Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Death March Presentation
The Bataan Death March presentation on Monday was very informative. The presenter gave very good background information to give context to the event. The Philippines were annexed by the US in 1898 following the Spanish-American War, and by 1935 they Philippines had commonwealth status. This provided the backdrop for the conflict. When Japan had air and water superiority they asked the US to give the Philippines independence so that the Philippines could surrender to Japan. The death march itself was 65 miles long and without food and water. Stragglers were executed on the spot. It is intreesting to note the differences in views, regarding Japan's stance on prisoners of war. The presenter did a great job of personalizing the presentation with first-hand accounts of the death march. It was very difficult to hear how excrutiating that experience was.
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2 comments:
for a long time i had wondered why the japanese fought so ferociously during the war, explanation of the samouri "busito" during the presentation seems to explain most of their actions, such as relentless, suicidal charges late in the island hopping campaign
I would agree with the comment about the presenter making this idea about the prisoner of war in the japanese eyes personal but understanding. when reading about there torture tactics and only about that it seems more than cruel but disturbing and disrespectful but to learn that they thought of a prisoner of war as weak and why from a religious stand point or a sociological that they thought this, it begins to make a little more sense.
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