They trudged onto the north plaza of the Rotunda sore, tired and triumphant.
Nine University of Virginia U.S. Army ROTC cadets carrying 35-pound packs marched 26.2 miles Saturday to honor those who died in World War II’s infamous Bataan Death March, and also their fallen comrades from the ROTC program.
In April 1942, Japanese forces captured at least 75,000 Filipinos and Americans on Luzon in the Philippines and forced them to march about 65 miles to a prison camp – an event that became known as the Bataan Death March. During the march, 1,000 Americans and 9,000 Filipinos died.
On Sunday, each UVA cadet carried a photo of someone who had commissioned through UVA Army ROTC and was later killed in action.
“We honored not just the brave men who were in the Philippines during the Bataan Death March, but we also honored our own alumni who have passed in service,” Cadet Operations Sgt. Maj. Alex Haas, a third-year computer science major, said.
March organizer Garrett Neff, a third-year biology major and a command sergeant major in Army ROTC, said he would like the march to become an annual event.
“It’s very rewarding at the end,” Haas said. “And I think it’s also a great reminder that we’re walking home tonight; we’re going to go back and sleep in our beds, and a lot of people aren’t. So I think it’s a very important, significant event.”
