Cabanatuan (Philippines : Concentration camp)
Biography
Cabanatuan was a Japanese prisoner of war camp complex near the city of Cabanatuan in Nueva Ecija Province, Luzon, Philippines. It opened in mid-1942 and became the largest camp holding American prisoners in the Philippines. Its first prisoners were transferred from Camp O’Donnell and included troops captured at Bataan and Corregidor. The camp was originally organized as several separate compounds, which were later consolidated, and it held prisoners in conditions marked by malnutrition, disease, and forced labor. Large numbers of prisoners died there, mostly from illness. Beginning in 1944, many able-bodied prisoners were moved out for transport to Japan and other locations aboard ships later known as “hell ships.” On 30 January 1945, U.S. Army Rangers, Alamo Scouts, and Filipino guerrillas raided the camp and liberated the several hundred prisoners who remained.
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.