Comments on: The War http://libertyladybook.com/2009/01/23/the-war/ a B-17 bomber crew, the OSS, and a wartime love story Fri, 18 May 2012 17:26:02 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Bobby Lee Silliman http://libertyladybook.com/2009/01/23/the-war/comment-page-1/#comment-2376 Bobby Lee Silliman Mon, 26 Mar 2012 03:40:12 +0000 http://libertyladybook.com/?p=219#comment-2376 Having grown up in Carlsbad , New Mexico, the mention of Battan evokes immediate attention as many men from Carlsbad were among the thousands of men who were captured by the Japanese and had to endure or die during the Battan Death March. An entire national guard unit from Carlsbad was over-run and taken prisoners in 1942. Many men from this National Guard Unit did not survive the Death March...... some did. I can see why Herman F. Allen would choose to write a poem about this dark side of human nature but more importantly..... write into his poem the uplifting words of encouragement. Thank you for allowing us to read his words. Bobby Lee Silliman Having grown up in Carlsbad , New Mexico, the mention of Battan evokes immediate attention as many men from Carlsbad were among the thousands of men who were captured by the Japanese and had to endure or die during the Battan Death March. An entire national guard unit from Carlsbad was over-run and taken prisoners in 1942. Many men from this National Guard Unit did not survive the Death March…… some did.
I can see why Herman F. Allen would choose to write a poem about this dark side of human nature but more importantly….. write into his poem the uplifting words of encouragement.
Thank you for allowing us to read his words.

Bobby Lee Silliman

]]> By: Johnny http://libertyladybook.com/2009/01/23/the-war/comment-page-1/#comment-13 Johnny Sat, 24 Jan 2009 15:28:51 +0000 http://libertyladybook.com/?p=219#comment-13 hey – I didn't know what the Bataan Death March was all about so I looked it up on Wikipedia: "The Bataan Death March took place in the Philippines in 1942 and was later accounted as a Japanese war crime. The 60-mile (97 km) march occurred after the three-month Battle of Bataan, part of the Battle of the Philippines (1941–42), during World War II... The march, involving the forcible transfer of 76,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war captured by the Japanese in the Philippines from the Bataan peninsula to prison camps, was characterized by wide-ranging physical abuse and murder, and resulted in very high fatalities inflicted upon the prisoners and civilians along the route by the armed forces of the Empire of Japan. Beheadings, cut throats and casual shootings were the more common and merciful actions — compared to bayonet stabbings, rapes, disembowelments, numerous rifle butt beatings and a deliberate refusal to allow the prisoners food or water while keeping them continually marching for nearly a week (for the slowest survivors) in tropical heat. Falling down, unable to continue moving was tantamount to a death sentence, as was any degree of protest or expression of displeasure." hey – I didn’t know what the Bataan Death March was all about so I looked it up on Wikipedia:

“The Bataan Death March took place in the Philippines in 1942 and was later accounted as a Japanese war crime. The 60-mile (97 km) march occurred after the three-month Battle of Bataan, part of the Battle of the Philippines (1941–42), during World War II… The march, involving the forcible transfer of 76,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war captured by the Japanese in the Philippines from the Bataan peninsula to prison camps, was characterized by wide-ranging physical abuse and murder, and resulted in very high fatalities inflicted upon the prisoners and civilians along the route by the armed forces of the Empire of Japan. Beheadings, cut throats and casual shootings were the more common and merciful actions — compared to bayonet stabbings, rapes, disembowelments, numerous rifle butt beatings and a deliberate refusal to allow the prisoners food or water while keeping them continually marching for nearly a week (for the slowest survivors) in tropical heat. Falling down, unable to continue moving was tantamount to a death sentence, as was any degree of protest or expression of displeasure.”

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