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Post by Registrar on Mar 5, 2015 10:57:48 GMT 8
Registrar has received the following from new member harry0283
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Post by beirutvet on Mar 15, 2015 2:44:32 GMT 8
Hello Registrar
My first reaction to this post was WOW! I for one would love to hear his accounts.
But as the refs in the NFL say "upon further review", I re-read the post and he claims to be a survivor of the Bataan Death March but claims to have been captured on Corregidor. As we all know Bataan fell on 04/09/42, and the march took place over the next 10 days to 2 weeks. Corregidor did not fall until 05/06/42 and those POWs were temporarily interred at the garage area for a number of weeks after. It would have been impossible for him to be in two places at the same time.
In his defense, assuming he was among the youngest of service members at the tender age of 19 during these events, he would be well into his nineties now or older. Is it possible that jumbled memories have merged for events that occurred 73 years ago? This is not beyond the realm of possibility.
Perhaps he served on Corregidor and was transferred to Bataan shortly before the surrender thus putting him squarely into that hell known as the Bataan Death March, but in his mind his loyalty was with his beloved Corregidor. I wonder what the fog of 73 years would do to my memories should I be blessed to live that long.
Either way, just the mere fact he was there is enough for me. Someone in their 90's could not be expected to have perfect memories, especially during the most horrific of events and not just referring to the simple madness of war. All that followed their surrender took horror to a new level.
Let's here this man's story. I for one are very willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. If he was there, he is a vanishing national treasure and should be given his place of honor among all those heroes we ALL revere.
On a side note, you posted this 10 days ago and I am stunned that I am the first to be commenting on a find of such profound significance as this discovery. I mean MY GOD! This guy lived through times that have captured all of our collective imaginations. Why is this not getting immediate attention? Is this miracle find perhaps being followed up on in another thread?
Please advise
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Post by okla on Mar 15, 2015 8:03:30 GMT 8
Hey Beirut....I agree with you 100 percent. I spoke with our "leader", in a personal EMail when this message first appeared, and I think he might have hit upon a very possible answer to the "discrepancy". A fellow of this elderly Veteran's age, not being computer literate (I experience this each and every day fighting my antiquated PC) and depended on a Grandchild or Nephew, etc to translate his oral description of those 1942 events and "misfired" in this area. This would be very easy to occur with a kid these days, who many times think that Pearl Harbor is a person of the Female persuasion, rather than one of the most historic events that our country every endured. I was talking to a friend of my niece the other day and she actually thought Robert E. Lee was a Yankee General. Methinks Registrar may, very well, be on to something. Cheers.
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