| Original caption: “March to Death – ‘That never to be forgotten savagery.’ Start of the infamous death march near Mariveles on Bataan when American and Filipino troops were rounded up by the Japs in detachments of about a thousand men each. Wounded and diseased men also were forced to make the sixty-mile night-and-day trek into captivity.” American and Filipino forces, who surrendered on April 9, 1942, form up in the shattered town of Mariveles, Luzon, to march to San Fernando, where they met boxcars that took them to Camp O’Donnell. The Navy Section Base at Mariveles was on the southern tip of the Bataan peninsula. To the east is Mariveles, and north of the Pucot River. That was the Headquarters for the 16th Naval District, commanded by Rear Admiral Francis W. Rockwell (July 2, 1886 – January 2, 1979), who had the mission of protecting the naval stations on the island of Luzon, primarily Olongapo and the Navy Section Base at Mariveles. By January 1942, the only naval facilities remaining in the Philippines were at Mariveles. Here, all the unattached naval personnel were congregated. They were placed under the command of Commander Francis J. “Fidgety Frank” Bridget (August 2, 1897 – January 23, 1945), who was a Consolidated PBY Catalina pilot with no experience commanding ground forces. Commander Bridget formed them into a naval battalion totaling 602 sailors, including Marines from the 4th Marine Regiment, which had redeployed to the Philippines from its longtime duty station in Shanghai, China, in late November 1941. The Naval Battalion was tasked with providing local security for the Mariveles Navy Section Base. The immediate area to the Southwest of Mariveles was a series of bays on the Southwest coast of Bataan, adjacent to a high ridge that overlooks the Mariveles harbor and naval station. Mariveles was bombed constantly, targeting American forward lines and destroying the town. Mariveles Airfield was located at the southern tip of the Bataan Peninsula in Bataan Province in the Philippines. At the eastern end of the runway is Mariveles Harbor. A prewar seaplane ramp and quarantine station were located at this location. A prewar landing ground was located at this location, adjacent to the road. When American forces withdrew to the Bataan Peninsula, the old airfield was deemed inadequate and was subsequently abandoned. Starting on January 7, 1942, Contractors Pacific Naval Air Base personnel worked to widen the existing runway, completing their work in February 1942. Meanwhile, United States Army personnel aided in the construction of revetments in the hills to the west and added camouflage. Some revetments were constructed large enough to accommodate the wingspan of the B-17 Flying Fortress, as well as emplacements for anti-aircraft guns and dugouts for defense. Contractors at the Pacific Naval Air Base also began construction of 2 tunnels, M-1 and M-2. The airfield was built for the expected reinforcements bound for the Philippines that never arrived. Expansion was underway until American forces surrendered. Mariveles Airfield used the call sign “Palafox Red.” The United States Army Air Force 20th Pursuit Squadron established a tent camp roughly 2 miles from the airfield. By the end of February 1942, they relocated to the town of Mariveles. After the airfield was completed, on February 23, 1942, 2 of the 5 remaining P-40E Warhawks of the 5th Interceptor Command, 20th Pursuit Squadron landed at Mariveles. On March 3, 1942, a strafed Grumman J2F Duck, whose engine was above water, was salvaged with block and tackle, patched, and towed to the quarantine station. It was then lifted out of the water and towed into a revetment at Mariveles Airfield for repair. The Duck was airworthy by March 24 and used for flights to Mindanao to transport medical supplies and other emergency needs to the garrison on Bataan. Finally, this aircraft was flown by Carlos P. Romul to escape Bataan. Overnight on April 7-8, 1942, vehicles and trucks were parked on the runway. On April 8, 1942, the remaining pursuit pilots on Bataan drove to Mariveles Airfield to meet 3 B-17s that would ferry them south to Mindanao, but they never arrived. American and Filipino forces began displaying white flags in accordance with the terms of surrender. Still, Japanese dive bombers bombed the airfield. As Japanese forces occupied the area, the Americans were ordered to assemble at Kilometer Post 192 west of Mariveles Airfield to surrender officially, assembling at the airfield until April 10, when they began the Bataan Death