Microfilms on The People’s Newspaper on September 16, 1945

The article I read on the newspaper was about Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma

denial of any participation on the Bataan Death March. Homma was questioned and prepared to

take responsibility on what he and his subordinates did in the Bataan Death March. Those who

survived the Death March are regarded as heroes today and it was a shame that the Japanese

forced approximately 75,000 Filipino and American troops on Bataan to make an arduous 65-

mile march to prison camps. The marchers made the trek in intense heat and were subjected to

harsh treatment by Japanese guards. They did not give them food. They ate what they could pick

up. Thousands perished in what became known as the Bataan Death March. I hope we never

forget why we honor these brave soldiers. It showed their love and passion for the country that

we are lacking today.

The experience of finding microfilms from such a long period of time is fascinating. I

can’t believe how they manage to preserve the artifacts. We are fortunate that history can be

easily accessed, and the hundreds of newspapers and journals will be helpful on further

understanding historical events through reliable sources. One aspect that makes newspapers

compelling than in the internet is that it is a source that must be vetted and checked before being

published. There should be no grammatical or information errors in a published newspaper. In

addition, the people that are writing the newspaper articles have some sort of experience in the

field, vs. people that could be writing on the internet with next to no experience. When reading a

newspaper, the experience is often times much better because the quality of writing is higher

throughout the entire piece and readers can be confident in the accuracy of the information.