BATAAN DEATH MARCH
BATAAN DEATH MARCH
A Soldier’s Story
James Bollich
Foreword by Jesse Knowles
PELICAN PUBLISHING COMPANY
Gretna 2003
Copyright © 1993
By James Bollich
All rights reserved
First Pelican edition, 2003
The word “Pelican” and the depiction of a pelican
are trademarks of Pelican Publishing Company, Inc.,
and are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
ISBN: 1-58980-167-9
Printed in the United States of America
Published by Pelican Publishing Company, Inc.
1000 Burmaster Street, Gretna, Louisiana 70053
To my brothers, Andrew and Stephen,
who lost their lives fighting in the
European theatre of operations,
and to all the brave soldiers who died in battle
and in prisoner of war camps during World War II.
Contents
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2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
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23.
Entering the Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
The Philippine Islands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
The Enemy Comes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Arrival in Bataan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
March Out of Bataan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Camp O’Donnell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Bridge Detail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Cabanatuan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
The Ship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Pusan, Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Mukden, Manchuria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
The Factory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
New Camp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Air Raids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Guardhouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Diary of James Joseph Bollich P.O.W. . . . . . . . . . . . 169
The Russian Encounter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
Leaving Mukden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Aboard Ship. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Okinawa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Manila . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Across the Pacific. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
San Francisco. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
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8 ★ BATAAN DEATH MARCH
24. San Antonio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
25. Going Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
26. Discharged. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
MAPS
1. The Philippine Island of Luzon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2. Enlarged portion of Luzon Island showing
Bataan Peninsula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
1.
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3.
4.
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FIGURES
Tropical uniforms issued at Fort McKinley . . . . . . . . 33
Bivouacked in coconut grove at Lipa . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Author is slightly wounded by exploding bomb,
which killed American soldier in nearby
foxhole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
In machine-gun position at Cabcabin Field . . . . . . . 50
Cabcabin Field being attacked by Japanese
dive-bomber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Bataan falls to the Japanese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
American soldiers on Death March
out of Bataan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Exhausted American prisoner being beaten by
Japanese soldier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Dead American prisoner on Death March . . . . . . . . 77
American prisoner being beaten with
wine bottle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Prisoners being shot as they rush artesian
well for much-needed water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Prisoner drinking out of polluted mud hole . . . . . . 84
Only a trickle of water for an endless line of
thirsty men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Hordes of large green flies at Camp O’Donnell . . . . 91
Contents ★ 9
15. Burial detail at Camp O’Donnell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
16. Grave-digging detail at Camp O’Donnell . . . . . . . . . 94
17. American prisoners being executed for
attempted escape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
18. Overworked bridge detail at Gapan . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
19. Burial detail at Cabanatuan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
20. Washed down with fire hoses on
pier at Formosa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
21. Being pulled from the ship’s hole at
Pusan, Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
22. Marching to factory from old camp in Mukden,
Manchuria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
23. Having teeth pulled at new prison camp in
Mukden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
24. New camp bombed by American B-29 planes . . . . . 154
25. Serving time in guardhouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
26. Food and clothing being dropped by American
planes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
27. Unpleasant encounter with Russian soldier . . . . . . 185
28. Challenging Japanese officer on horseback . . . . . . 188
29. Mine-damaged ship floundering in typhoon off
Okinawa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Foreword
J
ames Bollich and I followed almost identical paths prior
to and during World War II. We both joined the U.S. Air
Corps at Barksdale Field, Shreveport, Louisiana, and were
both assigned to the 27th Bombardment Group. Both of us
took part in the 1940 maneuvers, and we both went overseas
on the same ship, arriving in the Philippine Islands eighteen
days before the outbreak of hostilities.
After the war started we both served as infantry soldiers in
defending the Philippines because our planes never arrived
as intended. Both of us were captured when Bataan was surrendered to the Japanese by American General Edward P.
King, Jr., and we both made the Death March out of the
peninsula to the concentration camp established by the
Japanese at Camp O’Donnell. From there we went on a
Japanese work detail to rebuild a large bridge that had been
destroyed during the fighting. When the detail was abandoned, we were sent back to the prison camp at
Cabanatuan.
From Cabanatuan we both became part of a group of prisoners selected to be moved to Manchuria, where we
remained until freed by the Russian army at the end of the
war. In Manchuria, even though we were quartered in several barracks, we somehow wound up in the same one. We
were even in the same section of the barracks. Remember
that all of the above was coincidental and neither of us had
anything to do with it. Even after the war, when we returned
to civilian life, we both took jobs in the petroleum industry.
