Corregidor

By the time the Bataan Death March started, they were out of food, with nothing to drink, marching in the blistering heat for 65 miles.

Many of the men on the march had survived the furious bombing and the fierce combat on the island of Corregidor in Manila Bay, only to find themselves marching to death.

The brutality was difficult to imagine.

Death March survivor Lester Tenney said, "'It wasn't called the Bataan Death March "'only because people died.

a recommendation heartily endorsed by the commander asiatic fleet the authorization for the evacuation was delayed by state and navy department negotiations until ten november and it was the twenty seventh before the first of two chartered passenger liners the president madison loaded half the fourth marines in its equipment and departed shanghai the next day the rest of the regiment boarded the president harrison and sailed the destination of both liners was the naval base at alongapo in the philippines where the fourth was to join the naval forces defending the islands in particular the first separate battalion at cavita the ships arrived on thirty november and one december the president harrison as planned was unloaded quickly in order to return to china and pick up the marines stationed at peping and tientsin but it was too late the japanese pearl harbor attack force was already well on its way to its target the embassy guard detachments in china were assembling their gear to ship out through the all-weather port of chinwang tao the small marine camp there was named camp holcomb a fact that annoyed the commandant somewhat as he believed no marine facility should be named after living persons he pointed out in his twenty two november letter to general marston that the camp still bore his name but it will be a thing of the past in a few days the commandant was obviously referring to the impending evacuation of the embassy marines but in fact these men trapped in a hopeless situation less than two hundred in number were captured on the first day of the war in a general sense the marine corps was ready to fight on seven december nineteen forty one as it has always been regardless of its size nearly a third of the corps strength was already overseas deployed to stations and outposts where it shared often with navy and army forces the challenge of being in the forefront of battle if war came the few thousand marines who could realistically picture themselves at risk of immediate attack embodied the spirit of thousands more who knew their turn would come in the immediate future once war began the corps would grow to unheralded numbers far beyond what any pre-war marine had imagined the nucleus of marines that would give strength to this vast assemblage almost half a million men and women by nineteen forty four was already in place in nineteen forty one the generals were all veterans of world war one caribbean and china service the officers who would lead the battalions and regiments squadrons and air groups in the first months of the war were also veterans of extensive foreign and expeditionary duty many of the company commanders and flight leaders were products of the nineteen thirties when the marine corps wisely recruited the pick of army r o t c honor graduates the pilots of all ranks although as yet only a few hundred in number were skilled and capable men who could look forward to leading thousands of men who were in the training pipeline dominating the whole scene of corps mobilization and increases in strength was a solid corps of non-commissioned officers who had shared the veteran officers experience and who were in the words of many qualified to comment truly the backbone of the corps In a real way, these sergeants and corporals of whatever stripe were the ones who epitomized the Marine Corps traditions of leadership and loyalty to fellow Marines.

they imbued in the men with whom they served a feeling of what it means to be a marine of what it takes to be a marine in the war that was to come on the eve of the pearl harbor attack these marines of all ranks had a strong identity with the past they were the inventors in general holcomb's words in his nineteen forty one marine corps birthday message of this high name of distinction and soldierly repute won for all by those who have preceded us in the corps The pre-war Marines, both boot and veteran, were to add immeasurably to the Corps' laurels and traditions in the first year of fighting at Wake, Guam, Bataan, Corregidor, Midway, Macon, and Guadalcanal.

Throughout the course of World War II, they were the men of the old Corps whose accomplishments set the standard for all Marines.

End of Chapter 4 Sidebars of Opening Moves Marines Gear Up for War by Henry I. Shaw Jr.

No, nobody would allow them, regulations or no.

But you know that in the surrender in Bataan, when General Edward King surrendered, it was an issue again because he didn't represent Corregidor.

But in the end, he was allowed to surrender individually.

And the troops had to surrender individually as well, not as a group.

No, nobody would allow them, regulations or no.

But you know that in the surrender in Bataan, when General Edward King surrendered, it was an issue again because he didn't represent Corregidor.

But in the end, he was allowed to surrender individually.

And the troops had to surrender individually as well, not as a group.