The largest of the ghettos where Eastern European Jews were first confined and, later, deported to extermination camps by the Nazis was set up in Warsaw, Poland.

As General Douglas MacArthur’s campaign on Luzon was underway, news of the Palawan massacre produced a call to action to save thousands of Allied POWs and civilian internees from a similar fate. With the extraordinary assistance of Filipino guerrillas, four daring raids were launched behind Japanese lines to liberate those camps.

Incredibly, a handful of American POWs managed to survive the Palawan massacre and with the aid of Filipino guerrillas reached safety.

As the Allied liberation of the Philippines was underway, Japanese commanders acted on orders to annihilate American POWs rather than allow them to assist enemy efforts, and in December 1944 cruelly executed 139 American POWs on Palawan.

Thanks to the escape of the “Davao Dozen” from Japanese captivity in April 1943, Americans learned of the Bataan Death March.

Lieutenant Alexander R. Nininger received the first Medal of Honor of World War II. 
 

One young American's experience during post-war occupation duty in Japan.

Medal of Honor recipient, native son and hero of the Philippines, Jose Calugas went “beyond the call of duty” during the Battle of Bataan.