Posted on 09/23/2007 7:56:12 AM PDT by april15Bendovr
Anyone Reading page 329 of Ghost Soldiers? Our rescued POW's from the Bataan Death March were returing home approaching the Golden Gate Bridge. When the boat passed underneath the "real" people of San Francisco, standing on the bridge, by the thousands, threw flowers, money, movie tickets, bras and lingerie.
It was said there wasn't one dry eye on the ship.
Today they throw themselves off in godless despair.
Does anyone think this would happen in today’s San Francisco????
I might be wrong but I believe there are enough real Americans that anybody wanting to be disrepectful towards the returning troops would find themselves “corrected” very quickly.
God, that city is a disgusting sewer.
When I finished this book, I turned back to page one and read it again.
His nickname was Little MacArthur
Thanks for the recommendation. I just ordered the book from Amazon.
Yes. That was an excellent casting job.
It’s amazing and you’ll love it.
Welcome Home:
Returning From the Bataan Death March
my dad was one of those liberated by the ghost soldiers-————he said that the entire city of San Francisco opened their hearts to the returning POW’s -—— free cab rides, dinners, and countless people just coming up and thanking them for their service and sacrifice...........
I hope our county never forgets the patriotism San Francisco had once shown in the past.
haha, that’s funny.
Another little known but, great read on Luzon and Bataan is “Bataan Uncensored” by Col. E. B. Miller, a bitter account of his experiences as commander of the National Guard 194th tank battalion from Minnesota. Their first day in the Philippines was December 31st, 1941.
Ill-equipped and under supplied they would appear to the Japanese to be an attack force consisting of tanks that couldn’t be used in the hilly terrain of the Philippines.
This was at a time when the sentiment of the American public was far from wanting to deal with the problems of the world. (Remind you of anything?)
It became apparent to these soldiers, 75% who would not survive, that a great part of their mission was to provoke an awakening in the American public.
I believe they were the first Americans captured and the last released in the war.
I just finished that book. What a fantastic read!
Bless your father.
My dad had a similar experience. Right near the end of the war, after so much heavy combat and seeing so many of his company die in battle, ironically he contracted Malaria in the Philippines and then had a near fatal allergic reaction to the drugs he was given and was sent home on a hospital ship. Halfway across the Pacific an announcement was made that we had dropped “Atomic” bombs on Japan. While nobody on board knew what an atomic bomb was, they were told the war would soon be over and it was; the Japanese surrendered and VJ day was declared while they were still at sea.
Just outside of San Francisco, still pretty sick and weak, he decided he wanted to go up on deck to see the Golden Gate. A Navy medical corpsman told him absolutely no! But my father, always a stubborn man, insisted saying he watched the Golden Gate when he left and made a promise to himself, that God willing, he’d see it one more time.
The corpsman relented, gave him a pea coat and blanket and let him go. My dad said it was very cold and extremely foggy and he couldn’t see a thing but he could hear the fog horns getting ever closer.
Then in dramatic fashion, suddenly the fog bank lifted and the sun shone brightly and there it was in front of him; the Golden Gate Bridge. As the ship got closer he noticed that all traffic had stopped and all the people were standing on the bridge waving flags, throwing down flowers and confetti and cheering. He told me he dropped to his knees and cried as it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen – that was of course until the day he met my beautiful mother.
He was at Letterman General Hospital in SF and when he was well enough, he was given some liberty. He told me that the people of SF wouldn’t let him or any one in uniform pay a dime for anything. He was so impressed by the city, its beauty and the warmth of the people.
It is a shame that it took 55 years to finally tell the exploits of the 6th Ranger Battalion and the Great Raid. Many thanks to Author Hampton Sides for a wonderful history lesson.
Another point of history. If you ever saw the movie "Back to Bataan" with John Wayne and Anthony Quinn, the Cabanatuan raid started the movie and the end featured a number of real former Philippine POWs with their names and home towns.
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