SEVERE MISTREATMENT OF AMERICAN PRISONERS OF WAR

During World War II, the heroic defense of the Philippine Islands stood out like a beacon of hope for the future. The defense forces of the Philippines were totally unprepared for war, lacking in every field of armaments, medical supplies, and food, except on the fortress of Corregidor. Within a short time, the Japanese forces overwhelmed the Fil-American forces on the islands. However, there the small contingent of American and Filipino forces proved that the Japanese soldier was not invincible. Although, the superior forces of the Japanese finally took over, the American and Filipino forces exacted a terrible toll of the Japanese forces during their heroic and stubborn defense of Bataan and Corregidor before our half-starved, malaria-ridden garrison was finally forced to surrender on May 10, 1942. The defeat and surrender of the Philipine garrisons was largely a medical defeat caused by the principal of attrition without replacement. Records of the U.S. Government show tha the Japanese military had 27,645 American prisoners of war at various locations. A total of
11, 107 died while a prisoner of war and only 16,365 were alive as of the end of World War II and repatriated. The death rate in German POW camps was 1.1% while th death rate in Japanese POW camps totaled 37.3%. The following photographs depict the typical condition of American prisoners of war under the jurisdiction and control of the Japanese military and industrialists they worked during
World War II resulting from starvation, sicknesses, mental cruelty, and severe mistreatment.