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The Bataan Death March sent nearly 80,000 American and Filipino Prisoners of War (POW) on a 69-mile trek through the difficult Philippines terrain. Between the tropical heat and severe mistreatment from the Japanese soldiers, the march was too much for the troops to bear, leading to the deaths of thousands. The few who survived the march arrived at the Cababatuan POW Camp, where most succumbed to their injuries and illnesses, increasing the death toll to even thousands more.
Now, 76 years after the Death March, the search still continues for the remains of those missing left along the trail, or moved to mass graves across the Philippines. Although the trail is 69 miles long, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) will continue searching until they are all accounted for.
Recently, DPAA sent a team of eight the Philippines to disinter the graves of 20 unknown service members from the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in hopes of identifying the many missing from past conflicts. The 20 unknowns disinterred were related to the missing from the Bataan Death March and the Cababatuan POW Camp. DPAA conducts four to six disinterment operations in the Philippines every year in hopes of identifying all unknowns buried in the 152 acres of land.
Shortly after, DPAA held a Family Member Update event in El Paso, Texas where two families came together in a wonderful twist of fate. Both families learned their missing loved ones from the Battle of Bataan, and Cababatuan POW Camp stood side by side during the battle, the march and then in death, when they were buried in the same mass grave.
“It just so happened that we were chatting with this family and come to find out [our] family members were in the same mass grave, buried only six hours apart,” said Melissa Scarborough, wife to the great nephew of MIA U.S Army Staff Sgt. Alvin Scarborough. "It’s like it was fate that brought us together."
Now Mr. Frank Scarborough, Staff Sgt. Scarborough's great nephew, and Mr. Brett Travis, great nephew of MIA U.S. Army TEC5 C.H. Strickland, can share the stories and memories of their loved ones as they wait for their case numbers to be disinterred from the Manila American National Cemetery and Memorial.
“I’ve been waiting for this for a long time, my family has been waiting for this for a long time," Travis said. "Now we have another family who knows exactly what we’re going through.”
As the busy month of March comes to an end, members of DPAA attended the Bataan Memorial Death March held at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico to support a DPAA service member who completed the 26.2-mile hike through the high desert terrain in remembrance of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice 76 years ago.
"Dying was easy: it’s the living that’s hard,” said Bataan survivor Lester Tenney.
DPAA will continue to provide the fullest possible accounting for our missing personnel to their families and the nation.
| Date Taken: | 03.24.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 04.04.2018 14:41 |
| Story ID: | 270520 |
| Location: | EL PASO, TX, US |
| Web Views: | 35 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, DPAA Remembers Bataan, by TSgt Leah Ferrante, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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