If you drive into Madison to work or shop, maybe you've noticed them, about a dozen guys wearing 35-lb. packs running together around town. Our son Joel who works with us on our vegetable crop farm near Brodhead is among them.
They're preparing for a race in March, a 26.2-mile race like none other in the nation. It commemorates a tragedy that happened 69 years ago, a brutality following a battle that likely altered history.
U.S. Marines from Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment are training to run this marathon, honoring those who perished during - and those who survived - the Bataan Death March of World War II. Golf 2/24 is a reserve infantry company based in Madison.
Leading the Wisconsin Marines is Capt. Rex Laceby, who's run this event twice at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The commemorative race was first run in 1989.
"This run will break everyone's heart, even those in great shape," Laceby said. "It's brutal. You have to run through sand. It's hot. It was 92 degrees one year I ran it.
"The course includes a 6-mile hill - I've never been able to run up that entire hill without walking. By the end, everyone's feet are blistered or bloody. Some of the participants need an IV," he said.
"All that pain goes away, though, when survivors of the Bataan Death March in World War II come in at the finish to hand out awards to winners. Everyone stands up. Everyone is clapping for them. It was a humbling experience for me; a couple of the Bataan survivors could barely walk now; some of them were crying."
Most of the 5,000 memorial participants in New Mexico's annual run probably weren't alive when an estimated 76,500 Americans and Filipinos surrendered to the Japanese in April 1942. Forced to march 65 miles across Bataan Peninsula through steaming hot jungles, at least 5,600 died before reaching imprisonment.
Malaria, dysentery, starvation and exhaustion felled many of these Bataan Death March victims. Others fell from being beaten, slapped, pushed or tortured. Their Japanese captors shot, beheaded, bayoneted anyone who fell or failed to comply with strict orders along the way.
About 50,000 of those who did not flee at night into jungles or die from the brutal death march, were finally packed into Camp O'Donnell, made into a prisoner of war camp. It was designed to hold only 10,000.
Within just one more month, another 21,500 American and Filipino sailors, Marines and soldiers died there from thirst, illness, starvation and torture.
Survivors were sent variously to some 70 Japanese prison labor camps. Over the next 3 1⁄2 years, they tended rice plantings, processed sugar cane, mined coal and ran smelters. Thousands drowned or died on route to these camps, however, in unmarked POW ships that U.S. forces unwittingly bombed or destroyed.
"As hard as the grueling memorial run is at White Sands in New Mexico," Laceby said, "we have it easy. We won't be shot if we fall down. We have food if we are hungry, water if we are thirsty. We have boots on our feet. Being there to honor those who suffered for us on Bataan is what this is all about."
Wisconsin Marines from Golf Co. running in the Bataan Memorial Marathon will comprise two teams of five. A Marine from Fox Co. based in Milwaukee will accompany them to document their participation on film.
Teamwork emphasized in this race and the experience of successfully running the challenging course, Laceby said, will help prepare the Marines for their next combat deployment. Laceby hopes to help them complete the marathon in under 5 hours, averaging 10 to 11 minutes per mile over the entire course.
"They'll weigh everyone with their packs at the end of the race," he said. "Anyone whose pack does not weigh at least 35 lbs. is disqualified; any team under five members is disqualified. Running as a team is a very important part of this."
Efforts to fund this race have become difficult as the Marines are volunteering for this race on their own. Some parents and relatives of the Marines are trying to help raise money to defray $5,685 needed for entry fees, transportation, lodging and meals.
Donations from the public can be made to the Four Lakes Detachment of the Marine Corps League.
They should be mailed to the Madison Marine Corps Reserve Unit, 1430 Wright St., Madison, WI 53704.
Madison's Marines will be among other Marine Corps servicemen and women from around the nation taking part with other branches of the armed forces in the Bataan Memorial Death March. Military and civilian participants from 19 different countries will also likely be there.
Laceby, who has served in the military for 18 years, hopes his Marines will keep participating in the commemoration long after he leaves the service. He started a similar initiative that grew 3 years in a row in Colorado when he was serving in the Marines there.
"These service members in the Bataan Death March were selflessly giving their lives in defense of the country. They were among those who got the first punch in the face, hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in the Pacific Theatre of World War II," he said.
"The delaying action they fought for nearly 4 months before they were surrendered gave the U.S. and Australian allies invaluable time to begin mounting a challenge to the Japanese. They may have even changed the outcome of the war. They were real heroes."
One Golf Co. Marine has a grandfather who narrowly escaped the forced death march on the Bataan Peninsula of the Philippines in World War II. Such direct contacts with the event can deepen its meaning for people today.
Eventually, however, all survivors of the war and the death march will succumb to age and time. Laceby believes the annual memorial in New Mexico gives participants a vivid, grueling, physical sense of the World War II contributions at Bataan. He says that's important.
"Is this race going to die after the last survivor dies?" Laceby wonders. "Will their families keep coming to this memorial for them? I don't know, but America wouldn't have turned out the same had it not been for the actions of these heroes."
Details, photos and YouTube videos of past races and of the Bataan Death March in World War II can be found at www.bataanmarch.com.
- Tony Ends worked in newspapers for 14 years. He now farms with his wife and family near Brodhead. Their son Joel, a corporal in the Madison Marine unit, is training for the Bataan Memorial Death March. E-mail Ends at tony@scotchhillfarm.com.
