my own Uncle Vin, passed last week a few weeks short of 90...he flew in B-17s over Germany during the war....
Dad Died almost 5 years ago now...he fought on Guadalcanal and Bougainville....
Bless the greatest generation.
I now live in the Philippines, but memory of the horrors of WW2 in all of the Pacific are only from books and films.
I was a new born baby in Tennessee, living in great comfort then.
From what I understand, the Bataan death march was a scene from Hell. God rest Mr. Downey
We’re the battling bastards of Bataan.
No mama, no papa, no Uncle Sam,
No aunts, no uncles, no cousins, no nieces,
No pills, no planes, no artillery pieces
And nobody gives a damn
My father in law fought in the Phillipines. He was tough as nails, loved America and hated the Japanese. He’s been dead almost 20 years. It’s ironic, I’ve known so many of the Marine and soldiers who were veterans of the Pacific theater and almost to a man they all share an intense hatred of the Japanese. However, in my Marine Corps experience I did a lot of training with Japanese self defense forces and spent a lot of time in Japan. I like the Japanese and respect their military. But I understand why these veterans hate them.
I read that the last real cavalry charge made by the US Cavalry was at Bataan by this group. They attacked a company of Japanese with the M1911 .45 in hand and the Japanese were routed.
We lost a NM Bataan survivor last week. 1800 NM National Guard were captured, and over 900 survived.
RIP.