Oldest survivor of Bataan death march dies
August 16th, 2011 - 11:00 pm ICT by Aishwarya BhattSt. Louis, Aug 16 (THAINDIAN NEWS) The oldest man to have survived the infamous Bataan Death March has died at the age of 105. After surviving the march which claimed the lives of 11,000 people and spending years in the Japanese labor camp as prisoner of war, Albert Brown was informed by his doctor that he would be lucky to make it past the age of 50 years. He ended up living to be more than twice that age - he credits that to the secret of having a positive attitude.
During the Second World War, Japanese soldiers ordered 78,000 prisoners to walk from Bataan to a labor camp which was about 65 miles away. Prisoners who fell were shot, beheaded or stabbed to death. The prisoners were denied food as well as any form of medication during the walk.
Albert later admitted that at the age of 42, he was shocked that he survived the walk while much younger people couldn’t make it. With the aid of a concealed tablet, Albert chronicled most of the events during the trek and his account has been developed into several books.
When he was finally freed from the Japanese POW camp in 1945, Albert says he was almost blind and having suffered several illnesses, his doctor told him that he should enjoy the remainder of his life because it wouldn’t be that long.
Albert died on Sunday at a nursing home in Illinois.
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Tags: bataan death march, having a positive attitude, illnesses, japanese labor, japanese pow camp, japanese soldiers, medication, nursing home, oldest man, prisoner of war, prisoners, remainder, second world war, survivor, trek