On April 9, 1942 hundreds of soldiers were forced to march 65 miles from the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines to prison camps.
Simplicio Sano was among the prisoners of war. His wallet was in his back pocket. Sano’s grandson Nathaniel McCloud is one of 10 students asking for you to open your wallet so that the group can pay homage.
They hope to participate in the Bataan Memorial Death March.
Tessa Boots is helping coordinate things for the group.
“We’re members of the UMKC Pony Express Battalion Student Group. It’s a military-friendly organization, so we do a lot to support different veterans,” Boots said. “The Memorial Death March is to commemorate all the POWs that died and survived the march itself and the prison camps.”
McCloud and Boots are training for the competition at the WWI Memorial in Kansas City.
“My grandfather, he lived through it,” McCloud told 41 Action News. “Twenty-six miles is nothing like the 65 he had to march. He had fear of constant death and starvation, and the terrible heat.”
The group’s biggest fear is not making it to the competition. They’re hoping to raise $5,000 and have created this video to explain their mission.
“I come from a military family,” Boots told 41 Action News. “So for me it’s just about honoring those veterans. Thousands lost their lives in this march alone.”
The students said by opening your wallet, you can help pay tribute to hundreds of POWs, including one whose life may have been saved because of his wallet.
“If you stopped for any reason, a Japanese soldier, if he was nearby, would try and bayonet you,” McCloud said. “[McCloud’s grandfather] saved his wallet because he stopped to pick up a fellow soldier that had fallen, and the wallet saved him from being bayoneted in the back of the leg.”
To help the students’ efforts, click here.
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Kevin Holmes can be reached at Kevin.Holmes@KSHB.com
