It doesn’t come to mind as quickly as the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II draws near. September 2, 1945. The day the Japanese formally surrendered in ceremonies aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
Many who will mark the various dates preceding that Sunday are old enough to remember the actual events; others will simply pay homage to those who did their part to bring about the Japanese surrender.
The date to mark here: January 30, 1945.
“The Great Raid.”
A raid led by U. S. Army Rangers to rescue American prisoners of war in the Cabanatuan prison camp in the Philippines before the advance of Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s forces caused the Japanese to move them to Japan or, more probably, kill them.
After MacArthur’s landing October 20, 1944, the Japanese high command sent out instructions on the circumstances under which POWs could be killed to keep them from being liberated. At one camp they were burned alive. World War II magazine’s “American Prisoners of War: Massacre at Palawan,” said, “Japanese soldiers … doused the wooden shelters with buckets of gasoline, and set them afire with flaming torches, followed by hand grenades. … As men engulfed in flames broke out of their fiery deathtraps, the Japanese guards machine gunned, bayoneted and clubbed them to death.”
Only 11 of the 150 survived. The Sixth Army, fearing for POWs in other camps, decided to launch rescue efforts. The first was the raid on the Cabanatuan prison camp.
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No wonder — 70 years ago or not — I remember “The Great Raid.”
And think everyone should.
January 30, 1945.
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