During World War II, multiple heinous human rights violation and war crimes would be committed. One of it would be the Bataan Death March.
The March started on April 1942, where 76,000 prisoners of war (66,000 Filipinos and 10,000 Americans) would be forced to March from Mariveles in the southern end of Bataan, to San Fernando, Pampanga. There, they would be squeezed into unsanitary box cars pulled by a train going to Capas, Tarlac. Ultimately making their final journey to Camp O'Donnell. The prisoners marched a total of 106 km (66 miles). Many would perish along the way, mostly due to exhaustion. Some of the soldiers carried the bodies of their fallen comrade as they continue on their journey.
In the end, some 54,000 prisoners reached the camp, with casualties during the march reaching 2,500 Filipinos and 500 Americans. Worse, an additional of 25,000 Filipino and 1,500 Americans would die in the camp.
This event would be comemorated though a memorial shrine located in Capas, Tarlac. It would be a monument to valor, bravery, and sacrifice. All in the name of freedom.



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