March. The Bataan Death March began on April 10, 1942, when the Japanese gathered an estimated 78,000 prisoners (12,000 Americans and 66,000 Filipinos) to march up the east coast of Bataan. The Prisoners of War were not informed how far or how long they would need to march through the intense tropical heat. The men, already weakened by months of hunger and disease, suffered unspeakable cruelties during March. Japanese guards made a sport of hurting or killing the Prisoners of War. They were beaten with rifle butts, shot, or bayoneted without reason. Japanese guards started the day by giving Prisoners of War the “sun treatment.” The men were lined up in rows of 4 and stood at attention in the sweltering heat from sunrise until the sun was high overhead. After ensuring the Prisoners of War were fatigued, the Japanese marched them with only minimal rations. Desperate for water, men attempted to drink from dirty, disease-filled, and stagnant puddles. Sympathetic Filipinos alongside the road tried to offer nourishment; however, if seen by a guard, both the POW and the Filipino were shot without hesitation. Over 6 days, the Prisoners of War marched roughly 65 miles (105 kilometers) until they reached San Fernando. In groups of a 100 men, the Japanese forced them into boxcars designed to hold no more than 40 people, causing more men to die of heat exhaustion and suffocation. At Capas, the Prisoners of War disembarked and continued marching 7 more miles to Camp O’Donnell. Several people have self-identified in the photo. United States Army Air Force Sergeant Pedro A. “Pete” Gonzalez (January 31, 1921 — January 6, 2018), 19th Bomb Group, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, claims to be the man in the dark pants. Gonzalez enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps on July 16, 1940. He was present at Clark Field on December 8, 1941, when the Japanese 1st bombed and destroyed the airfield. When he surrendered, the Japanese forced Goanzalez and others to witness their troops parading over the American flag. Those Prisoners of War who had Japanese souvenirs were told to get rid of them. Some were killed for having Japanese yen or other items. On the Bataan Death March, civilians threw rice wrapped in banana leaves to the Americans and Filipinos. The Japanese shot at civilians feeding the Prisoners of War. Gonzalex told his local Public Broadcasting System in May 2012: “They stopped the march for a while. It wasn’t a coffee break either. And I ran into my First Sergeant and Major Charles W. Miller (December 22, 1904 – December 15, 1944). They were sitting down on the ground together. They looked at me and said, ‘Pete, aren’t you tired?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’m tired.’ I remember Major Miller’s words. He said, ‘Pete, you keep that smile on your face and you’re gonna make it back. You’re gonna beat these guys.’ I remember those words. He was from Marietta, Oklahoma. He died in the prison camp.” [Actually, Miller was killed when the “hell ship” Ōryoku Maru was sunk.] Gonzalez and about a 100 other Prisoners of War were packed into boxcars at the end of the Death March. Later, he was told that a half-dozen men died of suffocation during transit to Camp O’Donnell. He stayed by the boxcar’s door, getting some air to survive. In the prison camp, he watched a Japanese officer beat a man nearly to death for stealing food. In October 1943, he was sent by “hell ship” to Sendai prison camp in Japan. Gonzalez was liberated in August 1945. He was discharged on May 29, 1946. Gonzalez earned 2 Purple Hearts and the Silver Star. Sergeant Glenn D. Frazier (December 1, 1923 – September 15, 2018) of the 75th Ordnance Depot in Mobile, Alabama, also claims to be the man in the dark pants. Frazier enlisted in the United States Army on July 3, 1941, volunteering for the Philippine Department. Frazier and other soldiers of the 75th Ordnance Depot kept the front lines supplied as best they could, despite shortages in ammunition, medical supplies, and food. When ordered to surrender, Frazier’s unit attempted to destroy as much of their equipment as possible. They shot up trucks, burned up gasoline, and destroyed all rifles and ammunition. On the Death March, Frazier saw prisoners used for bayonet practice. Frazier’s best friend, Gerald F. Block, stood in line for hours at Camp O’Donnell’s single water spigot, wetting a towel and dripping water onto Frazier’s parched, dry mouth; he had been without water for 5 days. Frazier could barely stand and was in and out of