Ghosts of Bataan

[steinbeck]

To Quote 'So where exactly is Bataan on the map? I'll wager most won't know'.

Why do you assume MOST people don't know? I'm in the UK and and I know about 'Bataan', the tunnels etc. How McArthur escaped in spite of his asserting 'we can hold' etc and also about 'Corregidor' and they only took off specialists and so forth! Perhaps you should have qualified it by saying 'most young people' won't know.

steinbeck....

I'd have to agree with the 'Most people' statement.
Very few people do know what went on not only with the Death March,
but afterwards.
The death rates in the Camp, the 'Hell Ships' which made the Camps seem friendly?
It really goes on and on.
Not just Bataan, but the whole Pacific war is full of examples of mass slaughter.
One of my Grand Fathers fought in the Pacific.
I remember to this day some of the things he told me about.
As I grew older and would ask him for more stories,
He finally reached a point where he would not talk about it.
Not until I served in Combat did I understand why he felt that way.

[Torpex752]

I wonder how many people know about the "Rape of Nanking"?

Frank

[Hylander_1314]

Originally Posted by Torpex752

I wonder how many people know about the "Rape of Nanking"?

Frank

I do. It was one of the most horrible attrocities on the Chinese Mainland in WWII. If not the most. But who knows what happenned in the back country, where there was no or very little contact with the outside world. Yes those would be smaller communities, but no less important in lives.

[banjo]

I would conjecture that you will find a higher than average knowledge of WW II in this forum.

Ducimus, I was more suprised to learn you have time to watch tv!

[Ducimus]

>>Why do you assume MOST people don't know?

Oh, i have every reason to assume most people in general don't know. Im not kidding, i have met people here (in real life) who did not know why we celebrate the 4th of july here in the US. Its been, beer, bbq, and fireworks for so long, and they haven't the foggest idea what its all about. Or at the very least, didn't know the year, 1776. Now if people can't even remember what july 4th, or the year 1776 is about, A little pennisnula like bataan is certainly not in their historical vocabulary. Another humorus observation: There was a war in Korea? Wow, no kidding?

>>Ducimus, I was more suprised to learn you have time to watch tv!

Havent been modding that much lately.

[Schroeder]

@Ducimus

Don't be to angry with your countrymen. I can asure you that this is not only an American problem....

[jerryt]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

>>Why do you assume MOST people don't know?

Oh, i have every reason to assume most people in general don't know. Im not kidding, i have met people here (in real life) who did not know why we celebrate the 4th of july here in the US. Its been, beer, bbq, and fireworks for so long, and they haven't the foggest idea what its all about. Or at the very least, didn't know the year, 1776. Now if people can't even remember what july 4th, or the year 1776 is about, A little pennisnula like bataan is certainly not in their historical vocabulary. Another humorus observation: There was a war in Korea? Wow, no kidding?

>>Ducimus, I was more suprised to learn you have time to watch tv!

Havent been modding that much lately.

Boy you have that right! Thank you public education.