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My great uncle was captured in the Philippines by the Japanese during World War II, and died during the Bataan Death March. As far as I remember, I cannot recall anyone in my family saying that he was awarded the Purple Heart. If he was never awarded the Purple Heart, would he be eligible? If he did get it, how can I find out?

On this date in 1942, General Wainwright surrendered the American forces on Corregidor. Those men (my father among them), and a small number of nurses began their captivity at the hands of the Japanese army.My respects to the Americans and Filipinos who were The Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor.

My uncle, Weldon Hamilton, passed away last night. I thought the FR community would like to hear about this man who gave so much of himself for our country. He was captured in the Phillipines. He was on the Bataan Death March. He was beaten, he was starved, he worked forced labor in their mines, he was transported on their prison ships. He saw the bomb explode on Nagasaki and watched his comrades be executed. He was held in Japan for years. When he came home, he worked for years to make people aware of the sacrifice our soldiers made,...

3/31/2008 - CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AFPN) -- "Sand, hills and pain," an elderly marcher said, describing the 26.2 mile Bataan Memorial Death March, held March 30 at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The annual march, in its 19th year, honored the men and women forced to march 60 miles by Japanese soldiers, and in thousands of instances died, in the Bataan Death March during World War II. More than 4,400 Airmen, Soldiers, Marines, Sailors and civilians participated in the march and experienced, in small part, what many thousands of American and Filipino soldiers went through after surrendering to...

A Tremendous Movie. It's been edited to remove the R rating, but you don't have to see all the blood to be shown what our men went through. From director John Dahl comes the stirring true story of one of the most spectacular rescue missions ever to take place in American history: "the great raid on Cabanatuan," the daring exploit that would liberate more than 500 U.S. Prisoners of War in the face of overwhelming odds. A gripping depiction of human resilience, the film vividly brings to life the personal courage and audacious heroism that allowed a small but stoic...

Japan's embattled defense minister resigned Tuesday over his comments suggesting the 1945 atomic bombings Hiroshima and Nagasaki were inevitable, news reports said. Fumio Kyuma had come under intense criticism from survivors of the bombing following the comments made over the weekend. He had apologized. Broadcaster NHK and NTV carried news of the resignation.

SIERRA VISTA — Threatening rain clouds and blustery winds didn’t stop 18 students from embarking on a 14-mile trek Friday. Seventh- and eight-grade students of First Baptist Christian Academy tackled the 14 mile walk to commemorate soldiers of the Bataan Death March, part of a World War II history segment the students have been studying. Led by their eight-grade teacher, retired Army Lt. Col. Dave Davenport, the students have been preparing for the walk every Friday for the past few weeks. “We started out by walking two miles, then kept increasing it so we could get ready for this,” said...

Sixty-five years ago, William Onufry threw his rifle into the sea and marched 65 miles to the tip of the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines. After four months of fighting a relentless Japanese attack, Onufry and the remaining 12,000 American troops on the island were ordered to surrender on April 9, 1942. Hunger had weakened the men, and many were sick with dysentery or malaria. But the Japanese ordered them to march. Those who stepped out of line to find food or water were beaten. Stragglers were shot. The Bataan Death March claimed the lives of at least 600 Americans...

In 1942, Arthur Rice suffered through the Bataan Death March, 65 miles of heat, dehydration and abuse that claimed the lives of many of his fellow U.S. soldiers. He then toughed out years of forced labor as a Japanese prisoner of war. "My dad was such a survivor," said Jennyne Bilsky, 59, Rice's eldest child. "We always thought he had nine lives." Rice, an Air Force master sergeant, died in his Austin home Sunday morning. He was 89.

Bataan Memorial Death March draws thousands By Monte Marlin More than 3,800 people, both military and civilian, representing all 50 states plus the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and Korea participated in the 2006 Bataan Memorial Death March at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. on March 26. Mike Smith WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. (Army News Service, March 29, 2006) – The 2006 Annual Bataan Memorial Death March was conducted March 26 at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The event drew nearly 3,900 service members and civilians to the Army test range in southern New Mexico. Marchers represented all 50 states...

