CHAPTER TWO
 
                              "The Death March From Bataan"
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                   It did not take us-long to learn that the hardships we
 
had faced in battle were, if anything, much less severe than those
 
awaiting us as military prisoners of the conquering Nipponese.
 
                  With the surrender of Corregidor on May 6, 1942, one
 
month after the fall of our larger force on Bataan, organized
 
American resistance to the Japanese in the Philippines had come
 
to an end. At first, hope ran high among the thousands of Amerian
 
and Filipino fighting men who had been forced to lay down their
 
 arms in defeat. There was a feeling, particularly among the en-
 
listed men, that Uncle Sam had merely been caught off balance by
 
a puny but cunning foe in the first round, and that the knockout
 
punch even now was on the way. In 01d Bilibid Prison, in Manila,
 
this feeling was expressed in such statements as, "We won't be
 
here long--a couple of weeks, maybe, or a month".
 
                 But those of us who had served as staff officers, and
 
 who knew something of the problems involved, were not so optimis-
 
tic. We all wanted to believe the best, but we knew that the
 
United States had suffered her worst defeat in history, and we
 
knew that the job ahead would be long and hard.
 
And from our few furtive contacts with civilian Filipinos
 
outside our prison walls, we learned that the Japs were losing no
 
time in bringing the New Order in East Asia to the Philippines.
 
It is surprising how much news does seep into a prison, no matter
 
 
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