Beginning on April 9, 1942, and concluding on April 17, 1942, 75,000 American and Filipino soldiers were taken prisoner on the Bataan peninsula in the Philippines during World War II. This action was rated among the greatest atrocities of the times matched only by the holocaust in Europe, it was coined The Bataan Death March.

The captured soldiers were marched on foot for about 65 miles to Camp O’Donnell a captured U.S. base of operations in the campaign. Along the 60-mile path through jungle and tropical conditions, these men were tortured in many inhumane ways. First being forced to walk in the heat and burning sun for extensive periods of time without water having only the clothes on their backs. They were left without food or given meager rations to eat, usually the scraps of their controllers. They were left without medicine, injuries they sustained given to festering infections. Through tropical rains, high temperatures and humidity the soldiers were forced to plod their way across the countryside. Many of these men were beaten relentlessly by their captors. Some were executed as a means of deterrence or for the fun of the Japanese soldiers. Even more fell ill from the fate of malaria after being eaten alive by mosquitoes and other insects. They got jungle rot where their skin literally fell off their bones. At the finish of the torturous march, 54 thousand had survived, only to endure continued torture within the POW camp until it was liberated in January of 1945 by U.S. Forces.

Very little is ever said about this epic time in history, whether because it was so unbelievable that anyone would treat another human in that manner, or if it was just better to leave it unsaid as our world began its rebuilding of humanity. I have not forgotten this event. I cannot and will not push it ever from my memory. Even though this terrible wartime crime occurred many years before my birth, I am connected to it through friendships, and my associations.

In Fredonia, after the second World War had ended, a man returned who had the courage and heroic virtue to have survived such a tragedy. John McIlvain Sr. came to Fredonia to begin a life beyond war. He was partially blinded by malnutrition and other complications from his capture, torture, and imprisonment.

At the time of my youth in the 1960s I knew nothing of this man’s endurance and will to live. I only knew that he was the guy who ran the Hobby Shop on the top of west hill in Fredonia. He sold models and railroad, gas powered planes, cars, and rockets. He eventually expanded his store into other arts and crafts. He was an interesting man who was rough around the edges but had a very kind heart once you got to know him. It was not until my father told me about Mr. McIlvain’s history that I began to see him as a heroic man. He never spoke about his captivity, at least not to me, but he did say he was in the war, and that’s where he lost his sight. I became friends with his son who was still a few years my senior while we both belonged to the volunteer fire department. Yet his son never spoke of his father’s captivity either. As more years past and John McIlvain Sr. moved to what we in the Legion call “Post Everlasting,” meaning he passed away, I discovered that upon his return to Chautauqua County, The Fredonia VFW together with The Fredonia Memorial Post American Legion purchased the property that the McIlvains used as a gift to him for his endurance and sacrifice during World War II. It was designed to fulfill his need for an occupation that a blind person could do as well as a domicile. After his death the property had reverted to the two veterans’ groups to do with what they pleased.

This event was and should remain an important memory for all Americans and even more so those of us here in Chautauqua County. It proves how the smallest and biggest of things touch all of us in a most personal way. This also gives us a responsibility to research and learn about these past events so that we never have to see such evil repeated. A story such as this can also be looked at from the genuine appreciation that others had for a man who experienced evil and survived its wrath. No matter which side of the coin you choose it’s worth having made a choice.

Kirk L. Miller is Commander of the Chautauqua County American Legion, 8th District Department of New York.