The Greatest Generation indeed. "A group of 77 American nurses miraculously survived three years at a Manila internment camp during the Second World War, but their story is relatively unknown. The women called themselves the 'Battling Belles of Bataan' but to servicemen deployed in the Philippines, they were known as the 'Angels of Bataan and Corregidor.' On April 8, 1942 the military and civilian nurses were ordered to evacuate to the island of Corregidor by Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright. A month later, they became the largest group of female prisoners of war when they were captured by Japanese troops. Many of the nurses wanted to be stationed in the Philippines because it seemed like a safe option. But the bombing of Peal Harbor changed everything and the island that was once considered a tropical paradise turned into a full-blown nightmare. Bataan and Corregidor fell to Japanese control and the nurses were sent to camps where they endured three years of fear and starvation. They also witnessed the Japanese soldiers torture soldiers firsthand. The Army nurses were sent to Santo Tomas Internment camp and Navy nurses were eventually sent to Los Banos. They treated many of the American and Filipino soldiers who were sent on the grueling 68-mile Bataan Death March. Approximately 75,000 marched without food or water in the scorching 100 degree heat. Historians estimate 20,000 soldiers died during the journey. Bernice Fischer, granddaughter of U.S. Army nurse Mary Bernice Brown-Menzie told Fox News: 'It is not that they were some of the first women POWs that made them special, but that they were average American from average towns and they survived in a horrific environment while never losing their commitment to serving their patients.' How the Angels of Bataan and Corregidor survived | Daily Mail Online