NEW MEXICO (Army News Service, March 28, 2006) – Almost 62 miles and 64 years later, Clifford “Smokey” Martinez received the Purple Heart March 26 at the 2006 Bataan Memorial Death March at White Sands Missile Range for wounds he received as a prisoner of war during World War II. WSMR Director Thomas R. Berard presented Smokey with the Purple Heart before close to 3,900 participants and thousands of spectators in a closing ceremony. “This award is 64 years overdue, but how appropriate to be able to present it on this magnificent occasion,” Berard said. Smokey, a Bataan Death March...

Essay Contest on POWs of the Japanese US-JAPAN DIALOGUE ON POWS, INC., a California non-profit organization, is pleased to announce that it will hold its first essay writing contest. The purpose of this contest is to promote understanding and dialogue among/between college students in Japan and the United States on the history of American POWs of the Japanese during WWII. We look forward to receiving many submissions from both countries. Two winners, one from Japan and the other from the United States, will win a free trip to Phoenix, Arizona, where the annual convention of American Defenders of Bataan and...

Admirals, I made a day trip to the Gulf Coast this weekend to visit with and thank our Sailors for the extraordinary work they are doing in the recovery and relief effort. I spent time at the Seabee base in Gulfport, NSA New Orleans and NAS/JRB New Orleans, as well as aboard HARRY S TRUMAN, BATAAN, TORTUGA and IWO JIMA. It was at once both a grim and an incredibly uplifting experience. Some of my impressions:

USS Bataan Public Affairs USS BATAAN, Gulf of Mexico (NNS) -- The multipurpose amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD 5) was tasked Aug. 30 to assist with Hurricane Katrina disaster relief efforts. Two MH-60 search and rescue helicopters from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HC) 28, based out of Norfolk, Va., launched at 5 p.m. CST Aug. 30 to assist in the search and rescue efforts that are currently ongoing in and around the New Orleans area. At 6:30 p.m. CST, two MH-53 helicopters from Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron (HM) 15, based out of Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas, also...

August 6th marked the 60th anniversary of America’s use of an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. While some still argue that President Truman’s decision to use the A-bomb was “controversial,” they are afflicted with the scourge of our time, the loss of a sense of moral proportion and certainty. Unfortunately, those with relativistic morals will lead us to see the day when nuclear weapons are used again – this time to end once and for all the barbaric savagery of Islamism. Green Left Weekly (GLW) calls the U.S. putting a swift end to WWII – using atomic...

Servicemembers and veterans were among those who got a sneak peek of the film that promotional materials say tells the story of the "most spectacular rescue missions ever to take place in American history: 'the great raid on Cabanatuan.'" The raid was conducted to rescue the more than 500 U.S. prisoners of war who had survived the Bataan Death March through the jungles of the Philippines. Lt. Col. Henry A. Mucci, working from 6th Army Headquarters in Luzon in the Philippines, was charged with figuring out how to free the POWs before the Japanese army's "Kill All" policy was enforced....

We are all very familiar with Senator Durbin's characterization of the Guantanamo detention center. I have been reading Oliver North's book War Stories II, Heroism in the Pacific. I have been taken aback by the treat of the American servicemen who surrendered in the Philippines and Horror that was called the Bataan Death March. I was also appalled by Secretary of War Henry Stimson's remark regarding the military's inability to send support to the troops fighting in the Philippines, "There are times when men have to die". . .

The day after the surrender of the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese, the 75,000 Filipino and American troops captured on the Bataan Peninsula begin a forced march to a prison camp near Cabanatuan. During this infamous trek, known as the "Bataan Death March," the prisoners were forced to march 85 miles in six days, with only one meal of rice during the entire journey. By the end of the march, which was punctuated with atrocities committed by the Japanese guards, hundreds of Americans and many more Filipinos had died. The day after Japan bombed the U.S. naval...

WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M. - One generation of war heroes paid tribute to another March 20 at the 16th annual Bataan Memorial Death March. After 26 miles through gravel, sand and wind-blown dust, Sgt. 1st Class Michael McNaughton sprinted toward the finish line. He was one of five men, all amputees, sponsored by Walter Reed Army Medical Center, who participated in this year's march. "I wanted to do this for the Bataan survivors," McNaughton said. "The sacrifices they made were incredible." McNaughton knows first-hand about the sacrifices Soldiers are called to make during wartime. He was wounded while deployed...

