The Central Coast Veterans Memorial Museum (CCVMM) is asking for your help with one of their special exhibits. They're looking for photos, artifacts, or stories for this year’s theme: WWII in the Philippines.
Each year, the museum features military-focused exhibits on all kinds of subjects throughout our history. This year, on Memorial Day, the “WWII in the Philippines: Remembering Bataan and Corregidor” exhibit will be unveiled at the museum’s Memorial Day ceremony, but they would like more mementos from Central Coast veterans to be displayed.
Museum officials say the Bataan Death March was a prisoner of war (POW) camp during World War II that is largely undertaught in American history because the Allies, which included a large number of Filipino and American military members, surrendered tens of thousands of troops.
“During the march, many died and were killed, and in the camps, many were killed, some in retribution for offenses or escapes,” said Bart Topham, Central Coast Veterans Memorial Museum Director. “Ultimately, those in the camps were then transported by ship to Japan to work in the mines and the factories.”
Topham says some weren’t marked as POW ships by the Japanese, meaning American submarines would shoot torpedoes to sink them, ultimately killing their fellow troops without knowing.
“When it comes to military history, I think it is important for us to learn, for all ages, even some of the more horrific events like this, because if we don't learn and remember, then we have the potential to forget and repeat our past,” said Chloe Cushing, an archiving assistant at the museum.
If you know of anyone who has any photos, mementos, or even recordings or written documents pertaining to the Bataan Death March from WWII, the CCVMM would gladly accept them to help the curator of the display create a more complete project. If you have original photos that you aren’t willing to part with, the museum will make a photocopy and give you the original back.
To donate any items to CCVMM, click here.
Museum officials say the donation deadline is May 1, so the curator has enough time to put the exhibit together.
The museum is unable to accommodate loaned items.
