Korea Veterans
Story Number: NNS031121-15
Release Date: 11/21/2003

By Journalist 1st Class (SW) Mike Kramer, USS Bataan Public Affairs

NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- USS Bataan (LHD 5) honored the defenders of the Bataan Peninsula from World War II and crewmembers from the original USS Bataan (CVL 29), Nov. 7. Bataan Appreciation Day began with a welcome from Bataan's Commanding Officer, Capt. Earle Yerger, followed by a tour of the ship.

"The ship looks great," said Richard Shoemaker, a CVL 29 crewmember. "It's clean, it's well-kept, and of course, it's a lot newer than the USS Bataan I served on."

Following the tour, Bataan's crew and the assembled guests remembered those who had fallen in the siege of Bataan and aboard CVL 29.

"It is fitting, as we gather today to honor the survivors of the Bataan Death March and the crewmembers of the light carrier Bataan, to remember the fallen," said Yerger. "We pay tribute to the brave men who fell in battle during the three-month siege of the Bataan Peninsula, and those prisoners of war who perished on the road to Camp O'Donnell in the Philippines.

"We humbly and gratefully recall the selfless dedication to duty of those USS Bataan Sailors and Marines who died at sea, in battle, during World War II and the Korean conflict," he said.

"It was a great honor to be in the presence of all those veterans. We have the freedoms we enjoy today because of the sacrifices they, and service members like them, made. I thoroughly enjoyed talking to them and their spouses,” said Information Systems Technician 1st Class Sharri White, assistant leading petty officer of Bataan’s Joint Messaging Center. “The stories were amazing. From the spouses, I got a perspective of what it was like to be married, waiting on the home front for their Soliders and Sailors to come home."

After the memorial service and a short break, Bataan hosted a formal dinner that included several toasts.

Following dinner, former Marine prisoner of war Thomas Craig Jr., who fought at Bataan and later at Corrigedor, spoke of his experiences. He recited a horrific litany of torture, abuse, overcrowding, neglect and beatings during his years as a prisoner of war. The ordeal would have discouraged most service members from making the Armed Forces a career, and Craig would have been entirely justified if he'd sought the safety of the civilian sector when the end of World War II freed him. Instead, he stayed in the Marine Corps, earning three Purple Hearts before he retired as a gunnery sergeant.

"The greatest honor I've ever had in my life has been serving our country in the United States Marine Corps," said Craig. "God bless America and Semper Fi."

Hugh Sullivan, president of the CVL 29 Association, stepped up to the podium following Craig's remarks.

"Congratulations on a job well done," Sullivan told Bataan's crewmembers, referring to the amphibious assault ship's recent deployments in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. "We appreciate being here for this great day. You've had your rendezvous with destiny and returned safely to your homeport."

Members of the CVL 29 Association then presented Yerger with a plaque inscribed with the first verse of the Navy Hymn and a pencil drawing of Bataan.

"Tonight, as I look out at all of you, I am somewhat humbled by the realization that I'm looking out at living history," said Yerger. "I'm also privileged to be able to address so many of the veterans who began the legacy that lives on through our great warship."

Yerger admitted that Bataan's present crew has big shoes to fill, but in six years of service, has done a great deal to uphold traditions.

"I believe we have been deserving heirs to this proud heritage," said Yerger. "It is my belief that present and future USS Bataan crews will continue to carry on this great tradition."

U.S. Army Air Corps Pvt. 1st Class Jack Matthews was one of the American servicemembers taken prisoner by the Japanese after Bataan fell and remembers the horrific conditions of the Bataan Death March

"They didn't feed us for eight days," Matthews recalled. "We got our water out of ditches. There were good wells all around, but we weren't allowed to get to them. The Japanese would shoot anyone who tried."

A month before Bataan fell, Army Air Corps Pvt. 1st Class Joseph Vater was ordered to Corrigedor to work on an airstrip there. As a result, he was spared the rigors of the infamous Death March. That does not mean, however, that he was spared the POW experience.

"We were down to zero as far as food and medical supplies were concerned by the time we were captured," said Vater. "I ended up in a prison camp, and then I ended up in Manchuria, where 40 below was a good day in the winter. I worked all the time, from Christmas Day of 1942 until the war was over."

Both Matthews and Vater attested that the experience made them stronger in many ways, when the war ended and they returned to the United States.

"It gave me the will to live," said Matthews."