Several Americans who survived the march were put on board ships referred to as “hell ships,” suffering the same deprivation of food, water and other necessities. The ship, without markers, would go in circuitous manner to prevent detection on its way to Japan, becoming a target even by the American battleships, thus, losing more Americans.
According to military historian, PVAO Military Historian General Resty Aguilar (ret), around 500 Filipinos died every day at the Camp O’Donnel concentration camp, where the Capas National Shrine is presently erected.
In early 2014 we came across an event in New Mexico, US, of a re enactment of the famous Bataan Death March. The report showed that this reenactment has been running for more than 20 years. Started by the US veterans who were part of this long, arduous march, the organizers chose a site that closely resembled the terrain of Bataan, Pampanga and Tarlac.
With only a handful of marchers in the beginning, the annual event takes place in March and is now joined by more than 8,000 marchers and witnessed by thousands of spectators.
This is a 24-kilometer march through challenging high desert terrain in White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, with two individual categories: light and heavy. The light marches are mostly civilians in appropriate apparel and the heavy marches are in full battle outfit carrying a backpack of consumables weighing 16 kilograms and 35 pounds. The consumables are distributed to homeless Americans at the end of the march.
The Automobile Association of the Philippines, the Philippine Veteran Affairs Office of the Department of National Defense, the Department of Tourism and Province of Tarlac felt left out, the very site of the actual death march. So in 2014 preparations for the holding of an annual commemoration of this event began.
Sue Staub, the head of the US event, was contacted and she immediately agreed to assist in the planned event. She immediately dispatched the list of items needed and came up with a timetable for the event. This show of support made it easy for the organizers to launch the First Capas Freedom March in April 2015 in Tarlac with the support of Gov. Victor A. Yap, Capas Mayor Antonio Rodriguez, and tourism officer Marissa Vidal.
Close to 1,500 Filipino and American military and civilians participated in the first march. Asahi Shimbun sent their correspondents to cover the event. John Cutter, a radio commentator from Chicago, who came to march for his veteran friend, did a full coverage of the march. His exclusive interview of former President Fidel V. Ramos, who opened the event with a gun start at 5 a.m., was heard at the US military bases around the world.
The First Capas Freedom March was named as such to remember the sacrifices and the ordeal of the marchers for the freedom we now enjoy.
Dr. Mina T. Gabor was the founder and president of the Center for International Trade Exhibitions and Missions Inc. of the Department of Trade and Industry, and the secretary of the Department of Tourism from 1996 to 1998. She continues to work on her passion of promoting the Philippines through trade and tourism as the president of the International School of Sustainable Tourism, as founder and president of the Philippine Small and Medium Business Development Foundation Inc., and the president of the Automobile Association of the Philippines Travel Agency. For any feedback or assistance in developing your faith-based tourism, contact this writer at minagabor2010@gmail.com.