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Serenity now! |
Has anyone done this before? My daughter left today with her ROTC class to participate. 26 miles carrying a 35lb pack. Supposedly there will be 3 or 4 survivors of the real death march at the finish line this year. She's really excited. Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice - pull down your pants and slide on the ice. ʘ ͜ʖ ʘ | ||
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Charmingly unsophisticated |
I have a friend who was formerly in the TXARNG. He did it once, and as I recall, it was during the summer. He said "it was tough". _______________________________ The artist formerly known as AllenInWV | |||
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| Just because you can, doesn't mean you should |
Good to see somebody remembers. I wonder how many people below 30 that aren't military even know what the Bataan death march was? They need to find somewhere more tropical and have someone with a bayonet poking them in the back as they walk to really "appreciate" the event. ___________________________ Avoid buying ChiCom/CCP products whenever possible. | |||
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Tinker Sailor Soldier Pie |
I remember the day in class that we actually learned about it. The reason I remember that particular lesson is because we actually had a girl from the Philippines in our class who corrected the teacher on the proper pronunciation of Bataan. It's three syllables and pronounced Bah▪tah▪ahn. For some reason I never forgot that. ~Alan Acta Non Verba NRA Life Member (Patron) God, Family, Guns, Country Men will fight and die to protect women... because women protect everything else. ~Andrew Klavan | |||
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| His diet consists of black coffee, and sarcasm.  |
Help me understand this.
While a difficult hike, is this alone supposed to re-enact the Death March?  Because if it is, it isn't even in the same universe as the real one. Maybe try it sick, thirsty and starved with a side of beatings. | |||
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its up over a mountain and down the other side. A friend who's regular career Army participated several years ago. He said its the most grueling physical thing he's ever done. | |||
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I had a couple of instructors who participated in the march and they said it was grueling. They said what made it so grueling on the feet and legs was the terrain, sand and soil. I have been wanting to participate in it for years but rucking is one of my weaknesses. | |||
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| Staring back from the abyss  |
One day in my 11th grade US History class (it was a required pass course for Juniors back then), we had our school janitor come in and talk to us for the entire hour about the Bataan Death March. He survived it, and he held nothing back during the presentation. I remember him speaking of buddies being shot and bayonetted, and of the man to his front being beheaded. I don't think any of us kids said a word to anyone else for the rest of the day. We were simply horrified by what Shorty told us. ________________________________________________________ "Great danger lies in the notion that we can reason with evil." Doug Patton. | |||
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It's supposed to pay homage to those who suffered through it and Kindle continued remembrance. It's not meant to recreate the entire experience. ___________________________________________ "Why is it every time I need to get somewhere, we get waylaid by jackassery?" -Dr. Thaddeus Venture | |||
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It totally is! Since I was in the RGR Regtiment in the early 90's, I like to do a "Battle of Mogadishu" re-enactment. M16A2/CAR-15s and AK-47 replicas, period correct armor and web gear, surplus ammo. After the 1st time though, we're getting very few participants at all and almost nobody wants to play a "skinny".  “People have to really suffer before they can risk doing what they love.” –Chuck Palahnuik Be harder to kill: https://preparefit.ck.page | |||
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| I Am The Walrus |
When I was stationed at Bliss, our BN had about 5 NCOs who did it every year they were stationed there. BN CSM always gave them some comp time during the week for doing it. _____________ | |||
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Member |
Read "Ghost Soldiers" by Hampton Sides. Prepare to be sickened. The Death March was just the beginning. God's mercy: NOT getting what we deserve! God's grace: Getting what we DON'T deserve! "If the enemy is in range, so are you." - Infantry Journal Bob P239 40 S&W Endowment NRA Viet Nam '69-'70 | |||
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| ...do justly, love mercy, walk humbly... |
As a Clemson grad, I had to post a link to this story about Col Ben Skardon, a 1938 Clemson graduate who walked the March and has gone to this event for years... https://www.graydigitalgroup.c...rch-col-ben-skardon/ | |||
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His Royal Hiney |
My wife's dad was in the Bataan death march as a kid, a Japanese soldier pulled him out of the line and told him to go away. My dad was in the Bataan death march as a US Army soldier. I don't know anything about his experience other than he was imprisoned, got some sort of scabies as part of the experience, and soaked in hot scalding water to kill the scabies. After WW2, he was on several tours in Korea during the Korean War. "It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946. | |||
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| Too old to run, too mean to quit! |
See below: After the April 9, 1942, U.S. surrender of the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philippine island of Luzon to the Japanese during World War II (1939-45), the approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan were forced to make an arduous 65-mile march to prison camps. The marchers made the trek in intense heat and were subjected to harsh treatment by Japanese guards. Thousands perished in what became known as the Bataan Death March. Many years ago we had a neighbor who participated in that event, and survived to spend several years in POW camps in Japan. He and I occasionally talked about some of what he had experienced. He told of eating bugs, beatings, other forms of torture. These knot heads with their 35lb packs and 26 mile walks have no freaking idea of what really happened, and are not smart enough to spend 30 seconds on the internet to find out. They remind me of the idiots who thought/think that we fought against Germany and France in WW2. Elk There has never been an occasion where a people gave up their weapons in the interest of peace that didn't end in their massacre. (Louis L'Amour) "To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical. " -Thomas Jefferson "America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." Alexis de Tocqueville FBHO!!! The Idaho Elk Hunter | |||
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| Just because you can, doesn't mean you should |
Like i said earlier, most people don't even know what it was about. This may be what somebody was re-enacting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Mountain Another epic march in the Pacific theater. Half of these guys were out of commission before they got to the other side of the mountains, then they had to fight the battle. Good thing that the Japanese were already suffering from the conditions too. ___________________________ Avoid buying ChiCom/CCP products whenever possible. | |||
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Raptorman |
It's why we should have zero guilt over nuking the shit out of them. I think we failed to go far enough to placate the Chinese or Koreans. They weren't taught manners until they got their asses totally handed to them. ____________________________ Eeewwww, don't touch it! Here, poke at it with this stick. | |||
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Member |
My Dad's ship brought hundreds of former Japanese POWs back to the States after the war. My Dad is a very forgiving man, but has never to this day (he's 95 years old) been able to forgive the Japanese for what they did to those POWs. Rod "Do not approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, or a fool from any direction." John Deacon, Author I asked myself if I was crazy, and we all said no. | |||
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| Serenity now! |
My daughter most certainly *is* smart enough to understand what this is all about, and she considers it a great honor to be able to participate. She has been training for 6 months for this, going on 20 mile rucks on the weekends to build up strength, and participating in classroom discussions about Bataan. And while this experience doesn't fully re-create the conditions experienced in 1942, what's wrong with doing this so the younger generations can keep alive the memories of those men who suffered so much? Or would you prefer to forget their scarifice just because there aren't any guards stabbing these people with bayonets?This message has been edited. Last edited by: 4x5, Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice - pull down your pants and slide on the ice. ʘ ͜ʖ ʘ | |||
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| His Royal Hiney |
I can appreciate the sentiment. Maybe it's the word "reenactment" instead of something along the lines of "honoring" may be the sticking point. "It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946. | |||
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