Survivors hope more will remember Bataan
Only 3 survivors of Bataan Death March remain
BY MELANIE BENNETT Staff Writer
There are only three of them left, but they could talk enough for 30.
Houston Turner, Paul Kerchum and John Mims were among the 260 who attended the weekend reunion of the 31st Infantry Regiment -- The Polar Bears -- at the Hilton Garden Inn in Columbus.
And while all of the 31st veterans have stories to tell, Turner, Kerchum and Mims have a story that recently has attracted attention with the release of the movie "The Great Raid." The three men are survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March.
Turner is the only surviving charter member of the 31st U.S. Infantry Association, which has been having annual reunions for about 25 years. Kerchum, whose Bataan stories closely echo Turner's, attends reunions when he can.
His goal this year? To win the $1,000 prize as the oldest member. As of Sunday afternoon, he was still in the lead.
The three men are a happy bunch, despite the horrific ordeals they endured for four years after American forces in the Philippines surrendered in 1942.
Turner, now 83, who lives in Los Angeles, said there were only nine people in his company when U.S. Maj. Gen. Edward King surrendered to the Japanese in April 1942. Turner initially hid in the hills, but he contracted malaria and ultimately turned himself in and was forced to join the march to Camp O'Donnell in the interior of the Philippines.
He and Kerchum were in the same squad. They joke that they would have been voted "Least Likely to Make It" through the war. They did, but only after enduring the march, a torturous train ride, and "hell ships" that took them to forced labor in work camps in Japan.
"I suffered more because I'm two years older," Kerchum said, laughing.
Kerchum worked in a coal yard, while Turner was in a ship yard for two years.
When he was finally rescued in 1945, Turner weighed 120 pounds. Kerchum weighed about 90 pounds. They had been prisoners of war for 42 months.
Beyond belief
If their experiences were horrific, then there are few words left to describe what Mims went through. He tried to escape from Camp O'Donnell but was caught seven days later. His punishment? His Japanese captors broke both his legs with a bulldozer blade, then left him in a dungeon where huge rats fought each other to lick his wounds.
Mims, now 83, said he owes his survival to Juanita, the half-American, half-Filipino woman who was a hero in her own right. They met in 1941 at a skating rink ("She fell hook, line and sinker for me," he said), and dated -- with chaperones -- until the surrender. During the occupation, she worked as a bookkeeper for the Japanese military. She would often catch glimpses of Mims in the prisoner of war camp, and she secretly smuggled messages to him with the assistance of kind Japanese guards.
Mims said Juanita also passed information to the American military resistance, a duty she continued throughout the war.
Eventually, Mims was placed on a hell ship and forced to work in a coal yard in Japan until the end of the war. He and Juanita were married on Oct. 14, 1945. He weighed 67 pounds; Juanita weighed 50.
They were married for 58 years when she died last February.
"She's a bunch of angels," Mims said Sunday, still clearly in awe of his tiny wife's strength.
Telling the story
Kerchum, who lives in Arizona, said he now speaks to civic and school organizations about Bataan. He and Turner said they're saddened that more school children aren't taught about this part of history, and they're glad the recent attention from the movie has educated so many people.
Kerchum can rattle off the statistics quickly: When the war started, there were about 37,000 total U.S. and Filipino forces in the Philippines on land and sea. At the end of the war, about 15,000 survived.
The survivors say they're glad the reunion group is so active, and they hope other people will learn from their experiences.
"This could happen again," Turner said. "People need to know."
Turner said he saw "The Great Raid" about four months ago. Kerchum and Mims said they hadn't seen the film.
"I thought the book was better," Kerchum said, laughing.
Mims might not need to see "The Great Raid." He said a Hollywood movie about him and Juanita is in the works.
Reunion attendees also toured Fort Benning on Saturday. They had a party Saturday night and a black-tie banquet Sunday night.
After Sunday afternoon's business meeting, retired Col. George Rasula offered a presentation about the Korean War battle of the Chosin Reservoir. Rasula participated in the Chosin campaign.
Next year's reunion is scheduled for Syracuse, N.Y. The 2007 reunion will be in San Antonio.
Contact Melanie Bennett at (706) 576-6284 or mbennett@ledger-enquirer.com