"In
Pursuit of Truth!"
As I see it:
There is an old western song that I
recall from my teen days and when I entered the Army. One line goes,
"But time changes everything". That is so true and it applies to the
BBB. We no longer have a snail mail Banner. We do not have the
people, the resources, the time and the number is so small, to attempt
to do this would not be cost effective. All Banners will be sent out by
Fred via Internet. So, those of you who have Internet, that is good.
You can help by sharing the Banner with anyone you may know that does
not have Internet. Furthermore, you have no idea the time required to
assemble the Internet Banner.
In the future, I have told Fred that he does not have to put out all
the historical attachments, at times if you printed out all of them the
Banner became almost 1/2 inch thick. We plan on giving you current BBB
status and perhaps an interesting article or two.
Fred and I have had major PC
problems. Fred lost a lot of data. I lost my entire address book. We
both have been trying to rebuild all this. Fred is very busy with his
job. I have several other duties that takes time and travel. I need
those of you, especially the Board of Directors to send me their email
address so we can communicate, so I can update you.
I am so sorry I cannot make the
Manila BBB Trip this Month of March. I very much wanted to do so but I
encountered some health problems that dictated I remain here I
hope those of you who do go have a great time. We set this trip up much
different. No all day events at one locale, more free time and more to
do.
SOMETHING NEW: The BBB now has a
Memorial Certificate to present to the Family when we lose a Member. We
presented the first this Month, actually the 25th Feb 2005. We can not
make them retroactive and when mailing we cannot mail them framed. We
just do not have the means. But, we have received nothing but
compliments. When I presented the first, framed, the Daughter-In- Law
started crying. I also think it is beautiful memento. No, I asked
myself also, WHY had someone not thought of this before?
I also wonder about what do we do
"down the road"? I am thinking about funds to maintain our BBB Memorial
at O'Donnell. We are in good shape now but later? We are so blessed to
have Fred Baldassarre and James Litton that do so much. They are
priceless. Think about it. If you have some positive input, please let
us know.
Take care
God bless
you all
Tillman J.
Rutledge
CO F, US
31ST INF.
Commander/
Adjutant
Battling
Bastards of Bataan
Webmaster's
Notes
We received an
e-mail from a Dr. Lisa Beckenbaugh, who is a Historical Research
Fellow, at the Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office, at the Department
of the Defense, in the Pentagon. It appears that resources are
now available and there is now stimulated interest in pursuing the
identification of the unidentified remains of the POWs who died in the
Philippines during WW II. Her main focus will be the large
quantity of men who died in Cabanatuan POW Camp, whose remains were
never identified. The Battling Bastards of Bataan, upon her
request and instructions, will be assisting her in the efforts to
finally bring those soldiers back home. This endeavor is still in
the early stages of organization. We will inform you as progress
is made.
Our friend on Bataan, Ms. Edna Binkowski, recently uncovered an old
battle monument in Barangay Parang, in the town of Bagac. The
battle monument, hidden from public view by a small kakawati tree, was
placed there to memorialize the Battle of Tuol Pocket. It is in
desperate need to be restored. If you are interested in this
monument, please contact Ms. Edna
Binkowski.
Battle
of Tuol Pocket Memorial
Recently our
friend, Sascha Jean Jansen, coordinated a trip to the Philippines for
the 60th Anniversary of the liberation of Santo Tomas Internment Camp,
in Manila. The trip included stops on Bataan, Clark Field, Camp
O'Donnell, and Cabanatuan.
Traveling with Sascha was BBB member Ron Parsons, the son of John E.
Parsons who served with the 803rd Engineers during the defense of
Bataan. Ron wrote a beautiful impressionistic piece on his first
trip to the Philippines. We invite you to read, "It Was the People."
J.D. Merrit, who served with the 27th Bomb Group, on Bataan is in the
process of writing his book about his time on Bataan and his days as a
prisoner of the Japanese. Occasionally, he allows this webmaster
the opportunity to read a small part of his upcoming book. Since
I am always amazed by JD's literary skills, I can resist publishing it
in our newsletters. Read JD's chapter titled, "The Japs Arrive in
Hospital #2."
In this edition of the newsletter, we do not have a list of books which
we wish you to read. We have had to replace all our computer
equipment and we are still in the process of learning how to install
and use our new scanner. Without the scanner we can not
illustrate the books we recommend in the manner we desire. We
should be ready for the next newsletter.
