What happened after the bataan death march?
First, about 10% of the Americans who took part in the Bataan Death March actually died. That’s a phenomenal number for a week. Second, no-one knew about it. Word of the Bataan Death March didn’t reach America in sufficient strength (ie: reports from escaped POWs and Filipino partisans) for at least 2 years after the Death March. Third, the POWs were sent to a number of camps. Most of these camps were bad but not as bad as those in Korea, Burma or Japan proper. There were also not quite as many executions as some other areas (New Guinea, Chichi Jima or Wake where there were examples of Japanese EATING prisoners, in some cases alive. Or mass beheadings to celebrate the emperor’s birthday). But life was still bad in the POW camps in the Philippines. My understanding is that mortality rates in Japan and Burma (for Allied POWs) were around 45% but “only” about 30% in the Philippines. Once MacArthur landed, things got a lot worse. At one camp, all POWs were herded into underground air-raid
