Bataan Rescue

Last updated
Bataan Rescue
GenreDocumentary
Written byDavid Axelrod [1]
Directed byPeter Jones
Narrated by Scott Glenn [1]
Music byMark Adler [1]
Country of origin United States
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducerDavid Axelrod [1]
CinematographyBrian McDairmant [1]
EditorKate Amend [1]
Running time60 minutes [2]
Production companyGreen Umbrella [1]
Original release
Network PBS
ReleaseJuly 7, 2003 (2003-07-07) [3]

Bataan Rescue is a 2003 television documentary film about the Raid at Cabanatuan (Filipino : Pagsalakay sa Cabanatuan). Produced by PBS for the American Experience documentary program, it begins with the Fall of Bataan (Filipino : Pagsuko ng Bataan) in 1942 up to the titular event in January 1945, where more than 500 prisoners of war were liberated from a Japanese camp in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija. Directed by Peter Jones and written and produced by David Axelrod, the film first aired on PBS in the United States on July 7, 2003.

Contents

Interviewees

Critical response

The Oregonian gave Bataan Rescue a positive review, commending it as a "fairly balanced account, with Glenn reading the big picture and the veterans filling in the small, vivid and often ghastly details." [4]

Home media

Bataan Rescue was first released on VHS by PBS on July 29, 2003. [5] PBS would later release the film on DVD by February 15, 2005.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bataan Death March</span> 1942 Japanese war crime in the Philippines

The Bataan Death March was the forcible transfer by the Imperial Japanese Army of 75,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war (POW) from the municipalities of Bagac and Mariveles on the Bataan Peninsula to Camp O'Donnell via San Fernando.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raid at Cabanatuan</span> 1945 rescue of Allied POWs in Philippines

The Raid at Cabanatuan, also known as the Great Raid, was a rescue of Allied prisoners of war (POWs) and civilians from a Japanese camp near Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, Philippines. On January 30, 1945, during World War II, United States Army Rangers, Alamo Scouts and Filipino guerrillas liberated more than 500 from the POW camp.

<i>Ghost Soldiers</i>

Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission is a non-fiction book written by Hampton Sides. It is about the World War II Allied prison camp raid at Cabanatuan in the Philippines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Mucci</span> Colonel of the United States Army Rangers

Henry Andrews Mucci was a colonel in the United States Army Rangers. In January 1945, during World War II, he led a force of 121 Army Rangers on a mission which rescued 513 survivors of the Bataan Death March from Cabanatuan Prison Camp, despite being heavily outnumbered. It is widely considered the most successful rescue mission in the history of the United States military.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alamo Scouts</span> Military unit

The Alamo Scouts was a reconnaissance unit of the Sixth United States Army in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II. The unit is best known for its role in liberating American prisoners of war (POWs) from the Japanese Cabanatuan POW camp near Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, Philippines in January 1945.

<i>The Great Raid</i> 2005 American-Australian war film

The Great Raid is a 2005 war film about the Raid at Cabanatuan on the island of Luzon, Philippines during World War II. It is directed by John Dahl and stars Benjamin Bratt, James Franco, Connie Nielsen, Marton Csokas, Joseph Fiennes with Motoki Kobayashi and Cesar Montano. The principal photography took place from July 4 to November 6, 2002, but its release was delayed several times from the original target of fall 2003. The film received negative to average reviews from critics and was a commercial failure.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juan Pajota</span>

Captain Juan Pajota was involved in the Raid at Cabanatuan, an action which took place in the Philippines on 30 January 1945 by US Army Rangers and Filipino guerrillas and resulted in the liberation of more than 511 American prisoners of war (POWs) from a Japanese POW camp near Cabanatuan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">6th Ranger Battalion</span> Military unit

The 6th Ranger Battalion was a United States Army Ranger Battalion which saw action in the Pacific during World War II. The battalion is best known for its role in the Raid at Cabanatuan in the Philippines in January 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raid on Los Baños</span> 1945 American-Filipino raid on a Japanese internment camp

