Bataan Death March survivors gather for reunion in Sparks
Guy Clifton - Rael Nevada Reno Gazette-Journal
It's an image seared into the memory of Reno's Ralph Levenberg, as fresh today as it was in April 1942 when he became a prisoner of war and a survivor of the notorious Bataan Death March.
The image is that of a person literally flattened into the earth.
"All you could tell was that it was a human form spread eagle right in the middle of the trail," said Levenberg, 84. "It had been run over by tanks and trucks, walked over by those of us on the march."
It's an image Levenberg shared this week with people he knew would understand - his fellow POWs, who experienced the Bataan Death March, the Japanese "hell ships," the slave labor camps and the intolerable cruelty of their captors.
Members of the Western States Chapter of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor are holding their annual reunion this week at John Ascuaga's Nugget. ItÕs a chance for survivors to renew friendships and swap stories with those who understand them.
"It's good for us psychologically to do this," said Everett Reamer, 80, commander of the Western States Chapter, who joined the Army at 16 after lying about his age.
"We tell stories amongst ourselves that we couldnÕt tell to anyone else," said Bill Braye, 88, of Mountain Home, Idaho. "Some people just couldnÕt understand what it's like to sleep naked on a cement floor, to be beaten, to literally be starving to death. These guys understand that."
Within weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Philippine Islands became the focal point of the war in the South Pacific. The U.S. forces - many using rifles, ammunition and equipment left over from World War I - held the numerically superior Japanese forces at bay for five months.
But in April of 1942, it became inevitable that the allied forces either surrender or be annihilated. The U.S. commander surrendered and on April 9, 1942, thousands of American and Filipino troops became prisoners of war.
Many were forced to walk 90 miles from the lower tip of the Bataan Peninsula to San Fernando in searing heat with no food or water. Those prisoners who stepped out of line for a drink of water were executed. Hundreds died along the way and hundreds more were beaten.
Life didn't get any easier for those who survived the march. Many were put aboard "hell ships" and taken to POW camps in Japan and Manchuria where they were forced into slave labor.
"The Japanese used us POWs for the benefit of their war effort," Levenberg said.
Conditions were brutal.
"We had no clothes, just Japanese discards," said veteran Carlos Montoya of San Diego. "We were starving to death."
But they never lost hope, and in August of 1945, President Harry Truman ordered atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Japanese surrendered on Aug. 15, 1945, and the prisoners of war were repatriated.
Today, the survivors carry the scars - literally and figuratively - of their experiences. Reamer has written one book on the experience and has another one coming out soon. It's title: "Unconquerable Faith."
"That's the one thing we all had over there was unconquerable faith," he said. "They couldn't take that away from us."
The Bataan survivors will be at John Ascuaga's Nugget through Thursday. If you get the chance, stop by and say thanks.
Guy Clifton's Real Nevada column runs Wednesdays and Sundays. He can be reached at (775) 788-6337 or gclifton at rgj dot com
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