04/09/2026
NATIONAL FORMER PRISONERS OF WAR RECOGNITION DAY
April 9th: The anniversary of the Bataan Death Marth
On April 9th, 1942, U.S. armed forces surrendered to the Japanese on the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines and were forced to march 60 to 70 miles. Over 500 American soldiers died along the way because of brutal treatment at Japanese hands.
Those who did not perish in the prison camp suffered cruel treatment for two years as POWs before they made it back to the U.S.
More than 130,000 U.S. service members were POWs during World War II.
In a forced TV interview in North Vietnam in 1966 U.S. Navv prisoner of war Jeremiah Denton blinked out the word 'torture' in Morse code to signal that his actual treatment differed from the propaganda video's script.
In 1987, President Ronald Reagan inaugurated the observance of National Prisoner of War Recognition Day.
WE REMEMBER THEIR SACRIFICES
WE WILL NEVER FORGET
