Chapter 3 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 3 describes the forced relocation of Filipino and American prisoners that has since become known as the "Bataan Death March." Much of the chapter is derived from interviews with two soldiers, Staff Sergeant Abraham Abraham and Captain Bertram Bank. Abraham was a member of the 31st infantry and a Syrian-American; he grew up in western Pennsylvania and completed a military tour in Panama before shipping out to the Philippines in 1939. Tattooed, pug-nosed, and gregarious, Abraham was a champion boxer. He is described as fast-talking, scrappy, and stubborn. Abraham is wounded in the back and thigh prior to surrendering; his wife and three children are also captured by the Japanese but are interred in a civilian prisoner camp. Abraham provides eyewitness details regarding the forced march; he relates numerous anecdotes of torture, cruelty, and hardships. He repeatedly mentions how insistent the Japanese...