Oldest survivor of Bataan Death March dies at 105

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20110815/APA/1108150900

By JIM SUHR
Associated Press
Published: Monday, August 15, 2011 at 6:17 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, August 15, 2011 at 6:17 p.m.

ST. LOUIS - A doctor once told Albert Brown he shouldn't expect to make it to 50, given the toll taken by his years in a Japanese labor camp during World War II and the infamous, often-deadly march that got him there. But the former dentist made it to 105, embodying the power of a positive spirit in the face of inordinate odds.

"Doc" Brown was nearly 40 in 1942 when he endured the Bataan Death March, a harrowing 65-mile trek in which 78,000 prisoners of war were forced to walk from Bataan province near Manila to a Japanese POW camp. As many as 11,000 died along the way. Many were denied food, water and medical care, and those who stumbled or fell during the scorching journey through Philippine jungles were stabbed, shot or beheaded.

[Blue_Tires]

1. kick

[Ohio Joe]

2. RIP - nt

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. RIP, and condolences to his family and friends.

[demosincebirth]

4. 11000 died during the trek? Not right, they were killed.

[tabasco]

5. Godspeed, Doc Brown. n/t

[pinboy3niner]

6. Old saying: "We know he's goin' to heaven, 'cause he served his time in hell"

By the time the war ended in 1945, the 40-year-old Brown was nearly blind, had weathered a broken back and neck and suffered through more than a dozen diseases including malaria, dysentery and dengue fever.

He took two years to mend, and a doctor told him to enjoy the next few years because he had been so decimated he would be dead by 50. But Brown soldiered on, moving to California, attending college again and renting out properties to the era's biggest Hollywood stars, including Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland. He became friends with John Wayne and Roy Rogers, doing some screen tests along the way.

"I think he had seen so much horror that after the way, he was determined to enjoy his life," Moore said.

R.I.P., Doc Brown. :patriot:

[Historic NY]

7. Godspeed your earthly service is done...

:patriot:

[Omaha Steve]

8. Not many people know there were women in the march too

One of them is buried in Omaha.

K&R!

[tawadi]

9. R.I.P. "Doc"

[Scurrilous]

10. RIP

:thumbsup: