03/06/2026
Bataan Death March 84th Anniversary on April 11, 2026 at SF National Cemetery
“Honoring Our WWII Nurses”
February 27, 2026- San Francisco, CA – Bataan Legacy Historical Society in collaboration with the Coalition for WWII Nurses Congressional Gold Medal will commemorate the 84th Anniversary of the Bataan Death March. This year’s theme will be “Honoring Our WWII Nurses.” The Keynote speaker will be LT. General Mary K. Izaguirre, Surgeon General for the US Army. There will be a special tribute to WWII Nurses, which will be led by the Nurse Honor Guards of Northern California. Prior to the program, there will be a procession to be led by Joint Service Color Guards, followed by the Nurse Honor Guards of Northern California, Vietnam Veterans, San Francisco Sheriff’s Office, Bay Area Police, Fire, Safety Officers, Bay Area High Schools JROTC Cadets and Young Cadets. The Congressional Gold Medal will be awarded to descendants of WWII Filipino veterans by flag officers. In addition, there will be flyovers and tributes to the missing man by Travis Air Force Base, the East Bay Parks, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Air Squadron and the Memorial Squadron. Music will be provided by the 191st Army Band and several soloists. Two WWII veterans are expected to attend. After the memorial ceremony, there will be a cutting of the cake in honor of CPL Luther Hendricks, USMC (Montford Point Marines), in honor of his 101st birthday sponsored by the Sons of American Revolution.
The Bataan Death March is a seminal event in WWII history in which thousands of Filipino and American troops of the US Army Forces in the Far East were forced to surrender on April 9, 1942, to the Japanese Army after defending the peninsula of Bataan in the Philippines for 99 days without any reinforcement. The soldiers, the majority of whom suffered from disease and starvation, were forced to march some 65 miles away to their prison camp under extreme tropical conditions without provisions for food, water, shelter or medicine. Those who could no longer march were beaten, bayoneted, shot and some were even beheaded. Several thousands died along the way. Once inside the prison camp, at least 20,000 Filipino and 1,600 American soldiers died.
When the U.S. entered World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, there were fewer than 7,000 nurses on active duty. By 1945, there were approximately 59,000 nurses serving under the Army Nurse Corps and 14,000 serving under the Navy Nurse Corps from all over the country as well as from US territories like the Philippines, Hawaii, Guam and Alaska. They endured hunger, disease and constant bombing. Some were imprisoned. Approximately 200 died from enemy fire, aircraft accidents or illnesses. Today, there are only a handful left.
Please visit www.bataanlegacy.org or www.wwiinursescgm.org.
