NationStates Jolt Archive

One of the people in an email group to which I belong sent the following tribute to his uncle, who was a survivor of the Bataan Death March in the Philippines during WWII:

"My uncle, Teodoro Saavedra, died this weekend at the age of 87. He was a survivor of the Bataan Death March. He never made a big deal out of it or talked much about it. He didn't even have a military funeral, but he was all decked out in uniform with all the decorations and looked really sharp.

"His fingers were all deformed from torture, and he had many health problems from all that. But he went on to work for the government after the war and retired after 35 years. He had a happy life with his wife and three sons on his ranch south of Socorro, New Mexico, where he and his father and his grandfather, etc., were born. He was my favorite uncle."

Rudy

A true hero!

A true hero!

Most assuredly!

Being captured by the japanese was really, really not fun. A few New Zealanders I've heard about survived to tell the tale as well.

It's amazing how much leniency the Japanese HIgh Command was shown in the aftermath of WWII, all things considered.

The men who suffered as POWs in japanese hands are all heros.

A hero indeed. May he rest well in the eternal light.

If theres any younger people here who have never heard about the Bataan Death Marches, or wonder why you should have any respect for people who are veterans of such wars, find some info on it, and read.

You'll read about some of the worst humanity has to offer.

Its scary to think that statistically, if you were a US military serviceman who was Jewish you STILL had a better chance of surviving Nazi capture than Japanese capture. The Japanese POW camps (when they bothered with them) must have been truly horrific places.

I had 4 family members in the Pacific Theater in WW2; its a pity, but all of them have since passed away. I never was old enough to ask them about their experiences while they were alive. All I have are 2nd hand stories from my parents.

Its scary to think that statistically, if you were a US military serviceman who was Jewish you STILL had a better chance of surviving Nazi capture than Japanese capture. The Japanese POW camps (when they bothered with them) must have been truly horrific places.

I had 4 family members in the Pacific Theater in WW2; its a pity, but all of them have since passed away. I never was old enough to ask them about their experiences while they were alive. All I have are 2nd hand stories from my parents.

Assuming they stayed away from the gestapo, weren't american/brittish jews captured in general combat by enemy soldiers generally just thrown in prison camps like everybody else? I remember that there were a few in the Colditz books, but I have no idea if they were the exception or not.

Although i never heard the stories, as my grandad never told them, i picked up a lot of what happened by him only ever talked about his friends in the camps. He was in a Japanese POW camp for well over six months...working on the Burma Railway...But as he said repeatedly, the Japanese officers treated them well, it was the Korean guards who were brutal, they even shot one of his friends right in front of him for being too ill to work...

He worked day and night, was seriously ill for some of the time. He went into the camp a healthy 13 stone...when he was rescued he was about 5 1/2...

He also had horrific nightmares about these camps for nearly 40 years afterwards. Even shortly before he died they came about once every four weeks or so...

He was rescued in late '44 by some nuns who were coming behind the advancing British and American forces.

Although i never heard the stories, as my grandad never told them. He only ever talked about his friends in the camps. He was in a Japanese POW camp for well over six months...working on the Burma Railway...But as he said repeatedly, the Japanese officers treated them well, it was the Korean guards who were brutal, they even shot one of his friends right in front of him for being too ill to work...

He worked day and night, was seriously ill for some of the time. He went into the camp a healthy 13 stone...when he was rescued he was about 5 1/2...

He also had horrific nightmares about these camps for nearly 40 years afterwards. Even shortly before he died they came about once every four weeks or so...

He was rescued in late '44 by some nuns who were coming behind the advancing British and American forces.


I've heard that several australian POW's anyway said that koreans were by far the worst.

I'm suprised Wadd's not claiming to have been there too.

I've heard that several australian POW's anyway said that koreans were by far the worst.

It's not the first time I've heard that said about the Korean guards. I've heard quite a few times from documentaries of survivors and talking to survivors that they were worse than the Japanese.

In my pub where I go, there is my Great Uncle, who was in the Atlantic Merchant Navy convoys in WW2, there is his friend who was in the Royal Navy on the Soviet supply route amongst other thinga in WW2, and a Paratrooper who parachuted into France on D-Day. A red beret.

The Paratrooper will sometimes just sit and stare off into space, and you can see he is thinking, thinking, thinking. He is an old man, but he is tough.

He gets into jovial arguements with the Royal Navy veteran, about how the Royal Navy shelled the French villages the Paratroopers were in, inflicting casualities on the Paras.

I had a Great Uncle who was at Bataan. He was in a Texas National Guard Coast Artillery (anti aircraft) battalion that was sent to the Philippines in June 1941 and got captured like all the rest. Details are sketchy (as he died before I was born) but family history reports that he was permanently hospitalized in a VA Hospital post war and died there. His brother (my grandfather) was his guardian for the entire period and my Great Uncle was returned home from Japan postwar which means not only did he survive the Death March, but he also lived through the Hell Ships (think of several hundred men crammed into the cargo hold of a freighter with little or no food or water, and most of them having severe gastro intenstinal problems)

poor bastard.

The Japanese Army General Staff had a lot of answer for after World War II and for the most part got off relatively lightly compared to the German General Staff

Which is why its hard for me to be too sympathetic to the "bombing the cities was wrong and the atom bomb was a war crime" threads that come up now and again.

A true American Hero!

My thoughts and prayers go out to Rudy.

Hey, I have a story.

My Lithuanian grandfather was taken as prisoner by the Nazi's (He was 14 at the time) and made to do all sorts of disgusting and menial work, often involving dead bodies, and occasionally also involving rail carriages. He was in Dresden during the firebombing, but survived unscathed by eventually finding a family that would accept non-Germans in their bomb shelter. He was later wounded in a firebombing of a German airfield he was helping to repair. Once he healed, he tried to escape across the front to the Allied forces, but to his surprise, the front was completely undefended on the German side so escape wasn't necessary. He just strolled over and the war was over for him.

My other Grandfather (R.I.P) served in Papua New Guinea. Not sure if it was the Kokoda trail. He didn't talk much about it. His brother was killed on patrol near Tobruk.

but he also lived through the Hell Ships (think of several hundred men crammed into the cargo hold of a freighter with little or no food or water, and most of them having severe gastro intenstinal problems)


The ships weren't marked as POW or red cross either, so the Americans sunk a few of them without realising who was on them.