Nueva Ecija, officially the Province of Nueva Ecija, is a landlocked province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region. Its capital is the city of Palayan, while Cabanatuan, its former capital, is the largest local government unit (LGU). Nueva Ecija borders, from the south clockwise, Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac, Pangasinan, Nueva Vizcaya and Aurora. The province is nationally known as the Rice Granary of the Philippines, producing the largest rice yield in the country.
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.
Masaharu Homma was a lieutenant general in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. Homma commanded the Japanese 14th Army, which invaded the Philippines and perpetrated the Bataan Death March. After the war, Homma was convicted of war crimes relating to the actions of troops under his direct command and executed by firing squad on April 3, 1946.
Cabanatuan, officially the City of Cabanatuan, is a 1st class component city in the province of Nueva Ecija, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 327,325 people, making it the most populous city in Nueva Ecija and the fifth-most populous in Central Luzon.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Colonel Thomas F. Breslin (1885–1942) was a civil engineer and a civilian contractor for the United States Army. He was pinned as a Colonel at the outbreak of the Battle of the Philippines and died during the Bataan Death March, the brutal POW march in the aftermath of the Battle of Bataan.
Margaret Elizabeth Doolin "Peggy" Utinsky was an American nurse who worked with the Filipino resistance movement to provide medicine, food, and other items to aid Allied prisoners of war in the Philippines during World War II. She was recognized in 1946 with the Medal of Freedom for her actions.
Camp O'Donnell is a currently military base and former United States military reservation in the Philippines located on Luzon island in the municipality of Capas in Tarlac. It housed the Philippine Army's newly created 71st Division and after the Americans' return, a United States Army camp. During World War II, the reservation was used as a prisoner-of-war camp for Filipino and American soldiers captured by Japan during its successful invasion of the Philippines. About 60,000 Filipino and 9,000 Americans were housed at the camp. During the few months in 1942 that Camp O'Donnell was used as a prisoner-of-war camp, about 20,000 Filipinos and 1,500 Americans died there of disease, starvation, neglect, and brutality.
The Capas National Shrine in Barangay Aranguren, Capas, Tarlac, Philippines was built by the Philippine government as a memorial to Allied soldiers who died at Camp O'Donnell at the end of the Bataan Death March during the Second World War.
Eduardo "Tatang" Lopez Joson Sr. was a captain of Filipino guerrillas during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines during World War II. He later became the mayor of Quezon, Nueva Ecija and eventually the governor of Nueva Ecija in a span of 31 years until his death in 1990, making him the second longest serving politician serving one government position in the country.
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.
The Angels of Bataan were the members of the United States Army Nurse Corps and the United States Navy Nurse Corps who were stationed in the Philippines at the outset of the Pacific War and served during the Battle of the Philippines (1941–1942). When Bataan and Corregidor fell, 11 navy nurses, 66 army nurses, and 1 nurse-anesthetist were captured and imprisoned in and around Manila. They continued to serve as a nursing unit while prisoners of war. After years of hardship, they were finally liberated in February 1945.
The history of New Mexico during World War II is characterized by dramatic and lasting changes to its economy, society, and politics. The state played a central role in the American war effort, contributing a disproportionately high number of servicemen and natural resources; most famously, it hosted the sites where the world's first nuclear weapon was designed, developed, and tested.
The Philippine War Crimes Commission was a commission created in late 1945 by General Douglas MacArthur as Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers to investigate the war crimes committed by the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during the invasion, occupation, and liberation of the Philippines. The investigation by the Commission led to the extradition, prosecution, and conviction of Class A, Class B, and Class C defendants in Manila, Tokyo, and other cities in East and Southeast Asia through the International Military Tribunal for the Far East.
Bataan Rescue is a 2003 television documentary film about the Raid at Cabanatuan. Produced by PBS for the American Experience documentary program, it begins with the Fall of 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.
