good talk

I didn't get any Valentines, I thought that surely this must be my year but not so. On April 9, 1942 , 68,000 Filipino and 11,796 American Soldiers surrendered to the Japanese after the 3 month long Battle of Bataan. Weak from disease and lack of food these prisoners had been promised humane treatment by the victorious Japanese Lt. General Masaharu Homma when he accepted the surrender of the American Major General Edward King. These prisoners were then marched day and night with little rest, food or water for up to 2 weeks in what became known as the Bataan Death March. Of the 68,000 Filipinos and 11,796 American prisoners as many as 10,000 Filipinos and 650 Americans died enroute. They were tougher on the Filipinos (a survivor of the Bataan Death March? Ferdinand Marcos). With their destination Camp O'Donnell in Central Luzon the prisoners were brutalized by their Japanese Captors ("They despised us for Giving In"), if they wanted your ring they might cut off your finger, if they wanted your watch they might cut off your hand, if you faltered or fell you'd be bayoneted or shot. The American Public heard of this and gave rise to the perception of the Japanese as bloodthirsty barbarians. 15 years ago I was in a VA Hospital receiving treatment for skin cancer, I've had as much as anybody the Doctors know of, I'm very light with light blue eyes and a very oily complexion, even at my age it's the oiliest I've seen. Another of the patients was Darryl McGee, a survivor of the Bataan Death March, and I got to know him a little. Darryl who's quite possibly dead by now was recovering from a stroke. Darryl was a three and a half year prisoner of the Japanese and he said that while he was a prisoner that his leg had gotten infected and that a Japanese Doctor had wanted to amputate it without anesthesia but that an American Doctor who was also a prisoner-of-war told the Japanese Doctor that he could save the leg, and he did. I told this story to a friend of mine recently and he said that it was a very uplifting story. It is? I asked Daryll if he was bitter against the Japanese and he said,"Sure." This might not have been my most astute comment. If you hang around the VA you meet a lot of salty characters, many of them have killed other men. About 12 years ago before one of my skin cancer surgeries I thought it a good idea to go in the restroom and wash my face and I started talking to an old guy who was there to see the dentist. He said that during WW ll that he had fought the Japanese and that a Japanese soldier had bayoneted him and then smashed his rifle butt against his mouth. This is perfect bayonet technique but only good if you can get a vital organ and this guy didn't. The Old American seemed big and strong even in his 70's and was able to hang in there, he said "And then I killed the Jap!" Then he threw back his head and roared with laughter. Eh, the Greatest Generation as Tom Brokaw termed it. After the War the Japanese Lt. General Homma was tried for his cruelty and hung.