The cadets began the march at Battle Ground High School headed to Prairie High School on April 15.
Two rest stops were set up along the route. Snacks and drinks were available to the cadets.
Turning from Main St. onto SR 503 headed to Prairie High School.
On April 15, over 90 cadets from the Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFJROTC) of Battle Ground and Prairie High Schools assembled to honor the memory of events that took place 75 years ago in a country 3,000 miles from Battle Ground.
The annual AFJROTC Bataan Memorial Walk was a time to honor and remember the sacrifices of the victims and survivors of World War II’s Bataan Death March, one of the most harrowing events in U.S. and Filipino history. Shortly after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, a group of brave soldiers responsible for the defense of the islands of Luzon, Corregidor and the harbor defense forts of the Philippines faced a brutal foe.
On April 9, 1942, tens of thousands of American and Filipino soldiers were surrendered to Japanese forces; the only occasion when an American force was surrendered to the enemy. The American forces comprised Army, Army Air Corps, Navy and Marines, many from the 200th Coast Artillery, New Mexico National Guard.
The troops were marched for days in the scorching heat and humidity through the Philippine jungles of the Bataan Peninsula. Thousands died or were killed by the enemy. Those who survived faced the hardships of a prisoner of war camp. The conditions encountered on the march and during the aftermath of the battle were a unique challenge to the physical and emotional capacity of the human spirit to survive.
The AFJROTC march provided the cadets an opportunity to learn more about the historical link to Bataan while also ramping up their fitness to take-on a 14-mile course.
Prior to the march, cadets participated in a rigorous physical training plan over the course of nine-weeks and received lectures from Dr. Roger Jarvis, an avid historian and supporter of the cadet corps. Dr. Jarvis also had an amazing display of historical artifacts, documents, and photographs at the stadium for cadets and supporters to review on the day of the march.
Since the original Bataan Memorial March event at White Sands New Mexico in 1990, memorial marches have grown from about 100 to some 6,500 marchers annually from across the United States and several foreign countries. In 2015, HQ Air Force Junior ROTC introduced an opportunity for cadets to earn a special award for completion of a 14-mile march.
— Source: Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps
