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July 2016
Bataan- Its Meaning (anniversary of the fall of
Bataan)
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"Bataan- Its Meaning (anniversary of the fall of Bataan)" (2016). War Information Center Pamphlets. Book 549.
http://utdr.utoledo.edu/ur-87-68/549
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Off ice of Special Services
C 0 MM O N WE A L T H
0 F
P H I L I P P I NE S
THE
(April 9, 1943 , wil l mark the passing of one yea r since the
fall of' Ba t aan .)
BATAAN - ITS lTEAlHNG
On April 9 , 1942 , the last wea ry remnunts of the Filipino
and American troops on Bataan eith er
~ ithdrew
to Corregidor or
surrendered to th e Jap a nese forc es .
For n onths they ha d held
off an arr.iy ma ny tines their siz e a n i fully eq uip pe d with food
1
and war ma t erials for jungle fi gh tir g .
They were exhausted;
they had vi.rtually no food left; and t he ir equ ipment was almost
entir el y us ed up•
Th ese Filipino ::i nd L.noric a n soldiers had
put up one of the r:J.os t magnificent ba ttl e s in th e whole history
of human warfar e .
Bataan
But courage a lJne wa s not eno ugh - - and
f e ll~
The first
anniversar~
of th e fall of Be taan is a date
of vital import ance to the peo!') le of the United States .
"''
. \i')
~
("...,
The
fighters on Bataan achieved a great vict ory , even in defeat .
The Filipinos and Ar.iericans , fi ghting and dying sid e by sid e ,
bought America four precious months to recover from th e disaster
of Pea rl Ha rbor .
By their fiq;ht against i r'1pos sibl e odds , the y
gave proof of t he str eng th of th o denocratic i deal of fr ee dom
and human equal ity .
Their h er o isn r ais e d a glo ri ous banne r
to chal l enge and invi gor a t e our spirit of sacr ific e and our
will to win .
The gallantry of t he Filipino p eople and their fi gh ting
men, when Japan inv aded th e Ph.ilipuines , was pr oo f of the wisdon
\
~
(\{"\
of Arno ric an policy in the Ph ilip pi r.es during the pa st forty
years.
The Fi l i pino s wer e the only Far Eas t e rn people living
under the flag of an alien ne tion wh,1 fought whe n the Axis
attacke d ,
~
~
~
_§
They fough t because t he y had s ee n Anerica carry out
her pr omis es in the Philip pines and be oau se th ey had confidenc e
in t he American pledge of full indep endenc e for th e PhiliD pin es .
-
2 -
They fought without being asked to fight by t he Gove rnment or
the Presid ent of the United States .
They fou gh t b ecause they
had something worth fi gh ting for -- their own liberty -- and
they knew it .
On Bataan t here were ap proximat ely seven
Filipino soldiers for each Anerican soldi er .
The majori t y
of General IJa cArthur ' s infantry cons ist ed of Filipinos , four fifths of them citizen- soldiers .
On the bomb- scarr ed and
blood- stained battlefields of Bataa n , Americans and Filipinos
gave proof to the world t ha t free £'1e n can fi gh t side by side
in mutual confidence and with !'llltua l r espe ct .
In a speec h short - wa ved to t he Phili pp ines on Fe bruary
20 , speaking with the advance authorization of the President
of the United St a tes , President rp ezon stated :
"··• By our decision to fi ght by the side of the United
States , by our he roisn , and by our lo ya lty to t he ACTeri can
flag , we won a ba ttl e gr ea t Gr t han we lost .
Our de ci s ion
and our he roism ha ve won for our people
fre e dom for
r e~ l
all tine.
"You know wh a t President Roosevelt said in his procla mation to the Filipino people on Decee1b er 28 , 1941 .
were his words :
These
' I g iv e to the pe opl e of the Philippines
my sol emn pl edge that thei r fre e dom will b e red een e d a nd
th e ir independe nc e es t ablished and Drote ct e d .
The entire
r esourc e s in nen and mat e ri a ls of th e Unit ed Stat e s stand
behind tha t pl edge . '
"Not only that,
alr eady giv en th e
President Roose velt has , in eff ect ,
Philip~in es
r e cognition as an indeoe n-
dent nation .
"On my arrival in Wash i ngton , he r ende r ed me ho nors due
only to th e he ad s of
in de~e nd en t
gove rn ments ~··•
"He has r e cogniz ed ou r ri ght to ta ke part in t he
Pac ific
1~ r
Council , with Grea t Br it a in , Ch ina , The Nether-
lands and th e
se lf~gov e rnin g
an d New Zea l a nd .
