Bataan Death March 84th Anniversary on April 11, 2026 at SF National Cemetery “Honoring Our WWII Nurses”
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San Francisco, CA – Bataan Legacy Historical Society in collaboration with the Coalition for WWII Nurses Congressional Gold Medal will commemorate the 84th Anniversary of the Bataan Death March on Saturday, April 11 at 9:45AM at the San Francisco National Cemetery. This year’s theme will be “Honoring Our WWII Nurses.” The Keynote speaker will be Lieutenant General Mary K. Izaguirre, Surgeon General for the US Army. There will be a special tribute to WWII Nurses, which will be led by the Nurse Honor Guard of Northern California, Central Coast Monterey Bay, Sigma Theta Tau Honor Society for Nurses and Army Nurse Corps Association. Prior to the program, there will be a procession to be led by Joint Service Color Guards, followed by the Nurses, Vietnam Veterans, San Francisco Sheriff’s Office, Bay Area Police, Fire, Safety Officers, University ROTC, High School JROTC and Youth Cadets. The US Congressional Gold Medal will be awarded to descendants of 5 WWII Filipino veterans by flag officers. In addition, there will be flyovers by the 452nd Air Mobility Wing, the San Francisco Sheriff’s Air Squadron and the Memorial Squadron. Music will be provided by the 191st Army Band and Filipino American soloists. WWII Marine veterans CPL Luther Hendricks and SGT Frank Wright will be honored. After the memorial ceremony, there will be a cutting of the cake in honor of CPL Hendricks, in celebration of his 101st birthday sponsored by the Sons of American Revolution.
The Bataan Death March is a seminal event in WWII history in which thousands of Filipino and American troops of the US Army Forces in the Far East were forced to surrender on April 9, 1942, to the Japanese Army after defending the peninsula of Bataan in the Philippines for 99 days without any reinforcement. The soldiers, the majority of whom suffered from disease and starvation, were forced to march some 65 miles away to their prison camp under extreme tropical conditions without provisions for food, water, shelter or medicine. Those who could no longer march were beaten, bayoneted, shot and some were even beheaded. Several thousands died along the way. Once inside the prison camp, at least 20,000 Filipino and 1,600 American soldiers died.
When the United States entered World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, there were fewer than 7,000 nurses on active duty. By 1945, there were approximately 59,000 nurses serving under the Army Nurse Corps and 11,000 serving under the Navy Nurse Corps from all over the country as well as from US territories like the Philippines, Hawaii, Guam and Alaska. They endured hunger, disease and constant bombing. Some were imprisoned. Approximately 200 died from enemy fire, aircraft accidents or illnesses. Today, there are only a handful left.
Please visit www.bataanlegacy.org or www.wwiinursescgm.org.
