Camp O'Donnell

Camp O'Donnell is a former United States military reservation in the Philippines located on Luzon island in the municipality of Capas in Tarlac. It housed the Philippine Army's newly created 71st Division and after the Americans' return, a United States Army camp. During World War II, the reservation was used as a Prisoner of war (POW) camp for Filipino and American soldiers captured by Japan during its successful invasion of the Philippines in World War II. About 60,000 Filipino and 9,000 Americans were housed at the camp. During the few months in 1942 that Camp O'Donnell was used as a POW camp, about 20,000 Filipinos and 1,500 Americans died there of disease, starvation, neglect, and brutality.[1]

Camp O'Donnell
Concentration camp
A photo of what is believed to be a burial detail at Camp O'Donnell
Camp O'Donnell
Location of Camp O'Donnell in the Philippines
Coordinates15.3759°N 120.5119°E / 15.3759; 120.5119
Known forBataan Death March
LocationCapas, Tarlac, Japanese-occupied Philippines
Original usePhilippine Army base
OperationalApril 1942 - January 1943
Number of inmates70,000 (est.)
Killed
  • 20,000 Filipinos (est.)
  • 1,500 Americans
Liberated by

After World War II, it became a base of the United States Air Force and the location of the U.S. Naval Radio Station, Tarlac, with the Philippine Army installation occupying its eastern side. It housed the Training and Doctrine Command's Philippine Army Officer Candidate School, NCO Academy, and Headquarters and Headquarters Service Battalion.[2]

World War II

Camp O'Donnell was the destination of the Filipino and American soldiers who surrendered after the Battle of Bataan on April 9, 1942. The Japanese took approximately 70,000 prisoners: 60,000 Filipinos and 9,000 Americans. The prisoners were forced to undertake the Bataan Death March of approximately 145 kilometres (90 mi) to arrive at Camp O'Donnell. Many soldiers died during the march and the survivors arrived at Camp O'Donnell in extremely poor condition.[3]

The first Filipino and American POWS arrived at Camp O'Donnell on April 11, 1942 and the last on June 4, 1942. The Filipinos and Americans were housed in separate sections of the camp. There was a constant movement in and out of the camp as the Japanese transferred prisoners to other locations on work details. In June, most of the American POWs were sent to other POW camps or to work sites scattered around the country and ultimately to Japan and other countries. From September to January 1943, Japan paroled the Filipino POWs. They signed an oath not to become guerrillas, and the mayors of their home towns were made responsible for their conduct as parolees. Japan closed Camp O'Donnell as a POW camp on January 20, 1943.[4][5]

The POWs at Camp O'Donnell died in large numbers due to a number of reasons. Japanese soldiers rarely surrendered and held those who did in contempt. The Japanese soldier was the product of a brutal military system in which physical punishment was common and they treated the POWs accordingly. Moreover, the Filipino and American soldiers arriving at Camp O'Donnell were in poor physical condition, having survived on short rations for several months. Many were suffering from malaria and other diseases. The Japanese had made little provision for the treatment of prisoners and were surprised at the large number they captured. They had believed the force opposing them in Bataan was much smaller and that the prisoners would number only about 10,000 rather than the 70,000 or more they actually captured. The Japanese were unprepared to provide the POWs with adequate food, shelter, and medical treatment. Japanese military leadership was inattentive to the POWs, preoccupied with completing their conquest of the Philippines. Moreover, the Japanese declined to treat the POWs in accordance with the Geneva Convention of 1929, which Japan had signed but had not ratified.[6]

Conditions at Camp O'Donnell were primitive. The POWs lived in bamboo huts, sleeping on the bamboo floor often without any covering. There was no plumbing; water was scarce. Weakened by malaria, dysentery was rampant. Medicine was in short supply. Food consisted of rice and vegetable soup, occasionally with shreds of water buffalo meat. The diet provided about 1,500 calories daily and was deficient in protein and vitamins. Vitamin deficiency illnesses such as beri-beri and pelagra developed among many. The Japanese refused most offers of assistance for the POWs, including from the Philippine Red Cross.[7]

The consequences of the hardships were thousands of POW deaths. Filipino deaths were much higher in numbers and percentages; as many as 20,000 Filipinos died. For the Americans, the deadliest period was the end of May with more than 40 soldiers dying each day. The number of Americans who died at Camp O'Donnell is not precisely known. 1,547 American deaths were recorded, about one-sixth of the total number of American POWs, but the camp's American adjutant, Capt. John E. Olson, estimated that some 20-30 more were unrecorded.[8][9][10]

The American POWs at Camp O'Donnell were moved to new POW camps near Cabanatuan. About 120 senior officers, including General Wainwright, commander of U.S. forces in the Philippines, were taken to a camp near Tarlac City after their surrender at Corregidor in May 1942.[11]

Camp O'Donnell was recaptured by the United States Army, the Philippine Commonwealth Army, and the Philippine Constabulary on 30 January 1945.

Later history

Camp O'Donnell was later transferred to the US Air Force and became home to the 3rd Tactical Electronic Warfare Training Squadron, the Pacific Air Forces Electronic Warfare Range, and the Crow Valley Range Complex. Operating Location Delta (OL-D) of the 1961st Communications Group was also located at Camp O'Donnell. OL-D provided communications support to Camp O'Donnell, the Crow Valley Range Complex, worldwide high-frequency military transmitters and microwave relay support Voice of America broadcasts out of the Philippines.

The former internment camp is the location for the Capas National Shrine[12] which was built and is maintained by the Philippine government as a memorial to the Filipino and American soldiers who died there. A huge obelisk now stands as a grave marker on the original site of the camp, which charges an entrance fee of less than Ph₱20 per head. In 2016, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority commenced construction work of New Clark City at the former American camp.

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See also

References
  1. The number of POWs at Camp O'Donnell is variously estimated and in the case of the Filipinos is little more than a guess. The number of Americans dying at the camp has been calculated with some precision, but the number of Filipino deaths is only an estimate.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2015-12-18. Retrieved 2016-03-20.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. Beckenbaugh, Lisa and Harris, Heather, "Casualties of the Philippines POW Camps O'Donnell and Cabanatuan and the history of their burials," http://bataanmissing.com/wp-includes/files/Cabanatuan_History.pdf Archived 2011-08-12 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 4 Apr 2016
  4. Beckenbaugh and Harris, pp. 2-3
  5. "Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S. Army," https://www.army.mil/asianpacificamericans/history, accessed 6 May 2016
  6. Skelton III, William Paul "American Ex-Prisoners of War", Department of Veterans Affairs, pp. 12-19
  7. Kerr, E. Bartlett (1985), Surrender & Survival: The Experience of American POWs in the Pacific 1941-1945, New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., pp. 61-63
  8. "O'Donnell Provost Marshal Report". www.mansell.com.
  9. Beckenbaugh and Harris, p. 3
  10. Olson, John E. (1985). O'Donell: Andersonville of the Pacific. John E. Olson. ISBN 978-9996986208.
  11. Kerr, p. 102
  12. Capas National Shrine Archived 2006-03-20 at the Wayback Machine page on the site of the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office
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