Doninions of Ca nada , Au stra lia
The Pres id ent of th e Unit ed States
himself presides ov e r t he Counc il tabl e .
- 3 -
"I n t he name of the Ph i l i pp i nes , I am a si gna t ory to
t h e Atl antic Ch art er .
We are one of t he Unit e d Na ti on s .
And whethe r t he war is ov er b 8fo r e or aft er J uly 4 , 1946 ,
the date fi xe d for the
e sta b lish~a n t
of th e Ph i l i pp i ne
Re publi c , I am ce r t a in t ha t we shal l hav e our own r e or e sen t a ti on i n the Peace Conf er ance ,
" •·• Our indepe ndenc e i s a l r eady a r e a lit y , s in ce the
Pr e s i den t of the Uni t ed St a t es , by hi s s e ver a l off i c i a l
a c ts en umer at e d abov e , has g iven r e cognit i on to t he Ph i l i pp in es as poss e ss ed of t h e att ri but e s or ful l na ti onhood .
Th e only t hing lack i ng is t !:1e forI'l.al e st abl i shr1ent of th e
Phili pp i ne :rt e publi c .
Th i s ca nnot ha pp en un t i l our country
i s lib Gr a t e d f rora t ho inv hders -- unt i l you , ny f el l ow
ci t iz ens , can ex erc i s e your ful l ri gh t to el 0ct t h e
offici als of th e Gov ernr:J.e nt of th e Rep ubl ic."
On t he anni ver s a ry of the s urr e nde r of Bataa n , no new
words of t ri but e or r e- de di ca ti on c a n eq ua l th e s i np l e salut e
bro adc a s t fr om b e s i eg ed Cor r er i dor on Ap ril 9, 1) 42 , by a
young Filip i no off i c er , Li e ut enant Nornan
r~ e y e s .
These wer e
the words t ha t went ou t from t he "Vo i ce of :r, r ee do.r.i" tran s mi tt er -- wo r ds t hat s t il l
~ cho
c l ear a nd s trong in the hearts
of fr ee men ev erywh e re :
"Ba t aa n ha s f al l en .
'l'h e Ph i l i -o pi n e- Ar:le r i ca n tr oop s
on th i s wa r-rav ag e d and bl oo dsta i n ed p en i nsul a hav e l a i d
down th e i r arms .
With hea ds bl oody but unbovrn d , th ey
hav e yi elde d t o tlrn su p.3rio r forc e a nd numb e rs of th e
enemy .
"Th e world wil l lone; r ePiGBbe r t he epi c s truggl e t ha t
Fili p i no and Ane ric a n s ol d i e rs out up in th e j ung l e f a st n es s es and along t he rugge d coas t of Ba t aa n .
Th ey ha ve
stood u p unc omplaining unde r the const ant a nd gru e l i ng
f i r e of th e enemy for mor e ttu:l n thr ee months .
Be s i ege d
on l a nd and bl ocka de d by so a , cut off fr om all s ourc e s
of help i n th e Ph i li pp i n e s a nd in Amer i ca , th ese intr e pi d
f ight ers he ve don e all tha t huna n endur anc e could b oa r .
~
- 4 -
"For what sustain ed then through all the se months of
incessant battle was a force that was more than .merely
I
physical .
It was th e force of an unconqu e rable
faith - - some thing in the heart and soul that physical hardship and adversity could not destroy t
It
was the thought of native land and all that it holds
most dear , the thought of freedom and dignity and
pride in th ese most pric el ess of huflan prerogatives .
"· · · Our men hav e fough t a brave and bitt erly
contest ed struggle .
All the world will t es tify to
th e almost superhuman endur anc e with wh ich they
stood up until th e l ast in the face of overwhelming
odds .
But the deci s ion had to come .
Men fighting
unde r th e bann er of an unshakab l e faith are mode of
something mo r e than flesh, but th ey are not made of
i mpe rvious stl:'l el .
Tlle fl e sh must yi el d a t la st ,
endura nc e melts away , and th e end of th G battl e must
come .
"Ba t aan has f al l en , but tlrn sp irit that made it
stand - - a bea con to all th e
lib a rt~~loving
peopl es
of the wor ld - - cannot fall t 11
3/12/ 43