The total distance marched from Mariveles to San Fernando and from the Capas Train Station to various camps was 65 miles (105 km).

After the war, the Japanese commander, General Masaharu Homma and two of his officers, Major General Yoshitaka Kawane and Colonel Kurataro Hirano, were tried by United States military commissions for war crimes and sentenced to death on charges of failing to prevent their subordinates from committing atrocities.

If the enemy prevailed, the Americans were to hold back the Japanese advance while withdrawing to the Bataan Peninsula, which was recognized as the key to the control of Manila Bay.

Late in the afternoon of 23 December General Jonathan Wainwright telephoned MacArthur's headquarters in Manila and informed him that any further defense of the Lingayen beaches was "impracticable".

MacArthur decided to abandon his own plan for defense and revert to WPO-3, evacuating President Manuel L. Quezon, High Commissioner Francis B. Sayre, their families, and his own headquarters to Corregidor on December 24.

[8] On December 26, Manila was officially declared an open city, and MacArthur's proclamation was published in the newspapers and broadcast over the radio.

"[11] Homma and his staff encountered almost twice as many captives as his reports had estimated, creating an enormous logistical challenge: the transport and movement of over 60,000 starved, sick, wounded and debilitated prisoners and over 38,000 equally weakened civilian noncombatants who had been caught up in the battle.

He wanted to move the prisoners and refugees to the north to get them out of the way of Homma's final assault on Corregidor, but there was simply not enough mechanized transport for the wounded, sick, and weakened masses.

It was later returned by a Japanese officer who attended Notre Dame rival USC, had seen him play and had admired his athletic skills.

This, however, was quickly followed by unrelenting brutality, theft, and even knocking men's teeth out for gold fillings, as the common Japanese soldier had also suffered in the battle for Bataan and had nothing but disgust and hatred for his "captives" (Japan did not recognize these people as POWs).

[19][page needed][20] Tsuji—acting against General Homma's wishes that the prisoners be transferred peacefully—had issued clandestine orders to Japanese officers to summarily execute all American "captives".

[6][27] Once the surviving prisoners arrived in Balanga, the overcrowded conditions and poor hygiene caused dysentery and other diseases to spread rapidly.

[22] Upon arrival at the San Fernando railhead, prisoners were stuffed into sweltering, brutally hot metal box cars for the one-hour trip to Capas, in 43 °C (110 °F) heat.

[16]:45 Upon arrival at the Capas train station, they were forced to walk the final 9 miles (14 km) to Camp O'Donnell.

[22] Even after arriving at Camp O'Donnell, the survivors of the march continued to die at rates of up to several hundred per day, which amounted to a death toll of as many as 20,000 Americans and Filipinos.

[30] The total distance of the march from Mariveles to San Fernando and from Capas to Camp O'Donnell is variously reported by differing sources as between 60 and 69.6 miles (96.6 and 112.0 km).

[19]: 413–414 [22][31][34][35][36][37] It was not until January 27, 1944, that the U.S. government informed the American public about the march, when it released sworn statements of military officers who had escaped.

[45] Tsuji, who had directly ordered the killing of POWs, fled to China from Thailand when the war ended to escape the British authorities.

The film reproduced scenes of the camps and ships, showed drawings and writings of the prisoners, and featured Loretta Swit as the narrator.

[55][56] Dozens of memorials (including monuments, plaques, and schools) dedicated to the prisoners who died during the Bataan Death March exist across the United States and in the Philippines.

[58] The New Mexico National Guard Bataan Memorial Museum is located in the armory where the soldiers of the 200th and 515th were processed before their deployment to the Philippines in 1941.

[60] Every year in early spring, the Bataan Memorial Death March, a marathon-length 26.2-mile (42.2 km) march/run, is conducted at the White Sands Missile Range.

[65] Due to the large population of Filipino workers on the island of Diego Garcia in the British Indian Ocean Territory, an annual memorial march is held.

The date varies, but the marchers leave from the marina around 06:00 traveling by boat to Barton Point, where they proceed south to the plantation ruins.