consciousness at the end of the Death March. In October 1942, Frazier was sent by “hell ship” to Japan. There, the Americans sabotaged whatever they could and received savage beatings by Japanese guards. Forced to kneel at 1 point, Frazier was told he would be executed. Crediting “divine intervention,” Frazier told the guard he would “lodge in his [the executioner’s] body until the day he dies.” The guard let him go. Frazier tossed his dog tags into a grave at his lowest point, believing he would not survive the war and wanted to have something that would tell his parents where he ended up. At the end of the war, Frazier was forced to clean up a bomb-damaged factory, hauling 400 Japanese bodies and parts of bodies out of the ruins. After the atomic attack on Nagasaki, Frazier’s guards deserted. Frazier and others, hearing that MacArthur had landed, presented themselves in Tokyo at the Supreme Command Allied Powers (SCAP) Headquarters. His father, told by the United States government that Frazier’s dog tags were found in a mass grave, refused to believe it or accept the 10,000 dollars from the United States Army GI insurance. Frazier returned to Mobile and became a public speaker. The Alabama State Defense Force appointed him a Captain in 1994 and promoted him to Colonel before his death. Frazier identifies the man with the towel around his neck as Private Gerald F. Block (November 29, 1921 – October 24, 1944), 75th Ordnance Depot, of Beardsley, Minnesota. Block enlisted on July 25, 1941, in Seattle, Washington. Ordered to travel to Japan on the “hell ship” Arisan Maru, he was 1 of 1,795 American Prisoners of War killed when it was torpedoed by USS Shark (SS-314), which in turn was sunk by Imperial Japanese Navy destroyers Take and Harukaze. Frazier thought he died in the Palawan Massacre on December 14, 1944, when American Prisoners of War were burned alive in a slit trench. Attempting to locate the family of his wartime comrade, Frazier was united with Block’s nieces in 2013. Block is commemorated on the Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery. Imperial Japanese Army photographer Koyanagi Tsuguichi (1907 – 1992) recalled in his memoirs, “A truck full of Filipino prisoners of war and sick and wounded refugees was heading from Mariveles to a detention facility. Not all the prisoners were escorted on foot; they all surrendered all at once. The photograph that was referred to as the ‘Bataan Death March’ is my premier portrait from that time.” “During the war crimes trial after the war, I was summoned to the Military Tribunal in Yokohama. They said it was connected to the Bataan Death March, so I thought I was taking photos and had no connection, but when they asked me to appear, I became worried and went, and ended up as a witness for the defense.” “I think it was the regimental commander of the Hata Shige Unit, which was in charge of transporting prisoners at the time, who was tried and held responsible for the thousands of deaths caused by forcing them to walk in that scorching heat. And that’s what I said in my testimony. ‘We, the Japanese soldiers, didn’t have trucks, so we walked the same roads. Even the main army walked, so why would they drive the Americans in cars on the day of victory? Besides, the Japanese army had no idea there were so many civilians in the jungles of the Pacific Rim, even while they were attacking.’ My Japanese-American lawyer thanked me for my kind words and gave me some rations before I returned home. The photographs of the American prisoner of war camp were taken by just me and Ashihei Hino (January 25, 1907 – January 24, 1960), without any intention of publishing them anywhere, but simply to document these unusual experiences.” This photo, taken by the Japanese and captured in August 1945, was released to the American public on October 21, 1945, usually accompanying remarks by Lieutenant General Jonathan M. Wainwright (August 23, 1883 – September 2, 1953), Commanding Officer, Philippine Department, about the Bataan Death March. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1447.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.02 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 3000 x 2370 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | April 10, 1942 |
| Location | Mariveles |
| City | Bataan |
| State or Province | Luzon |
| Country | Philippines |
| Archive | Library of Congress |
| Record Number | LC-USZ62-128775 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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