Remembering the Bataan Death March
By Judy Kroeger
DAILY COURIER
From April 9 through April 23, 1942, more than 17,000 allied servicemen in the Philippines died following their forced surrender to the Japanese Army. The men were made to march 111 miles without supplies or medical care.
On Saturday, 53 years after the Bataan Death March ended, more than two dozen motorcyclists participated in the first annual Bataan Death March Memorial Ride. Sponsored by Rolling Thunder Chapter 5, motorcyclists rode throughout Fayette County.
Prior to the ride, veterans and area residents gathered at the Gen. George Marshall Plaza, in Uniontown, to remember the sacrifice of the allied personnel.
Two area servicemen, Virgil Rist and Franklin Daar, were among those captured by the Japanese. Rist died in a hospital in 1944, from complications related to his suffering on the march. Daar died shortly after the march.
Marcia Martin, of Fairchance, is Daar's niece. She was born after his death, but grew up knowing about his sacrifice.
"He was a tech sergeant in the Army Air Corps," she said. "He survived the march but was killed by the Japanese afterwards."
Emma Cunningham Angelo, niece of Rist, and her daughter, Rosemarie Popovich, were also at the ceremony.
Keynote speaker Chuck Thomas, member of Rolling Thunder Chapter 5, explained that the men who died on the Bataan Death March did not surrender willingly.
"They were surrendered," Thomas said. "The Philippines was a strategic spot. By Christmas of 1941, Washington (D.C.) considered Bataan a lost cause and surrendered the strategic spot."
The U.S. government did not supply the troops, who likely could have held on the island, had they been supplied with ammunition, food and medicine, he added.
Thomas said that more than 80,000 American and Filipino troops were given up to 254,000 Japanese troops. "The survivors asked for so little. They didn't surrender. They were forced to surrender. How did they resist so long? They were American soldiers."
Although the Bataan Death March has gone down as one of the most cruel events perpetrated by the Japanese Army, Rolling Thunder Chapter 5 President Ken White said that times have changed.
"We are here to bring awareness of POW/MIA issues," White said. "We are not intending to bring animosity to the Japanese. Times have changed."
The next veterans' event will be the Americanism Day Parade, at 7 p.m. May 2, in downtown Uniontown. Contact Joe T. Joseph at 724-438-8688 to participate in the parade.
Judy Kroeger can be reached at jkroeger@tribweb.com or (724) 626-3538.
©2005 Daily Courier, Pittsburgh, PA