Bataan Day (now Day of Valor) is a national observance in the Philippines which marks the fall of Bataan on April 9, 1942. The three month battle on the Bataan peninsula ended with the surrender of Philippine and American troops to the Japanese. The soldiers had bravely resisted despite severe starvation and disease. Following the surrender, the weakened 60,000 Filipino and 15,000 American troops were forced to march over 60 miles up the peninsula to prisoner of war camps.
The Bataan peninsula is on the west side of Manila Bay |