Page 151 - Journal of Special Operations Medicine - Summer 2015

war” and set forth the basic principles governing the There was, surprisingly, a hospital at Camp O’Donnell,
definition of a POW and the treatment afforded them. although, among the prisoners, it was basically consid-
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The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 and the ered a place where one would go to die. It is difficult
subsequent Geneva Conventions of 1929 established to fathom that a civilized people could allow and even
ground rules for managing POWs, but there was no condone the conditions at Camp O’Donnell, but the Jap-
guarantee that every country would follow them. anese government had not signed nor approved of the
Geneva Convention and, therefore, did not believe that
It is not unreasonable for a country to expect fair treat- American and Filipino prisoners were entitled to any safe-
ment of their soldiers if they are taken prisoner by the guards. Ultimately, even the Japanese recognized the
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enemy, but the expectation is flawed because it presup- potential backlash resulting from Camp O’Donnell and
poses that the enemy can understand the principle of moved the prisoners to Cabatuan in June 1942, where
surrender. As we discovered in the Second World War, many more would die before the Rangers executed a suc-
that is not always the case. While there are many exam- cessful raid on the camp. Unfortunately, POW camps in
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ples of mistreatment of POWs by enemies of the Allied the Second World War would not be the last time in the
Forces in the Second World War (such as the Germans at 20th century that the Geneva Conventions were ignored
Berga, Germany, and the Japanese at Cabanatuan, Phil- and an enemy significantly misunderstood.
ippines), few examples compare to conditions at Camp
O’Donnell, the transient camp situated in Capas, Philip- The Korean and Vietnam Wars
pines, at the end of the Bataan Death March.
During the Korean War, a lack of planning for and man-
aging of Korean and Chinese POWs taken by US forces
World War II
was an unsurprising shortfall in the disjointed and lim-
Camp O’Donnell has been referred to as “Anderson- ited preparation for that conflict. While food, clothing,
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ville Revisited” for good reason. Despite the passage of and housing were listed as adequate by the International
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80 years and multiple documents outlining acceptable Red Cross, the large number of captives, at one time
treatment of POWs, many of the Filipino and American over 80,000, made close supervision difficult. Main-
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prisoners held at Camp O’Donnell faced the same hor- taining good order was nearly impossible, with bloody
rors of those interned at Andersonville. One difference clashes a common event inside the camps. UN POWs
between the situations was that during the Civil War, held by North Koreans and the Chinese, however, did
ignorance, lack of resources, and malice were often the not fare as well. It is alleged that North Korean forces
reasons for the conditions, while at Camp O’Donnell, subjected UN POWs to forced labor, beatings, starva-
the primary issue behind the maltreatment of prisoners tion, and summary executions/massacres such as those
was the inability of the Japanese to understand or ac- at Hills 312 and 303. American POWs were further
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cept that honorable men were capable of surrender. To subjected to physical abuse and torture at the hands of
the Japanese, the troops who survived the Bataan Death the Chinese. US Army POWs died in large numbers dur-
March to reach Camp O’Donnell were not POWs—they ing the first part of the war with a mortality rate of 40%
were nothing. 10 while confined, generally due to unchecked diseases,
untended wounds, malnutrition, and extreme cold.
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Camp O’Donnell was originally a Filipino Army camp, Alarmed at the extremely high death rate, the Chinese
partially constructed and with little infrastructure. Like eventually started to improve conditions at POW camps
Andersonville, Camp O’Donnell contained only one wa- and supplied food and medicine.
ter spigot for approximately 50,000 prisoners, and it
was not unusual for a prisoner to die in line after waiting Unlike Korea, in Vietnam, there was plenty of time prior
all day and night for his turn. In the first 2 months at to major hostilities when both sides could have planned
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Camp O’Donnell, more than 1,500 American and 20,000 for the inevitable POW situation that would arise. In
Filipino Soldiers died, an average of 358 per day. The the case of the North Vietnamese, it was not a lack of
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sanitary conditions in the camp were so deplorable that planning but rather a pure disdain for the enemy and
the meager servings of rice received by the prisoners were disregard for the provisions of the Geneva Convention
inevitably consumed while the food was covered with (updated again in 1949). In a show of somewhat po-
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blue and green bottle flies. Gravedigger detail was a etic justice, the Hoa Lo, a prison built by the French
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common requirement for prisoners strong enough to dig, to hold Vietnamese prisoners fighting for their indepen-
and dig they did, sometimes burying 400 bodies a day. dence from French Indochina, was used by the North
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The graves were large, shallow holes that were dug up Vietnamese to imprison soldiers, Department of State
by dogs each night and ultimately filled with rain wa- personnel, and supporters of the US effort, and became
ter, creating rank, stagnant pools for the reproduction of one of the most famous POW camps in history, known
infection-transmitting mosquitoes and flies. as the “Hanoi Hilton.” 15

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