What We Don’t Know About the Death March
by Oliver Carlos
As a History professor, one of the most difficult and most painful lessons to teach is the story of the Bataan Death March. I cannot really skip or do away with it because a holiday was instituted to commemorate it. The makers of the April 9 holiday wanted the Filipino people to remember the valor, bravery, and sacrifice of the participants of the dreaded Death March.
In 2017, my family and I went to Tarlac and visited the Capas National Shrine. That’s the war memorial located inside the old Camp O’Donnell. The said camp was the final destination of the USAFFE marchers. The place was several hectares in size and is covered by more than 20,000 trees, with each tree representing a fallen prisoner. At the center is a large clearing with 2 interesting structures. There’s a giant 3-paneled obelisk that is shaped like a bullet or a rocket. The curator of the shrine said that it represents the peace resolution and friendship forged after the war by the 3 countries involved- Japan, USA, and the Philippines. That tower is around 100 feet tall, in my estimate.
The second structure is a marble wall with the alphabetically listed names of those who survived the Death March and were interned at Camp O’Donnell. There are more than 50,000 names on the Wall of Heroes. Interestingly, the name of my paternal grandfather Tomas Castillo, and his brother Valeriano were there. But my Dad was quick to stress that these were just namesakes, the brothers had never been soldiers. However, my maternal granduncle Conrado Miranda’s name wasn’t there, he’s the real USAFFE soldier. He was missing in action in Bataan and so he didn’t participate in the Death March.
Historians estimated that there were around 80,000 USAFFE soldiers who walked the Death March from Mariveles, Bataan to San Fernando, Pampanga. Then they were later transported in crowded train boxcars like sardines, up to Capas, Tarlac. From the train station, they walked another 14 kilometers to Camp O’Donnell. Around 30,000 of the original marchers didn’t complete the trip. They died along the way in pain under the heat of the summer sun. Many were too weak to walk on due to their battle wounds, hunger, malaria, dysentery, and torture inflicted by their captors. They were fed only thrice- in Orion, in Hermosa, and in San Fernando. They were given each a ball of rice the size of a ping-pong ball in those stops. No ulam, just rice.
But what made them walk more than 100 kilometers under such grave conditions? The curator gave me an unheard-of answer. When the prisoners were at kilometer zero in Mariveles, they were made to believe that they would be pardoned and released once they reach San Fernando, Pampanga. They just have to wait for the trucks to arrive and haul them batch by batch. But all of the prisoners wanted to be with their families and loved ones the soonest time, so they said, “Why wait for the trucks, let’s walk all the way to San Fernando!”
I can imagine what went on in the minds of the prisoners as they walked in their blood-soaked uniforms. They must have imagined the happy moment when they would be hugging their family once their get over that hike. Their love and longing for their loved ones must have kept their bodies and spirits alive as they made every single step of the Death March.
This Day of Valor holiday often falls in the same season as Lent or Holy Week. If the former is to commemorate our brave soldiers’ sufferings, the latter is to commemorate Jesus’ sacrifice. Similarly, Jesus also had his death march. He carried a heavy cross on his shoulders on his way from the city to the crucifixion hill outside Jerusalem. He was tortured badly before the march, and was also constantly beaten and cursed during the walk of shame. But through it all, he was thinking of you and me every second of his excruciating journey. He had our faces on his mind as he took his every step carrying that cross. That kept him going. He loved you and me so much, and he wanted to save us so we will have a big joyous reunion in heaven. We read in Hebrews 12:2–3 (NLT):
“Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame… Think of all the hostility he endured …then you won’t become weary and give up.”
Let us take time to imagine what Jesus went through. He endured so much because he wanted to see you in heaven. He paid in full your ticket by shedding his blood and dying on the cross. Let us not neglect and waste his sacrifice. Let Jesus live in your heart now and forevermore.
