September 16, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 160 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session

[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E849]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  IN HONOR OF MAYWOOD BATAAN DAY AND NATIONAL POW/MIA RECOGNITION DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DANNY K. DAVIS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 16, 2020

  Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, today I rise to tell 
my colleagues during this week that ends with National POW/MIA 
Recognition Day about my district's 78-year old Maywood Bataan Memorial 
Day tradition. This service honors the men from the village of Maywood, 
Illinois who became prisoners of war after fighting from December 7, 
1941 to April 9, 1942 against invading Imperial Japanese forces in the 
Philippines.
  The men of Maywood were members of Company B of the federated 
Illinois National Guard 33rd Tank Company, 33rd Infantry Division based 
at the town's Armory. On November 25, 1940, they became part of the 
192nd Tank Battalion of the U.S. Army. In October 1941, 89 men from 
Company ``B'' left the United States for the Philippine Islands. They 
arrived in the Philippine Islands on November 20, 1941--Thanksgiving 
Day. On December 8, the war started and the Japanese attacked.
  These Illinois tankers fought valiantly on the Bataan Peninsula with 
little food, medicine, fuel, or ammunition. Relief from the United 
States never came. Malaria, scurvy, and dysentery reached epidemic 
proportions. On April 9, 1942, Bataan was surrendered. The following 
day, some 85,000 American and Filipino soldiers, as Japanese captives, 
all became victims of the greatest atrocity of the Pacific War: the 
Bataan Death March. A seemingly endless line of sick and starving men 
began their 85 mile trip up from the tip of Bataan to Camp O'Donnell in 
central Luzon. More than 12,000 died en route.
  Survivors of the March endured three and a half years of death camps, 
brutal labor, and untold abuse. Many were taken to Japan aboard hell 
ships to be slave laborers for Japanese companies. Of the more than 
10,000 Americans taken prisoner on Bataan, between 6,000 and 7,000 
died. Of the 89 men of Company ``B'' who left the U.S. in 1941, only 43 
would return from the war.
  This is the first year that the Memorial, which was scheduled for 
September 13, has had to be postponed. I ask my fellow representatives 
to join me in commending the hard work and dedication of Maywood Bataan 
Day Organization President Col. Richard A. McMahon, Jr. and his Board 
of Directors. And on this Friday, September 18, National POW/MlA 
Recognition Day may we all pause to remember the men and women of 
Bataan who gave so much in the fight against tyranny.

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