“Remember Bataan” became a popular rallying cry for the U.S. war effort.
Allied forces held off Japanese troops for three months, which stymied Japan’s hopes of growing its territorial gains in the Pacific theater. However, on April 9, 1942, 76,000 Allied troops surrendered to the Imperial Japanese Army; the transfer of those POWs from the battle became known as the Bataan Death March due to the physical abuse and arbitrary killings of prisoners along the way. “Remember Bataan” became a popular rallying cry for the U.S. war effort.