The Raid on Los Baños in the Philippines, early Friday morning on 23 February 1945, was executed by a combined United States Army Airborne and Filipino guerrilla task force, resulting in the liberation of 2,147 Allied civilian and military internees from an agricultural school campus turned Japanese internment camp. The 250 Japanese in the garrison were killed. It has been celebrated as one of the most successful rescue operations in modern military history. It was the second precisely-executed raid by combined U.S.-Filipino forces within a month, following on the heels of the Raid at Cabanatuan at Luzon on 30 January, in which 522 Allied military POWs had been rescued. The air/sea/land raid was the subject of a 2015 nonfiction book, Rescue at Los Baños: The Most Daring Prison Camp Raid of World War II, by New York Times bestselling author Bruce Henderson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camp O'Donnell</span> Military camp in Capas, Tarlac, Philippines

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Lapham</span>

Robert Lapham was a reserve lieutenant in the US Army in World War II. He served in the Philippines attached to the 45th Infantry, evaded capture in the spring of 1942, and organized and led one of the largest and most successful guerrilla armies on the central plains of the northern island of Luzon. He was promoted to major by war's end, age 28, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by General Douglas MacArthur. Lapham was the third person, after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and MacArthur, to receive the Philippine Legion of Honor. Historian Norling says that Laphams's Luzon Guerrilla Army Force (LGAF) was probably the most efficient of the many guerrilla armies on Luzon. The U.S. Guerrilla Affairs Division commended Lapham for having the best-disciplined guerrilla organization.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Prince (captain)</span> United States Army officer

Robert W. Prince was an officer in the United States Army's elite 6th Ranger Battalion. In 1945 he was chosen personally by Lt. Col. Henry Mucci to plan the rescue at the Cabanatuan POW camp in the Philippines.

<i>Back to Bataan</i> 1945 film by Edward Dmytryk

Back to Bataan is a 1945 American black-and-white World War II war film drama from RKO Radio Pictures, produced by Robert Fellows, directed by Edward Dmytryk, that stars John Wayne and Anthony Quinn. The film depicts events that took place after the Battle of Bataan (1941–42) on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. The working title of the film was The Invisible Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angels of Bataan</span> Military unit

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Bertram Bank was an American politician, war hero and radio pioneer who was best known as the founder of the Alabama Football Radio Network. He was also the founder of two Tuscaloosa, Alabama radio stations and wrote the book, Back From the Living Dead, about his experiences as a POW and Bataan Death March survivor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palawan massacre</span> 1944 massacre in the Philippines by Japan

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Paul Wing was an assistant director at Paramount Pictures. He won the 1935 Best Assistant Director Academy Award for The Lives of a Bengal Lancer along with Clem Beauchamp. Wing was the assistant director on only two films owing to his service in the United States Army. During his service, Wing was in a prisoner camp that was portrayed in the film The Great Raid (2005).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cabanatuan American Memorial</span> World War II memorial in Nueva Ecija, Philippines

The Cabanatuan American Memorial is a World War II memorial located in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija in the Philippines. It is located on the site of what was once Camp Pangatian, a military training camp which operated for twenty years until it was converted into an internment camp for Allied prisoners of war during the Japanese occupation.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "MacArthur – Credits". PBS . WGBH Educational Foundation. Archived from the original on 2019-09-22. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  2. "American Experience: Bataan Rescue". Amazon.com . 15 February 2005. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  3. WTIU. Vol. 27. July 2003. p. 4. Retrieved September 20, 2020.
  4. "'Bataan Rescue' recalls heroic, seemingly impossible WWII raid". The Oregonian . Advance Local Media LLC. July 7, 2003.
  5. "American Experience – Bataan Rescue [VHS]". Amazon.com . 29 July 2003. Retrieved September 21, 2020.