Some of the most revolting burial details occurred in the Bataan POW
camps like O'Donnell. The Japanese did not give or let the Americans
give proper burials for the POWs. The camps in which the prisoners
were forced to live were near the buried bodies which spread
unlivable stench along with diseases.
"Zero Ward" was where the Japanese held POWs who they
knew were going to die. This was their way to separate the very sick
from the somewhat healthy. In "Zero Ward", men were left
to die. They were given medical attention but were basically
awaiting burial. (Dorothy Cave, Beyond Courage, Las Cruces, NM:
Yucca Tree Press, May 1992, p .218.)
Those men who were not dying were put into work details, one of
which was the burial detail. This detail was one of the worst since
it further spread the already rampant diseases. There was no way of
determining if a person was dead so it is possible some were buried
alive. This detail was set up in three groups. The first group of
men dug the mass graves without shovels. The graves were anywhere
from 10 to 12 feet long and five feet deep. (Dorothy Cave, Beyond
Courage, Las Cruces, NM: Yucca Tree Press, May 1992, p. 218.) The
second group of men carried the dead in blankets strung over a pole
and lined them up along fences. The POWs would try to identify the
deceased by getting the men's dog tags, taking one tag with them and
shoving the other into the deceased soldiers' mouths, so they could
be accounted for. Still, there are some men who were never found and
no one knows what happened to them. The POWs on burial detail would
then straighten out the decomposing bodies because more fit in the
mass graves this way. (Donald Knox, Death March, Orlando, Florida:
Harcourt Brace & Co., 1981, p. 163.) The third group of men put
these dead skeletons into the hole, held them down with a pole, and
covered them up with dirt. The ground was so wet from the monsoons
that the bodies would float to the surface. (Mr.Padilla, Curator
Santa Fe, New Mexico: Battan Memorial Military Museum, December,
1999.)
The monsoon season on the Philippines caused wet rains at night
and warm humid weather during the day. This made the bodies rise,
swell, and stink. When the corpses rose, the men would attempt to
cover them up again with grass to show respect for the dead. The
bodies had maggots and bugs crawling in and out of them, and the
intense heat made the bodies smell. Wild dogs dug up the graves and
ate what was left of the rotten corpses. (Dorothy Cave, Beyond
Courage, Las Cruces, NM: Yucca Tree Press, May 1992, p. 219.)
In America, all families were worried about the men who had been
sent to defend our country. Mrs. Tafoya from Cubero, New Mexico
wrote Governor John E. Miles to inquire about her two sons Martin
and Gabriel who had been stationed on the Philippines. The
letter was sent on May 10, 1942, however, Martin passed away on
May 15, 1942 and Gabriel on June 23, 1942. There were many letters
like this one. People sought information about husbands, fathers,
sons, and brothers fighting in WWII not knowing they were probably
already deceased.
In June 1942, a cement cross was built to commemorate the valiant
heroes on Bataan. The survivors often think of it as a symbol of the
determination and faith the soldiers had for their country. It is
located in what was called Camp O'Donnell in a spot where most of
the mass graves were located. It is believed that the man who made
the cross was Captain Wilson. It is said that Captain Wilson
received a sack of cement from a Japanese prison guard known as
"Banjo Eyes". Wilson later lost his life in an unmarked
prison Hell Ship, but his printed words on the cross: "In
Memory of the American Dead, O'Donnell War Personnel Enclosure 1942
will forever remind everyone of the sacrifice of life the brave
Bataan veterans gave for our freedom."
CAMP
17 Burial Details (click
here)