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Bataan Death March Survivor Died At Age 86 |
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Written by Remon
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Tuesday, 19 February 2008 |
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Francis Hall Van Buskirk, a survivor of the Bataan Death March during the Second World War, died recently in Santa Fe at age 86. A service to preserve the memory of Francis Hall Van Buskirk is arranged at McGee Memorial Chapel in Santa Fe. The burial with military honors will be at Santa Fe National Cemetery.During the Second World War, around seventy thousand American and Filipino forces that gave up at the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines in April 1942 were forced to March greater than 100 kilometers in the direction of Japanese prison camps. Without food or water, those who broke down completely along the route were shot or stabbed with a bayonet. Around 1,800 prisoners were from New Mexico. Less than half of those prisoners remained alive after the Bataan Death March or years in Japanese prison camps. Now, a few survivors of the Bataan Death March are still alive. They must receive military honors while still alive and not during the burial. They must perceive the military honors worthy for them. [Via The Denver Post] |
