Fall of Bataan

During World War II, Japan invaded the Philippines in 1941 up until 1945 (Yu-Jose, 1994) It all started 17 hours after attacking Pearl Harbor, the Japanese have begun bombing the “Clark Field” which is an air base in a part of Luzon, then Parts in Zamboanga, Fort Mckinley in Manila, and many warehouses and barracks which were completely destroyed (GOVPH, n.d.). As the invasion began, a lot of innocent Filipino people were killed, mistreated, and abused The president during the time of the invasion was President Manuel Quezon who was experiencing an illness. During his term, Manila city was considered an “Open City” which the Japanese started to occupy on December 24, 1941, and the Philippine flag was eventually reversed on December 18, 1941, in declaring that the country is in a state of war (official gazette, n d ) Some people joined the army without any experience to fight the Japanese invaders and among the Filipinos during that time, General Douglas MacArthur, was a US military adviser to the Philippines It was a difficult phase for the country to fight back against the oppressors during that time and he was forced to go back and abandon the Philippines within the orders of the US leader, President Roosevelt He left Corregidor which was located on the Bataan Peninsula He has left over 90,000 Filipino and American troops with a lack of food, war, and support supplies Ongoing to (Sicat, 2019), the country experienced during the Japanese occupation the worst inflation in history by having the total GDP of the economy in 1945 which was reduced up to 30% This is somehow the reason why the country is experiencing a lack of funds to supply the troops during the time of war The last words that the General had left to the military troops were “I shall return'' After the absence of General Douglas Macarthur, over 80,000 prisoners from the war were forced to walk over 105 kilometers After the death march that occurred, 10,000 men died before stepping at the destination due to malnutrition and being weakened by different diseases including the abuses of the Japanese army (countrystudies us, n d ) After three years on October 20, 1944, General Douglas MacArthur returned to the Philippines and declared “People of the Philippines, I have returned!”