FORT HUACHUCA - In preparation for Bataan Memorial Death March later this month, the Boy Scouts of America Catalina Council's Troop 431 hoofed along post for about 22 miles Saturday morning. Eleven of the troop's scouts participated in Saturday's training. Troop 431 has participated in the Bataan memorial march for seven years now, but seven years is longer than the stipulated Boy Scout tenure. For example, Jake Oliver, an Eagle Scout, has marched in White Sands for four years, he said. The 26-mile memorial march has been annually staged in New Mexico's White Sands Missile Range since 1989, in remembrance...

FORT HUACHUCA - It was early, it was dark and there was a cold bite in the air. But that didn't phase a small group of soldiers from the 18th Military Police Detachment. They had a mission to do Wednesday, and it wasn't associated with law enforcement. The soldiers were putting more miles on their boots, preparing for the Bataan Memorial Death March next month. "Each will have more than 100 miles on their boots," Capt. Randolph Morgan said. Morgan is included in that group. He is the captain of the MP detachment's five-man Military Heavy Division team that will...

Retired colonel who supplied Clinton's Vietnam deferment dies FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A survivor of the Bataan Death March in World War II who later accused Bill Clinton of deceiving him to dodge the Vietnam War draft has died. Retired Army Col. Eugene J. Holmes died of natural causes at his Fayetteville home Saturday, according to Moore's Chapel funeral home. He was 88. Holmes was director of the University of Arkansas ROTC program in 1969 when Clinton — then a Rhodes Scholar attending Oxford University in England — applied to the officer training program to satisfy draft deferments, but never...

"Recognition Day is a time to remember those veterans who gave up their freedom to protect ours."Roland E. Moore Director, VA Medical Center Sixty-two years ago, America watched as Japanese forces squeezed U.S. Army and Filipino troops onto a narrow Philippine peninsula on Manila Bay. The American commander, Gen. Douglas MacArthur, was ordered to leave for Australia and Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright was left the task of surrendering his 37,000 exhausted troops on April 9, 1942. Those men and 10,000 defenders of Corregidor, an island fortress in Manila Bay that surrendered May 6, were rounded up by the Japanese and...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. Welcome to "Warrior Wednesday" Where the Freeper Foxhole introduces a different...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. ...................................................................................... ........................................... . U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. . . Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family...

Bataan survivor Danny Cooksley poses in a room at the Bisbee Mining and Historical Museum. (Michael Maresh-Herald/Review) BISBEE - Bisbee resident Richard Cooksley knows all about the Bataan Death March because he lived and survived it. Cooksley and thousands of others were subjected to the infamous march in the early months of 1942 during World War II. He and the rest of his Army squadron were forced to endure the walk after Gen. Edward King surrendered the Bataan and all the men there to the Japanese. Cooksley said he was forced to march from the Bataan Peninsula to Camp...

Intercepted and decoded by the Allies, this message from the Japanese Vice Minister of War to the Commanding General of Military Police in Taiwan explains the conditions under which Japanese commanders could execute prisoners of war without formal orders from Tokyo. Author Linda Goetz Holmes, author of Unjust Enrichment: How Japan's Companies Built Postwar Fortunes Using American POWs, points out that it was not a military order, but a policy clarification, since the author in the war ministry did not have the authority to issue orders. Still, according to Holmes, the message was "transmitted to every POW camp commander in...

PORT SAID, Egypt: Seven US warships crossed the Suez Canal on Tuesday heading to the Gulf to join the US military buildup in preparation for a possible attack on Iraq. The seven amphibious ships, based in Norfolk, Virginia, carry more than 4,750 sailors and 7,000 Marines from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade. They are the USS Kearsarge, Bataan, Saipan, Ponce, Gunston Hall, Ashland and Portland. In Washington, defence officials said on Monday that the USS Abraham Lincoln, one of the Navy's latest Nimitz-class carriers with more than 5,000 sailors and naval aviators aboard, had re-entered the Arabian Sea over the...

TYLER MAN RETRACES BATAAN DEATH MARCH By: MARVIN ELLIS, Staff Writer April 20, 2002 PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN: Oliver C. “Red” Allen and his wife, the former Mildred Dougan, hold a display of World War II awards and insignia in front of their house in Tyler recently. (Staff Photo By Marvin Ellis) Oliver C. "Red" Allen and his wife Mildred just returned from their second trip to the Philippines this month - this time to observe the 60th anniversary of the Bataan Death March that began April 9, 1942, resulting in the death of 7,000-10,000 servicemen. (April 21,...