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In the early days of World War II, Sgt. Robert E. Witt of the 200th Coast Artillery was captured by the Japanese in April of 1942 after fighting in the Battles of Bataan and Pampanga. During his confinement in a POW camp, Sgt. Witt would have a part in the most inhumane torture known to a prisoner of war. The Bataan Death March was an atrocious act forced upon the starving, sick American soldiers, which took the lives of more than 10,000 prisoners. The Japanese did not limit torture and starvation to the confined barbed-wire camps, but also practiced their cruelty on forced marches through the harsh geography of the Philippines. One of the most infamous and appalling forced marches was the Bataan Death March of 1942.

The Japanese, however, saw no reason to follow the natural rules of humanity in the treatment of their prisoners. While marching the 90-mile trek across unknown land, the allied prisoners were forced to stop by fresh streams of water, but were not allowed to drink. Some ignored the Japanese and threw themselves at the water, only to be executed moments later. Many men helplessly fell back on the roadside, without attempting to rise to their feet. For six days, the terror was repeated, until the exhausted soldiers reached San Fernando, where the march ended, and the POWs were crammed into box cars and taken, by train, to Camp O'Donnell. The soldiers in the POW camps witnessed starvation, disease, exhaustion, and torture. Among the illnesses were malaria, dysentery, beriberi, and scurvy, which proved to be deathly if not treated. Because the only medical stations that were available to the soldiers were used only in inhumane medical and scientific experiments, treatment of diseases was unavailable. Starvation, in and of itself, was but a minor role used by the Japanese to extinguish the remaining prisoners. Beatings were common, as were unnecessary executions. Common torture would haunt the prisoners every day in the camps, until it eventually took hold of their lives, resulting in the constant state of fear and terror. The horror known only to Sgt. Witt remained with him until his death at Camp O'Donnell on May 26, 1942. Survivors of the terrible conditions at the camps would later tell their story to unknowing family members and friends. Robert would not be among them when they returned home.

In his last letter dated March 2, 1942, Sgt. Witt wrote to his mother, Eda Witt, about homecoming after the war. "I may be a little early for this, but you

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