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The Origin of Bataan Day
They
were barely more than kids, only in their teens and early twenties. Their
buddies from Proviso High School called them "Weekend Warriors". They were
members of the 33rd Division of the Illinois
National Guard based at the Armory in Maywood, Illinois. In September
1940, the Draft Act had been passed and selected National Guard Units were
called into active duty for the war in Europe. The 33rd
Tank Company B was organized May 3, 1929 at Maywood, Illinois and was inducted
into active service of the United States on November 25, 1940, pursuant to a
Presidential Order dated November 16, 1940. One hundred twenty-two of
these men left the Armory at Madison Street and Greenwood Avenue in Maywood to
board a Northwestern Railroad train which took them to Fort Know, Kentucky,
where Company B joined Company A from Wisconsin. Company C from Ohio, and
Company D from Kentucky, to form the 192nd Tank
Battalion.
Kentucky's Fighting 192nd
Light G. H. Q. Tank Battalion stands as an inspirational example among our most
distinguished tank battalions. After further training and participating in
Louisiana maneuvers, the 192nd Tankers were at
Camp Polk, Louisiana, to be fully equipped for overseas shipping. In
October of 1941, 89 men of the original Battalion group left the United States
for further training with the complete battalion on the President Line Ship,
"Hugh L. Scott", which was bound for the Philippine Islands. They arrived
in Manila, Luzon, Philippine Islands on November 29, 1941 '' "Franksgiving Day",
so named because President Roosevelt had proclaimed it one week earlier than the
traditional Thanksgiving Day. From the port area, they went to Clark Field
on Luzon, 60 miles to the north of Manila.
The Army had expected to give these young Americans additional
military training and develop the fighting skills of the newly mobilized
Philippine forces, but that training never happened. In less than two
weeks, on December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked; six battleships went down
to the bottom of the harbor. A few hours after the attack on the Hawaiian
base, Japanese bombs smashed into Clark Field and other bases on Luzon.
Half of the 123 combat planes stationed in the Philippines were destroyed.
Shortly thereafter, Japan dominated both the air and the waters around Luzon.
Their next move was the actual invasion of the island, beach
by beach. By Christmas Eve, General Jonathan Wainwright, Commander of the
Island Forces, knew his exhausted troops could not stop this Japanese invasion.
He put into action plans, made much earlier, for a mass withdrawal of all
Philippine and American forces into Bataan; nearly 80,000 hungry and battle-worn
troops, 13,000 Americans along with 26,000 fleeing and frightened civilians.
Clothing, barbed wire, gasoline, sand bags, medicine -- everything was in short
supply. The scarcest commodity of all was food. By the end of
January, after only a month in Bataan, malaria, scurvy, and dysentery had
reached epidemic proportions. Pilots without planes, cavalrymen without
horses, gunners without tanks, and Filipinos without shoes all fought doggedly
against the relentless tide of Japanese invaders and their unending artillery
bombardment.
On April, 8, 1942 (April 9th
in the United States), Bataan surrendered. The following day, some 70,000
American and Filipino soldiers, as Japanese captives, all became victims of the
greatest atrocity of the Pacific War: the Bataan Death March. A seemingly
endless line of sick and starving men began their trip from the peninsula to
Camp O'Donnell in central Luzon. The camp was to have been an American
airfield before the Japanese invasion but had to be abandoned before completion.
The entire march to Camp O'Donnell was 120 kilometers (85 miles). Because
of the deteriorated condition of these men, no one knows how many died during
that march. Probably 5,000 to 10,000 Filipinos and between 600 and 700
Americans lost their lives. What is known is that the dying and suffering
did not end when the men reached Camp O'Donnell, the "Death March" would not end
for a long time. There would be more misery, more starvation, and more
indignities, but most of all, there would be much, much more death before
freedom. Of the nearly 10,000 Americans taken prisoner at Bataan, between
6,000 and 7,000 died in Japanese prison camps during the three-and-one-half
years of their captivity. Only at the end of the war in August 1945 could
the story be known of these heroes of Bataan.
The families of those 89 young men who left Maywood in 1940
had only newspapers and radio for information about their loved ones. All
knew Bataan had fallen and the Philippines were in Japanese hands, northing
more. A group of mothers, wives, and sweethearts then banded together to
raise funds and sell war bonds to help get supplies and medicine to the captives
of Bataan and Corregidor. This was a closed organization until they could
no longer go it alone and had to approach a group of Maywood citizens and
families for help. Consequently, the "American Bataan Clan" was organized
and chartered under the laws of the State of Illinois.
The first parade was held September 13, 1942. More than
10,000 people came to show their support for the Maywood men whose fate was
unknown. It was not until 1945, when the captives were freed, that their
life of horror was known. Only 41 would return, the other 48 would remain
in the Philippines, having paid the supreme sacrifice for their country, either
in action of Japanese prison camps. In 1946, the "Veterans Council" was
organized from the ranks of V. F. W. and American Legion members and, together
with the American Bataan Clan, they continued to raise funds and to perpetuate
the Bataan Day parades. In September 1946, those of the returned personnel
who were able marched down the Fifth Avenue in Maywood at the head of the Bataan
Day Parade as honored gusts of their hometown.