Fifty years after the war ended, Jim put his thoughts and
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Foreword ★ 11
recollection of events down in writing so that his family and
others would know the part he played in defending the
Philippine Islands, and his battle to survive as a prisoner of
war. I did my writing fifty years ago in prison camp. It was in
the form of a poem, which tells of our struggles and aspirations at the time. Now I would like to submit it as an addition
to Jim Bollich’s book, Bataan Death March: A Soldier’s Story.
Jesse Knowles
Louisiana State Senator
They
Strange things were done under the tropic sun
By the men in khaki twill.
Those tropic nights have seen some sights
That would make your heart stand still.
Those mountain trails could spin some tales
That no man would ever like;
But the worst of all was after the fall
When we started on that hike.
’twas the 7th of December in ’41
When they hit Hawaii as the day begun.
’twas a Sunday morning and all was calm
When out of nowhere there came the bombs.
It didn’t last long but the damage was done—
America was at war with the Rising Sun.
Now over in the Philippines we heard the news;
And it shook every man clean down to his shoes.
It seemed like a dream to begin;
But soon every soldier was a fighting man.
Each branch was ready to do its part:
Artillery, Infantry, Nichols and dark.
And then they came on that Monday noon,
They hit dark Field like a typhoon.
That Monday night the moon was clear;
They razed Nichols from front to rear.
As the days went by more bombers came;
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They ★ 13
And soon only a few P-40’s remained.
Then the orders came and said retreat,
That no man would be seen on the city streets.
So across the bay we moved at night
Away from Manila and out of sight,
Deep into the jungles of Bataan
Where 15,000 were to make a stand.
Here we fought as a soldier should.
As the days went by we spilled our blood.
Tho’ the rumors came and went by night
That convoy never came in sight.
April 7th was a fatal day
When the word went around that we couldn’t stay,
That the front line was due to fall;
So the troops moved back one and all.
The very next day the surrender came.
Then we were men without a name!
You may think here’s where the story ends,
But actually here’s where it begins.
Tho’ we fought and didn’t see victory
The story of that March will go down in history.
We marched along in columns of four
Living and seeing the horrors of war,
And when a man fell along the way
A cold bayonet would make him pay
For those four months he fought on Bataan.
Then they’d kill him ’cause he couldn’t stand.
The tropic sun would sweat us dry
For the pumps were few that we passed by.
But on we marched to a place unknown,
A place to rest and a place to call home.
Home not that you might know,
But home to man that suffered a blow.
14 ★ BATAAN DEATH MARCH
Then to O’Donnell Camp en masse
Some never back through those gates to pass.
In Nipa huts we lived like beasts,
Bad rice and camotes were called a feast.
Our minds went back to days gone by
When our throats were never dry;
Of our wives, our mothers and friends,
Of our bygone days and our many sins.
And about four thousand passed away
And how many more no man can say,
For no tombstone marks the spot
Where thirty to fifty were buried in a lot,
Piled together as a rubbish heap—
The remains of men Who were forced to retreat.
Now I want to state, and my words are straight,
And I bet you think they’re true,
That if you gotta die it’s better to try
And take them with you, too.
It’s they that took us that fatal day,
It’s they that made us pay and pay.
It’s they that counted us morn and night,
It’s they that again we wanted to fight,
It’s they that made us as we are,
But it’s not they that’ll win this war,
For the men in khaki will come someday
And take us back to the U.S.A.
Introduction
E
very soldier, who lived through the battles to defend the
Philippine Islands against the Japanese invasion; who
felt the pain of hunger and exhaustion while fighting these
battles; who reluctantly destroyed his arms when his commanding general surrendered; who made the tortuous
march out of Bataan and survived three-and-one-half years
of unbelievable treatment and conditions in prisoner of war
camps has a different story to tell. Now, after all these years
have passed, I have told mine so that my family and friends,
and whoever else that may be interested, will have some idea
of the part one soldier played in this catastrophic episode.
I, as well as the others, do not consider ourselves heroes,
but rather survivors. Why some survived, and others did not,
no one will ever know. Did I survive because of the canteen
of water I found on the Bataan Death March? Was it the can
of warm rice that I picked up in the mud at the water well,
where we madly made a dash for a drink? Not all of us succeeded or returned. Was it the timely picking and eating of
leaves to stop my dysentery shortly after confinement at
Camp O’Donnell prison camp? I do not know.
I would like to thank my nephew, James G. Atteberry, my
brother, Charles, and my wife, Celia, for persuading me to
write my story, because without their prodding and support,
it would probably never have been written.
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