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BATAAN SURVIVORS TO MEET IN SAN FRANCISCO

May 15, 2008

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

NEWS RELEASE

Contact: Chris Schaefer, Chris_Schaefer@philippine-scouts.org, 832-428-1977

BATAAN SURVIVORS TO MEET IN SAN FRANCISCO

Survivors of the Battles of Bataan and Corregidor, and the Bataan Death March, will gather in San Francisco on Friday and Saturday, May 23 – 24, at the annual meeting and reunion of the Philippine Scouts Heritage Society. These men are the soldiers who fought America’s first ground battles of World War II. The United States Army awarded its first three Congressional Medals of Honor of World War II to Philippine Scouts: Lt. Alexander R. Nininger, Sgt. Jose Calugas and Lt. Willibald C. Bianchi, for their heroic actions on Bataan. Ultimately, all 80,000 American and Filipino servicemen in the Philippine Islands became Prisoners of War, and more than half of them died in Japanese custody.
The Philippine Scouts were a unique and special U.S. Army organization consisting of highly-trained Filipino soldiers, and American and Filipino officers, who formed the backbone of General Douglas MacArthur’s United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE). In the wake of the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines on December 7, 1941, the Philippine Scouts were reinforced by U.S. Army National Guard units and joined by Philippine Army infantry divisions, and ordered to hold back the Japanese advance. On Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor Island these men were surrounded and starved out by the Japanese Army and Navy, but managed to fight on for more than four months while every other country and island in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific succumbed to the Japanese. They bought America time to repair Pearl Harbor and throw a cordon of defense around Australia at the beginning of World War II.

clip_image002.jpgToday, less that 100 of the original 10,000 Philippine Scouts are still with us, scattered around the U.S. and the Philippine Islands. At their annual reunion, those who can make it are joined by families and admirers for two days of business meetings, discussions, and celebration. As their numbers grow smaller, the Philippine Scouts Heritage Society seeks to preserve their memory and raise public awareness of the role these men played in the early stages of World War II, and the horrible treatment they received as prisoners of the Japanese Army.
The Golden Gate/Bay Area Chapter of the Society will host their 2008 reunion at the Embassy Suites Hotel in Burlingame, clip_image004.jpgFriday, May 23 and Saturday, May 24—the start of Memorial Day weekend.
For additional information, photographs, and interview and photo opportunities with surviving Philippine Scouts and uniformed re-enactors contact:
Cion Rael, President of the Golden Gate/Bay Area Chapter, 650-271-4688, ciontvl@aol.com.
Rhode Island State Senator John Patterson, National President, 401-885-7776, pattj@cox.net.

clip_image006.jpgChris Schaefer, Public Relations Officer, 832-428-1977, chris_schaefer@philippine-scouts.org.

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