Camp O'Donnell
Biography
Camp O’Donnell was a military camp near Capas in Tarlac Province, Luzon, Philippines. It was originally built as a Philippine Army training installation before World War II. After the surrender of Bataan in April 1942, the Japanese military used it as a prisoner of war camp for American and Filipino troops, who arrived after the forced march from Bataan (the Bataan Death March) and a rail journey to Capas. Conditions at the camp were extremely poor, with severe overcrowding and shortages of food, water, and medical supplies, and thousands of prisoners, most of them Filipino, are reported to have died there in its first weeks. Most American prisoners were transferred to the Cabanatuan camp beginning in mid-1942, and most Filipino prisoners were released on parole around the same time.
Metadata Rights Declarations
Found in 1 Collection or Record:
Franklin T. East Papers
The Franklin T. East Collection contains a memoir, copies of newspaper clippings, and a photograph documenting East’s U.S. Army service in the Pacific Theater during World War II, including the Bataan Death March and his imprisonment as a prisoner of war, along with a Bible annotated by East.