On April 9, 1942, Major General Edward P. King Jr. surrendered
at Bataan, Philippines, against General Douglas MacArthur’s
orders—and 78,000 troops (66,000 Filipinos and 12,000
Americans), the largest contingent of U.S. soldiers ever to
surrender, were taken captive by the Japanese.

The prisoners were at once led 55 miles from Mariveles, on
the southern end of the Bataan peninsula, to San Fernando,
on what became known as the “Bataan Death March.”

At least 600 Americans and 5,000 Filipinos died because of
the extreme brutality of their captors, who starved, beat and
kicked them on the way; those who became too weak to walk
were bayoneted.

Those who survived were taken by rail from San Fernando to
POW camps, where another 16,000 Filipinos and at least
1,000 Americans died from disease, mistreatment, and
starvation.

Prisoners photographed during the march. They have their hands tied behind their backs.

Bataan Death March Memorial featuring Filipino and
American soldiers at the Veterans Memorial Park in
Las Cruces, New Mexico.

              
MIKE  GRACIA    

   
Douglas MacArthur (26 January 1880 – 5 April 1964)

MacArthur died in Walter Reed Army Medical Center after
surgery on 5 April 1964, of primary biliary cholangitis at
age 84.

On April 1, 1945, after suffering the loss of 116 planes and
damage to three aircraft carriers, 50,000 U.S. combat troops,
under the command of Lieutenant General Simon B. Buckner
Jr., landed on the southwest coast of the Japanese island
of Okinawa, 350 miles south of Kyushu, the southern main
island of Japan.

Determined to seize Okinawa as a base of operations for
the army ground and air forces for a later assault on
mainland Japan, more than 1,300 ships converged
on the island, finally putting ashore 50,000 combat
troops.

Simon Bolivar Buckner Jr.
(18 July 1886 – 18 June 1945)

Buckner was among the casualties,
killed by enemy artillery fire just three
days before the Japanese surrender.

The 1952 film Okinawa starring Pat O’Brien, is one of several movies to depict this decisive episode in the history of the
war.

Fort Buckner is a small United States Army base located immediately south of Camp Foster, near Futenma, on
Okinawa, Japan.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States and
one of the most highly regarded American generals of World War
II, died in Washington, D.C., at the age of 78.

The west Pacific volcanic island of Iwo Jima was declared
secured by the U.S. military after weeks of fiercely fighting
its Japanese defenders.

The Americans began applying pressure to the Japanese
defense of Iwo Jima in February 1944, when B-24 and B-25
bombers raided the island for 74 days straight.

When all was done, more than 6,000 Marines died fighting for the
island, along with almost all the 21,000 Japanese soldiers trying
to defend it.