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Post by okla on Aug 22, 2010 20:07:27 GMT 8
Hey Karl....Thanks for posting. Methinks that "then and now" type pix are the most interesting ways to "grow" history. Really good stuff you all are doing.
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Post by chadhill on Aug 23, 2010 8:07:16 GMT 8
Hello Karl, thank you for another great post and more great pics. I don't have a photo of the US Military reservation sign, but here is the "Defenders Bataan Corregidor" sign, along with KM 112, as they looked in February 1988. There was no building there, either. Attachments:
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Post by chadhill on Sept 11, 2010 6:11:27 GMT 8
Karl, I just found this 1988 picture of the old US Military Reservation sign.  |
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Post by chadhill on Sept 11, 2010 6:15:57 GMT 8
...And here is a better photo of the "Defenders Bataan Corregidor" sign, also taken at Camp O'Donnell in February, 1988.  |
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Post by chadhill on Oct 29, 2010 8:50:59 GMT 8
Rare photos: Japanese troops on Bagac-Pilar (Balanga) Road. From the book "Philippine Expeditionary Force", by Gasei, published by the Japanese in occupied Manila in 1943.  US POW at Orion during Death March. This photo is also from "Philippine Expeditionary Force".  |
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Post by okla on Oct 30, 2010 5:12:15 GMT 8
Hey Chad...Great pics, especially the one of the POW. As I have discussed with Fots in the past, close ups of these troops, many doomed never to survive this ordeal, always "grabs" me, especially those where you can look into their faces. What a hopeless expression this unfortunate guy has. I have tried to make out the lettering beneath the top tattoo and it appears to say "Mug Shot". What do you think?  It is obvious that this poor devil had been on half rations, isn't it. Really great post. |
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Post by chadhill on Oct 30, 2010 7:09:46 GMT 8
Thanks, okla. Yes, the look of utter despair in this young man's eyes struck me, as well as his thin arms which just months before surely were more muscular. I noticed what appears to be a band-aid on each arm, and a gauze pad attached with band-aids to his chest. What looks to be a bayonet or sword tip can be seen to the right of his nose. A Japanese officer, perhaps, stands behind him with possibly a sheathed sword in his belt. The worst days lay ahead for this man.
I took a magnifying glass to the book photo, and you could be right--it may say "MUG SHOT" below the top tatoo. What an eye you have there!
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Post by okla on Oct 31, 2010 7:57:09 GMT 8
Hey Chad....I missed that possible bayonet/sword tip to the side of the Death March participant's nose. I thought it was just a blip in the photo. You may very well be correct since it appears to have that groove down the center of the side of the blade that such "cutting instruments" possess. In all the pics of POWs, especially those taken in the PI in 1942, this guy has "touched" me big time. The look of utter dispair on his face says it all. Those "pin pricks" covered by the band aids (if bayonet or sword wounds) are just a sampling of the future as you so well stated. Wouldn't it be great, if by some miracle, a viewer would appear on this forum to tell us that this fellow was his grandfather and he made it back to Frisco in 1945 and died at a ripe old age in 1990? I realize that this cursed soul is/was only one of thousands, but there is just something about this photo that strikes a chord with me. Keep up the good work. Cheers. Postscript...On closer scrutiny this guy appears to be younger than I originally thought. I had the impression, when first scoping out the pic, that he was some guy on his second hitch. I suppose the tattoos made him appear to be an "old sweat", but a close look at his face makes be think that he ain't much over 20, if that. He probably got a tattoo every time he had a three day pass from Stotsenberg or McKinley,etc after arriving in the PI. Here I am letting my imagination take charge again. I'm gonna go watch football and change focus. Thanks for listening to my rant. |
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Post by chadhill on Oct 31, 2010 8:40:36 GMT 8
That would be nice if we learned he made it through the hell that was ahead of him, okla. Maybe someone will ID him, it's a clear enough picture for that. What kind of surprised me is that the Japanese would include this photo in a P.I. publication in 1943. Surely the word had gotten out everywhere on Luzon what had happened on Bataan. Maybe the Japanese wanted to send a message-
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Post by okla on Oct 31, 2010 23:59:46 GMT 8
Hey Chad....I will always believe, in those heady days for the Japanese, that anything they could do to depict or put the hated westerners in a position of degradation they would do at all costs. That particular photo, of which we speak,was perfect for what they were doing in my humble. Wonder if that Japanese publication came out prior to the first news of the Death March and its' attendant atrocities or just after. If memory serves the initial atrocity stories became wide spread in 1943 also.
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It is obvious that this poor devil had been on half rations, isn't it. Really great post.