“Perhaps the most vivid memory that every prisoner who entered O’Donnell had was of the “Welcome” ceremony….

The view that greeted each party was  of a gradual climb up a low  hill on which were locate two double storied buildings overshadowed by a medieval  looking  tower of  wooden struts  upon which flew the  hated “Flaming Red Ass-Hole” flag of Japan. This-whatever it would prove to be- was  what  each  man  prayed  would  be the termination  of the seemingly endless march.

…. As every group of bone weary, grimy captives lurched and tottered onto the grassless parade ground in front of what they would learn was the Japanese  headquarters, it  was  met  by a  detail  of Japanese soldiers….  Each  was  armed with  a large stick. These  weapons  were immediately  put  into  use to  maneuver the bewildered  victims  into formation facing toward the headquarters. 

Chattering  and  shouting in  meaningless Japanese they strove to force the captives to adopt a sharp military appearance. Dashing from point to  point,  shoving, gesticulating, ranting  in shrill, high  pitched voices, clubbing men  ruthlessly on  the  heads  and  backs, the Japanese in characteristic  fashion  worked  themselves  into a  frenzy.

…The fact that they failed to grasp was that the Americans and Filipinos understood no Japanese.  As a result, compliance was secured only by gestures, more  often by  physical force or  violence. Pushes, shoves, prods  and  jabs  became  the common  means of communication. The voice of the single interpreter carried only to a few of the hundreds of men  who  were  massed  in front of a small  platform on  which he  was standing.

The first act was a shakedown of every officer and enlisted man.”

-Colonel John E. Olson (Ret.)                   

From his book, O’Donnell, Andersonville of the Pacific

"From a rustic paradise that was in peacetime, Camp O'Donnell was now a living hell.

Into this camp  marched 54,000 POWs, including  9,300  Americans, in tattered uniforms facing a twilight zone of  uncertainty.  In  the anguish  following  the fall  of Bataan, they  arrived at O' Donnell disoriented  and  dysfunctional,  their  faces  reflecting pain and suffering, and the flesh on  their  disease-ridden and  hunger-ravaged  bodies  hanging loosely on their skeletal frames.

Their  arrival  was a sad  sight, made  even  more  depressing  by  seeing  POWs at the gates  being  singled  out  for execution for  carrying Japanese  souvenirs  on  their person.  The infuriating obtuse gate  guards looked to  us as  though  each  had  horns and  a  tail  and was  carrying a pitchfork instead of a rifle.  In that  infernal  atmosphere the devils incarnate were expecting us, the captives, to stoke their furnaces for them.  It  quickly  became apparent to all of us that we  were  doomed to  eternal hellfire."

-Mariano Vallarin                                 

From his book, We Remember Bataan and Corregidor

To obtain drinking water, it was standard procedure to stand in line for 6 to 8 hours for a canteenful from he single pump."

-Richard C. Mallonée            

From his book, The Naked Flag Pole Battle for Bataan

Filipino Burial Detail

I went on the water detail.  We had to go through the Filipino side of Camp O'Donnell.  It was terrible.  The Japs treated them as traitors.

-Cpl. Hubert Gater

From Death March by Donald Knox 

The Filipinos were dying like flies.  Carried in a tent-half buttoned up to form a tube, their bodies went by in an endless column.  It never ended.  Day and night the bodies were carried to the cemetery.  I was kind of stunned by the death rate.

From Death March by Donald Knox

-Richard C. Mallonée