They're preparing for a race in March, a 26.2-mile race like none other in the nation. It commemorates a tragedy that happened 69 years ago, a brutality following a battle that likely altered history.
U.S. Marines from Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Regiment are training to run this marathon, honoring those who perished during - and those who survived - the Bataan Death March of World War II. Golf 2/24 is a reserve infantry company based in Madison.
Leading the Wisconsin Marines is Capt. Rex Laceby, who's run this event twice at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The commemorative race was first run in 1989.
"This run will break everyone's heart, even those in great shape," Laceby said. "It's brutal. You have to run through sand. It's hot. It was 92 degrees one year I ran it.
"The course includes a 6-mile hill - I've never been able to run up that entire hill without walking. By the end, everyone's feet are blistered or bloody. Some of the participants need an IV," he said.
"All that pain goes away, though, when survivors of the Bataan Death March in World War II come in at the finish to hand out awards to winners. Everyone stands up. Everyone is clapping for them. It was a humbling experience for me; a couple of the Bataan survivors could barely walk now; some of them were crying."
Most of the 5,000 memorial participants in New Mexico's annual run probably weren't alive when an estimated 76,500 Americans and Filipinos surrendered to the Japanese in April 1942. Forced to march 65 miles across Bataan Peninsula through steaming hot jungles, at least 5,600 died before reaching imprisonment.
Malaria, dysentery, starvation and exhaustion felled many of these Bataan Death March victims. Others fell from being beaten, slapped, pushed or tortured. Their Japanese captors shot, beheaded, bayoneted anyone who fell or failed to comply with strict orders along the way.
About 50,000 of those who did not flee at night into jungles or die from the brutal death march, were finally packed into Camp O'Donnell, made into a prisoner of war camp. It was designed to hold only 10,000.
Within just one more month, another 21,500 American and Filipino sailors, Marines and soldiers died there from thirst, illness, starvation and torture.
Survivors were sent variously to some 70 Japanese prison labor camps. Over the next 3 1⁄2 years, they tended rice plantings, processed sugar cane, mined coal and ran smelters. Thousands drowned or died on route to these camps, however, in unmarked POW ships that U.S. forces unwittingly bombed or destroyed.
"As hard as the grueling memorial run is at White Sands in New Mexico," Laceby said, "we have it easy. We won't be shot if we fall down. We have food if we are hungry, water if we are thirsty. We have boots on our feet. Being there to honor those who suffered for us on Bataan is what this is all about."
Wisconsin Marines from Golf Co. running in the Bataan Memorial Marathon will comprise two teams of five. A Marine from Fox Co. based in Milwaukee will accompany them to document their participation on film.
Teamwork emphasized in this race and the experience of successfully running the challenging course, Laceby said, will help prepare the Marines for their next combat deployment. Laceby hopes to help them complete the marathon in under 5 hours, averaging 10 to 11 minutes per mile over the entire course.
"They'll weigh everyone with their packs at the end of the race," he said. "Anyone whose pack does not weigh at least 35 lbs. is disqualified; any team under five members is disqualified. Running as a team is a very important part of this."
Efforts to fund this race have become difficult as the Marines are volunteering for this race on their own. Some parents and relatives of the Marines are trying to help raise money to defray $5,685 needed for entry fees, transportation, lodging and meals.
Donations from the public can be made to the Four Lakes Detachment of the Marine Corps League.
They should be mailed to the Madison Marine Corps Reserve Unit, 1430 Wright St., Madison, WI 53704.
Madison's Marines will be among other Marine Corps servicemen and women from around the nation taking part with other branches of the armed forces in the Bataan Memorial Death March. Military and civilian participants from 19 different countries will also likely be there.
Laceby, who has served in the military for 18 years, hopes his Marines will keep participating in the commemoration long after he leaves the service. He started a similar initiative that grew 3 years in a row in Colorado when he was serving in the Marines there.
"These service members in the Bataan Death March were selflessly giving their lives in defense of the country. They were among those who got the first punch in the face, hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in the Pacific Theatre of World War II," he said.
"The delaying action they fought for nearly 4 months before they were surrendered gave the U.S. and Australian allies invaluable time to begin mounting a challenge to the Japanese. They may have even changed the outcome of the war. They were real heroes."
One Golf Co. Marine has a grandfather who narrowly escaped the forced death march on the Bataan Peninsula of the Philippines in World War II. Such direct contacts with the event can deepen its meaning for people today.
Eventually, however, all survivors of the war and the death march will succumb to age and time. Laceby believes the annual memorial in New Mexico gives participants a vivid, grueling, physical sense of the World War II contributions at Bataan. He says that's important.
"Is this race going to die after the last survivor dies?" Laceby wonders. "Will their families keep coming to this memorial for them? I don't know, but America wouldn't have turned out the same had it not been for the actions of these heroes."
Details, photos and YouTube videos of past races and of the Bataan Death March in World War II can be found at www.bataanmarch.com.
- Tony Ends worked in newspapers for 14 years. He now farms with his wife and family near Brodhead. Their son Joel, a corporal in the Madison Marine unit, is training for the Bataan Memorial Death March. E-mail Ends at tony@scotchhillfarm.com.