April 9, 1942 – The Fall of Bataan
Today, we remember Bataan, and the thousands of Filipino and American soldiers and civilians who perished on Philippine soil. Today, our family remembers Uncle Rizalino, who was among the “magigiting” (brave) who gave their lives for liberty.
72 years ago today, the Philippines and the rest of the world heard this radio broadcast by the Voice of Freedom
“Bataan has fallen. The Philippine-American troops on this war-ravaged and bloodstained peninsula have laid down their arms. With heads bloody but unbowed, they have yielded to the superior force and numbers of the enemy.
The world will long remember the epic struggle that Filipino and American soldiers put up in the jungle fastness and along the rugged coast of Bataan. They have stood up uncomplaining under the constant and grueling fire of the enemy for more than three months. Besieged on land and blockaded by sea, cut off from all sources of help in the Philippines and in America, the intrepid fighters have done all that human endurance could bear.
For what sustained them through all these months of incessant battle was a force that was more than merely physical. It was the force of an unconquerable faith—something in the heart and soul that physical hardship and adversity could not destroy! It was the thought of native land and all that it holds most dear, the thought of freedom and dignity and pride in these most priceless of all our human prerogatives.
The adversary, in the pride of his power and triumph, will credit our troops with nothing less than the courage and fortitude that his own troops have shown in battle. Our men have fought a brave and bitterly contested struggle. All the world will testify to the most superhuman endurance with which they stood up until the last in the face of overwhelming odds.
But the decision had to come. Men fighting under the banner of unshakable faith are made of something more than flesh, but they are not made of impervious steel. The flesh must yield at last, endurance melts away, and the end of the battle must come.
Bataan has fallen, but the spirit that made it stand – a beacon to all the liberty-loving peoples of the world – cannot fall!”
The entire household fell eerily silent as they gathered around the radio. Although Bataan is about 150 miles north of San Pablo, it was as if the Japanese bombs were piercing the roof above their heads. They were collectively thinking and praying about Rizalino. And they remembered the last time he was home.
It was Christmas Eve. Two weeks following Pearl Harbor and the almost instantaneous bombing of Manila. Unlike Pearl Harbor though, the Japanese air strikes at the Clark Air Base and Nichols Air Field in Manila were soon followed by ground invasion. Rizalino surprised them then with a visit. He alighted from the Army truck and snuck into the ancestral home. After tightly hugging everyone in the house, he revealed what everyone was afraid to hear.
“I am on my way north to Bataan” adding, “General McArthur, commander of the USAFFE, wanted Filipino and American soldiers in Bataan while moving the headquarters to the nearby fortress island of Corregidor.” Rizalino, toned muscles rippling through his khaki uniform, was in a jovial mood as he hugged Papa and Mama before he and two other fellow officers finished off Mama’s chicken tinola with papaya and sili leaves.
Before leaving, Rizalino took father’s right hand, put it on his forehead. He then knelt and kissed mom’s hand. “Mama, I’d been gone too long. I promise to stay longer next time.” With that, he and his men departed in the middle of the night.
That night was the last they saw Rizalino.
About 75,000 Filipino and American soldiers defended Bataan and were abandoned to fend for themselves after General Douglas McArthur fled to Australia. They held out the invading Japanese troops for three months without adequate food and under deplorable conditions. General Edward King, the U.S. Commander in Bataan, though ordered to counter attack, was forced to surrender on April 9, 1942. Immediately, the soldiers were horribly forced into the Bataan Death March.
About 10,000 men perished in the 63-mile march, either from disease, malnourishment, or from the hands of the Japanese.
The family did not learn of Rizalino’s fate for months. They later learned from a fellow officer that Rizalino was helping up a fellow soldier who tripped and fell into the muddy path during that dreadful march when an enemy truck hit and deliberately ran them over. Floods that night washed away what remained of their bodies.