Bataan Death March: A Soldier’s Story

by James Bollich

From a brave American veteran comes an eyewitness account of a gruesome chapter in World War II history.

Captured when America surrendered the Philippines’ Bataan Peninsula, James Bollich experienced first-hand the march that cost more than 8,000 American and Filipino lives. Now, he shares the unforgettable experience of his three and a half years of Japanese imprisonment.  

This journal relates his personal experience, first focusing on the sixty-five-mile march that deprived prisoners of food, water, and rest. Prisoners received harsh punishments for any infraction, one of the most brutal of these being the policy of beheading them for taking a sip of water. Rather than force him to give up, these things made Bollich fight for life even more. Witnessing his comrades falling beside him and watching his own body waste away to ninety pounds, he never yielded his will to survive.

After completing the march, he remained a prisoner of war, first at an old Philippine army base, then in another camp at Mukden, Manchuria. He relates his imprisonment in detail, from starvation and torture to digging their own comrades graves in the hot sun, without hats or water. Through it all, he remained courageous and hopeful that he would one day make it back home. His story reminds both past and present generations of the horror and brutality of the Pacific war, all the while providing an inspiring testament to the will of the human spirit.

This journal recounts the 65-mile journey, during which prisoners had no food, water, or rest. The author survived the POW camps on the Philippine island of Luzon.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, War, Biography, World War II

224 pages, Paperback

First published October 31, 2003

Reviews

[Holland 2010]

The book is about a soldier that wants to be a piliot and he has to learn all about the plaines and how to do stuff wright.He goes to go to difrient camps because he wants to dive a plaine.

Juan Juarez

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chilling first person account. Illustrations are crude but effective

[Monique · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brutal first hand account and a fast read. I was drawn in by the misery this man experienced, hat off to him. War is brutal

[Amy Bermudez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the most well-written book, as the author acknowledges. Still, eye-opening information about what the soldiers went through. Glad I read it prior to the Memorial March coming up later this month.

I'm curious to read Tears in the Darkness now.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sadly this book is so poorly written it loses the true impact of what horrific situations the author endured. Bollich should have collaborated with a professional writer to tell his story.