Each and every year, from 1942 to 1987, save one, this parade
has been held in memory of those who did not return. During the years
1964, the Veterans Council made a great effort to contact all men and women who
were POWs to come and join Maywood in this event. One hundred thirty-eight
former POWs came to the O'Hare Inn on September 12, 1964, as guests of honor.
At this testimonial dinner, Congressman Harold Collier, Maywood's Congressional
Representative, was handed a resolution, asking that the second Sunday in
September be set aside by the Federal Government to be known as "American Bataan
Day" in Maywood, Illinois. ON the congressional floor, he introduced this
resolution, to be known as HS 165, to make this a National Day. To our
knowledge, Maywood is the only city or town in the country that still
commemorates the day. In June 1973, a number of concerned citizens of
Maywood requested assistance from the Village Mayor, David White. With his
help, and with the help of civic organizations involved, the Veterans Council
was reorganized to be known as the Maywood Civic and Veterans Association for
the Preservation of Bataan Day. Subsequently, the name was changed to the
Maywood Bataan Day Organization.
To mark the 50th Anniversary of the Bataan Death March, a gala
banquet was held in September 1992 at the Terrace Restaurant in Lombard,
Illinois. Memorial serves continued to be held each year on the second
Sunday of September in Maywood at the location of the 192nd
Tank Battalion tank in Maywood Park (4th Avenue
& Oak Street).
In January 1999, the Maywood Village Board of Trustees
approved a proposal by the Maywood Bataan Day Organization to establish a
Veterans Memorial in the southeast corner of Maywood Park (at 1st
Avenue & Oak Street). The plan called for bringing together the major
mementos of the infamous Bataan Death March, including a tank, cannon and
plaques, to ensure the continuing recognition and preservation of an important
part of Maywood's heritage.
In March 1999, an historic photograph of Company B of the
192nd Tank Battalion was installed in the History/Board Room on the second floor
of the Carnegie Library (original wing) in Maywood.
On Bataan Day, September 12, 1999, a Veterans Memorial
honoring the victims of the notorious "Bataan Death March", was dedicated in the
southeast corner of Maywood Park at 1st Avenue
and Oak Street. Speakers at the historic occasion included Brigadier
General Edward J. Dyer, U. S. Army, Assistant Division Commander for Maneuver,
24th Infantry Division (Mech) & Fort Riley,
Brigadier General David Harris, 35th Adjutant
General, State of Illinois, and the Honorable Emelinda Lee-Pinada, Consul
General of the Philippines.
The above material is from the "60th Annual 'Diamond Jubilee'
Anniversary Memorial Serve -- Bataan Day 2002", sponsored jointly by the Maywood
Bataan Day Organization & the Village of Maywood, September 8, 2002 at Veterans
Memorial, Maywood Park, Maywood, Illinois
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 162
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 11, 1965
Mr. Collier introduced the following joint
resolution: which was referred to the Committee on Judiciary
--------
JOINT RESOLUTION
To authorize the President to proclaim the
second Sunday in September of each year as Bataan Day.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of
Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the
President is hereby authorized and requested to issue annually a proclamation
designating the second Sunday of September of each year as Bataan Day in memory
of the gallant defenders of the Philippines in World War II, and calling upon
the people of the United States to observe such day with appropriate ceremonies
and activities.
The above material is from the "60th Annual 'Diamond Jubilee'
Anniversary Memorial Serve -- Bataan Day 2002", sponsored jointly by the Maywood
Bataan Day Organization & the Village of Maywood, September 8, 2002 at Veterans
Memorial, Maywood Park, Maywood, Illinois
The Proviso Township High School, through the Bataan
Commemorative Research Project, have created on the web the story of the
Maywood's soldiers of the 192nd Tank Battalion and their experiences at Bataan.
We present the opening sentences from the project. For the full history
please see the web site at:
http://www.proviso.k12.il.us/
They were barely more than kids, only in
their teens and early twenties. Their buddies from Proviso High School
called them "Weekend Warriors". They were members of the 33rd
Division of the Illinois National Guard based at the Armory in Maywood,
Illinois. In September 1940, the Draft Act had been passed and selected
National Guard Units were called into active duty for the war in Europe.
The 33rd Tank Company B was organized May 3, 1929 at Maywood, Illinois and was
inducted into active service of the United States on November 25, 1940,
pursuant to a Presidential Order dated November 16, 1940. One hundred
twenty-two of these men left the Armory at Madison Street and Greenwood Avenue
in Maywood to board a Northwestern Railroad train which took them to Fort
Knox, Kentucky, where Company B joined Company A from Wisconsin, Company C
from Ohio and Company D from Kentucky, where the 192nd Tank Battalion was
born.
For the full text of the material, go to
http://www.proviso.k12.il.us/ (more
specifically
http://www.proviso.k12.il.us/Bataan 20Web/index.htm). Also included at the site are
short biographies of many of the men of the 192
nd.
Another site honoring the 192nd Tank
Battalion can be found at
http://BataanWasHell.blog-city.com
where Steve Gibson honors the 192nd
Tank Battalion and their experiences at Bataan.
Last Modified: 01/23/2003