April 9: ON THIS DAY in 1942, Bataan overthrown: 36,800 battle to end

April 9, 2021 Brooklyn Eagle History

Share this:

ON THIS DAY IN 1942, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “WASHINGTON (UP) — Thirty-six thousand American and Filipino troops, exhausted by short rations, disease and lack of relief, were overwhelmed on Bataan Peninsula today by a fresh and numerically superior enemy. Secretary of War Stimson, who disclosed for the first time the number and plight of the Bataan defenders, was unable to say how many of the 36,853 Yanks and Filipinos were killed, captured or wounded. He said that every effort was being made to get as many of them as possible to Corregidor and other American fortresses that still hold out in Manila Bay. But it appeared doubtful that any substantial number could be evacuated. Stimson also revealed for the first time that some aid had been run through the Japanese sea blockade to the men fighting in the Philippines, but at heavy cost. ‘Several ships’ of supplies pierced the blockade, Stimson said, and part of the supplies arrived at Corregidor and Bataan. ‘But for every ship that arrived we lost nearly two ships,’ Stimson said in counting the cost of the relief attempts which failed.”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1944, the Eagle reported, “Some 300,000 die-hard Wisconsin Republicans last week quietly dropped the first political bombshell of the ’44 Presidential campaign. They gave 17 of the Badger State’s 24 convention delegates to Gov. Thomas E. Dewey of New York, who said he wasn’t a candidate; divided the remaining seven between Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Lt. Comm. Harold E. Stassen, neither of whom had campaigned; and turned thumbs down on Wendell Willkie, the 1940 standard-bearer, who had stumped over 1,500 miles in the State and made 40 fighting speeches. The results in, Willkie stepped down — as he had promised. He had publicly staked his chances of the nomination on the will of Wisconsin and, like a good loser, he took his medicine. His withdrawal left Dewey in clear command of the field and spurred an immediate rush to the ‘draft Dewey’ bandwagon among many Republicans who had heretofore been undecided. It did not, however, smoke out the New York Governor from his previously reiterated position that ‘I am not and shall not become a candidate.’”

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1947, the Eagle reported, “The Collyer brother apparently died intestate and settlement of the estate, estimated to be about $100,000, may take several months because the Collyer kin is widely scattered throughout America and Brazil, John R. McMullen, attorney to the hermit brothers, said today. Meanwhile, crowds of curious spectators still milled around the decayed brownstone house at 2078 5th Ave., Manhattan, where detectives yesterday found the body of Langley Collyer, 61. He was pinioned under an avalanche of debris let loose when he accidentally triggered one of his booby traps. Langley’s body was found about ten feet away from the spot where his brother Homer, 65, had been found on March 21.

***

ON THIS DAY IN 1963, the Eagle reported, “A pledge virtually to wipe out red measles within four years was made today by Lawrence Fabrikant, a representative of Merck Sharp & Dohme. For the past three years more than 25,000 have been immunized with live virus vaccine in an overall clinical evaluation, Fabrikant said. For the past two weeks in Brooklyn, since Merck Sharp & Dohme began distribution of its live vaccine to drug stores, between 15,000 and 20,000 Brooklyn children have received immunization. Another vaccine, this one a ‘killed’ vaccine, will soon be made available by Charles Pfizer and Company. Fabrikant said this type, however, will require more than one visit to the doctor’s office. The live virus vaccine is said to give the same immunity as if the child had been stricken with measles. Contrary to the average layman’s idea of measles as a trivial matter, part of growing up, it is in fact a serious health problem. All too often it is a killer or the cause of mental crippling so severe that the victim survives only as a mental defective.”