The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
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Camp O'Donnell (120.512E
15.375N) was the location of an uncompleted Philippine Army barracks
and airstrip in
central Luzon. The Japanese converted the camp into a prisoner of war camp
following the Bataan surrender, and it was the
destination of the Bataan Death
March.
The camp became a hellhole. The commandant, whom the prisoners nicknamed "The Scarecrow", had a platform constructed near the gates from which he could lecture the arriving prisoners:
He would stand on that thing and give a long harangue to all arriving POWs. He would say we were not recognized as prisoners of war. We were nothing! The Japanese were going to fight this war for a thousand years.
Over 23,000 Allied
prisoners died from
starvation and brutal treatment by June 1942, when the camp was closed
and the prisoners transferred to other camps.
References
BataanSurvivor.com (accessed 2008-12-19)
Camp
O'Donnell: Provost Marshal Report (1945-11-19; accessed 2008-5-16)
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia (c) 2008 by Kent G. Budge. Index
