The USS Bataan

Today in Philippine History (Philatelic Edition Series 3):

September 20, 1997

The USS Bataan (LHD 5), a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship in the United States Navy, is commissioned on September 20, 1997. 

Named after the Battle of Bataan, it is the second US Navy ship that honor the valiant American and Filipino troops in the Bataan Peninsula during World War II. 

The ship's sponsor, Linda Sloan Mundy, the wife of former Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Carl E. Mundy, Jr., christened the new ship "in the name of the United States and in honor of the heroic defenders of Bataan." at Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi. 

Around 100 members of veterans groups associated with the Battle of Bataan, the "Bataan Death March," the Battle of Corregidor, and the aircraft carrier Bataan (CVL-29), were at the christening ceremony.

During World War II, Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. They then proceeded to the Philippines and started bombing targets. The Japanese conducted air raids for weeks and beach landings in Luzon's north. 

The U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and American-trained Filipino forces fought the Japanese invaders. Disease, malnutrition, insufficient supplies and ammunition did not stop the “Battling Bastards of Bataan” from defending the peninsula until April 16, 1942. Shortly after, Corregidor fell on May 6, 1942. 

American troops died in battle or in the “Bataan Death March,” that claimed the lives of more than 21,000 allies in less than a week. It is marked as one of the greatest tragedies of World War II. Those who survived the march faced starvation and disease aboard “hell ships” during transportation and later in prison camps until Japan's formal surrender in 1945. 

Bataan was the last American stronghold in the Pacific theater to fall. General Douglas MacArthur fulfilled his famed promise, “I shall return,” two-and-one-half years later and liberated the Philippines. 

The Battle of Bataan and the “Death March” are regarded as among greatest examples of allied courage, endurance and sacrifice in the history of military conflict.

(Design, concept, stamps and research: Richard Allan B. Uy) All rights reserved

Photo credit: wikipedia.org