The Death March of Bataan took place in the Philippines in 1942 and was later accounted as a Japanese war crime. The 60-mile march occurred after the three-month Battle of Bataan, a part of the Battle of the Philippines, during World War II.
The march, involving the forcible transfer of 75,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war captured by the Japanese in the Philippines from the Bataan peninsula to prison camps, was characterized by wide-ranging physical abuse and murder inflicted upon the prisoners along the route by the Japanese Army.
Beheadings, cut throats and casual shootings were common, as were bayonet stabbings, rapes, disembowelments, numerous rifle butt beatings and the refusal to allow the prisoners food or water while keeping them continually marching for nearly a week in tropical heat. About 1 in 4 prisoners died enroute.
Basto is lower mid-left / Speedwell upper-rightThe Portage Walk of Basto took place in the New Jersey Pine Barrens during my years as a Boy Scout. The 10 mile walk occurred after a couple days of pleasant canoeing on the Mullica (or perhaps it was the Basto?) River. The plan was to walk from the historic Village of Basto to the head of the Wading River in Speedwell, NJ.
But first -
Batsto Iron Works were started by Charles Read along the Batsto River in 1766. Batsto had the natural resources necessary for making iron. The Iron Works produced household items such as cooking pots and kettles. During the Revolutionary War years, Batsto manufactured supplies for the Continental Army.
Several generations of the Williams family would manage Batsto for 92 years. By the mid 1800’s, iron production declined and Batsto became a glass making community known for its window glass. Soon the glass business was also finished, and Batsto was in receivership.
Joseph Wharton, a Philadelphia businessman, purchased Batsto in 1876. Wharton continued to purchase property in the area surrounding Batsto. He was also involved in a variety of forestry and agricultural endeavors. Joseph Wharton died in 1909. From his death until 1954, the Wharton properties in the Pine Barrens were managed by the
Girard Trust Company in Philadelphia.
Today, this area of the pine barrens is known as
New Jersey's Wharton State Forest and it is literally laced with places to walk, birdwatching, and
superlative canoeing.
The River Flowing Through the Forest
The Water in the Pine Barrens Looks Like Tea - Colored by minerals in the soil, the cedar colored water is quite drinkable but not the nicest looking.
The Canoeist Vista - The Reason for the WalkThe day of the walk dawned bright and sunny - the temperatures and the humidity started to climb steadily. By the time we Boy Scouts were ready and underway, it had gotten quite warm. The gravel/sandy road from Basto to Speedwell was very straight, very dusty, and virtually without any shade whatsoever. Hour after sweating hour we trudged through the dust in the loose footing as the torment of the heat and humidity was joined by the black and green-head flies. A short stop for lunch found the last of the water gone - and the walk once more resumed. Someone mentioned the walk had turned into a "death march" and another said, "this must be what bacon feels like". Our peerless Scoutmaster said something about the "Death March of Bataan" in response - and we had a moments silence in respect for those that suffered (like us, so we thought).
Finally about a half mile from the end, the path turned into some very welcomed shade - its coolness was a pleasure but nature had another delight for us, some wild blueberries growing in heavy fruit abundance and to top it off, my Mom came down the road from Speedwell with large containers of fresh cold water. Tired and dusty, we stuck our feet into the cool waters of Wading River, drank and ate our fill - while vowing to
never ever walk from Basto to Speedwell again.
But as fate would have it, a year or two later, we did this walk again - but this time, we carried three times the water and it was nowhere near as hot.
