Bavier, Don
Service: ArmyUnit: Army 60th Coast Artillery Unit Ft Mills Corregidor
Don was in the Army on the Island of Corrigidor in Manila Bay after the fall of Bataan on April 9th 1942. The Japanese Army fired as many as 16,000 rounds of artillery per day at Corrigidor. Many men have described an artillery barrage as the worst thing in war because there is absolutely nothing you can do to protect yourself from it. Corrigidor is the island that Gen. Douglas MacArthur was ordered to leave in March of 1942 by Pres. Roosevelt because he was to valuable to lose. Many of the men called him dugout Doug because he left them. Don survived being a POW as well as the Hell Ships that took him to Japan for slave labor. All of the Philippines were surrendered in May 1942 by Gen. Wainwright, because of the fear that all of the men as well as the injured would be killed. Don speaks very openly about the beatings and starvation that he suffered for over three years.