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Home  Website Dedication Author Rick Peterson Foreword Introduction The Road to Bataan The Bataan Death March The San Fernando Train Ride Camp O'Donnell Clark Field Concentration Camp Bilibid Prison The Hell Ships Japan The Nomachi Express Camp Nomachi Surrender, Liberation, and Repatriation Epilogue University of Minnesota Alf R. Larson Recorded Oral History Governor Pawlenty State of the State Address Tribute KSTP TV Newscasts Duluth TV Newscasts KTIS Radio Interview Rick P./Paulette K. Alf's Christian Faith Alf's Letter to God Memorial: Alf R. Larson In Memory: Alf R. Larson Star Tribune US Representative Erik Paulsen's Tribute PROCLAMATION Alf Larson Day - City of Crystal Bataan Death March Route Map Philippine Department of Tourism Star Tribune: March of Time ("Article of Interest" for 4-6 Grade Basic Skills Reading Test Prep) Post/View Comments |
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The Bataan Death March
 You and your group began the march on April 12, 1942?Yes. We began walking the next morning. It was about eighty miles from where we started to where we ended up. It doesn't seem very far, but we were in such awful condition that eighty miles was a heck of a long way to walk. It took six days to get to San Fernando. There, the march ended and we got on board a train. But in that six days, a lot happened. On the first day, I saw two things I will never forget. A Filipino man had been beheaded. His body lay on the ground with blood everywhere. His head was a short distance away. Also, there was a dead Filipino woman with her legs spread apart and her dress pulled up over her. She obviously had been raped and there was a bamboo stake in her private area. These are instances I would like to forget.  I'm sure. How awful! So, you started marching at Mariveles and walked eighty miles to San Fernando, a railroad terminal. Did everyone take that road?No, but most prisoners did. The captured soldiers on the West Side walked partially up the West Side, came across the peninsula, and went up the East Coast like we did. What was the typical day like on the march? We walked all day. At night, the Japanese took us to a field to sleep. You would lie down and pass out right there. You started at sunup and walked all day until night. Did you stop along the way? You just kept walking.  What would you do if you had to go to the bathroom?If anyone had to, they went right in their drawers as they walked. If you stopped or got off to the side, you would have been bayoneted or shot. I didn't go to the bathroom because I had nothing to pass. Body fluid came out in sweat. I don't recall going to the bathroom until we got up to Camp O'Donnell. The first time I urinated, I thought I was going to die. It burned like sin. You just kept walking. There was no food or water during the day. At the end of the day you were escorted to a field, or wherever they wanted you to sleep. The next morning it would start all over again? Yes. In the morning, we would get up and start walking. That went on for six days.
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