Posted on 08/15/2011 8:00:34 PM PDT by decimon
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A doctor once told Albert Brown he shouldn't expect to make it to 50, given the toll taken by his years in a Japanese labor camp during World War II and the infamous, often-deadly march that got him there. But the former dentist made it to 105, embodying the power of a positive spirit in the face of inordinate odds.
"Doc" Brown was nearly 40 in 1942 when he endured the Bataan Death March, a harrowing 65-mile trek in which 78,000 prisoners of war were forced to walk from Bataan province near Manila to a Japanese POW camp. As many as 11,000 died along the way. Many were denied food, water and medical care, and those who stumbled or fell during the scorching journey through Philippine jungles were stabbed, shot or beheaded.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Yes, most of the bomber crews faced almost certain death when captured.
In Europe, the crews did not want the civilians to capture them because they were usually brutal.
God bless Aalbert Brown and may he rest in peace.
Thanks for posting, decimon.
Rest in Peace Doc Brown. Just a side note: My Mother is Japanese and My Father was an American Serviceman. Love conquers hate.
There was a story in the book about, a Filipina Pregnant trying to give the men some cassava cake, the Japanese's Knocked her down,then cut her baby out with their bayonets for that act of kindness.
Dresden was vindictive and uncalled for.
BS!
For another day.
I couldn’t read that book. FReepers posting here are ripping my heart with their stories of men they’ve known as it is.
“When I hear the typical BS about Heroshima or Nagasaki, I almost get ill thinking of the Bataan Death March, etc.
In school, our kids are not taught about the Bataan Death March, The Berlin Airlift, The Marshall Plan, how we rebuilt Japan, etc.
But they sure know about Hiroshima.”
Agreed bad ole America\s That Nippon Army butchered more people leaving Manila than died in that Atomic Blast.
Germany from 1933-1945 was similar.
I read a book about the Bataan Death March when a teenager which along with other books like, The Diary of Anne Frank, effected me deeply. It gave me my first sense of awe at the levels of suffering people can endure, the goodness of some people in the absolute worst of times, and the brutal cruelty people can inflict upon each other. May that good man find peace.
The Nazis did indeed do horrible things to Warsaw. That in no way serves as justification for firebombing Dresden when the war was all but won by the allies already.
Even Churchill wrote:
Churchill subsequently distanced himself from the bombing.[93][99][100] On 28 March, in a memo sent by telegram to General Ismay for the British Chiefs of Staff and the Chief of the Air Staff, he wrote:
“It seems to me that the moment has come when the question of bombing of German cities simply for the sake of increasing the terror, though under other pretexts, should be reviewed. Otherwise we shall come into control of an utterly ruined land… The destruction of Dresden remains a serious query against the conduct of Allied bombing. I am of the opinion that military objectives must henceforward be more strictly studied in our own interests than that of the enemy.
The Foreign Secretary has spoken to me on this subject, and I feel the need for more precise concentration upon military objectives such as oil and communications behind the immediate battle-zone, rather than on mere acts of terror and wanton destruction, however impressive.”
The bombing of Dresden was all about Coventry, not Warsaw.
My Grandpa survived the march. He never spoke of it.
All but won? Explain that to the families to the over 150,000 dead Red Army soldiers who perished fighting in the Battle of Berlin.
Maybe it was wrong, and maybe if I were in position I wouldn’t have done it. But still, I’m not going to lose any sleep over it. War is Hell...don’t start them, because we’ll finish them. (or at least we used to finish them)
That’s ironic. The Post Master in the small north Texas town I grew up in was in this infamous march. He came to our school and talked about it.
RIP, Doc Brown.
First of all, the Soviets lost over a million men when taking Berlin, not 170,000. And, quite frankly, what needs to be explained to them is why their stupid pig communist (three redundant terms) leader Stalin caused those 170,000 (1 million) men to die needlessly all because he wanted to be sure and take Berlin before the Americans did. They died for Stalin’s vainglory. And I don’t care how many armed communist thugs or armed Nazi thugs killed each other. They all served socialist scum so what happened to them is largely imaterial to me.
It is ironic. Our Post master was very quiet and reserved. He did show us pencil drawings they had kept hidden until their release. I was only 10 or 12 at the time and didn’t appreciate it like I should have. But my Dad, a China, India Burma vet. made sure we especially respected Mr. G.
I don’t think you should lose sleep over something you didn’t do. At the same time, I don’t think any of us should practically chortle over tens of thousands of civilians killed in an unnecessary bombing.
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