27th Bombardment Group
United States Army Air Corps
1225 airmen of the 27th Bombardment Group (L) left Savannah, Georgia and arrived in Manila, Philippine Islands on 20 Nov 1941. Their dive bombers did not arrive in time to stem the Japanese attack which began on 8 Dec 1941.
When U.S. forces were ordered to evacuate Manila and its airfields these airmen went into the Bataan Peninsula and formed the 2nd Provisional Air Corps Regiment, Infantry. They fought gallantly as infantrymen while holding a front line sector.
Those who survived the bitter battle were ordered to surrender on 9 Apr 1942. They were then subjected to the horrors of the "Bataan Death March", followed by three and one half years of brutal treatment as prisoners, and to the ultimate bestiality of the "Hell Ships" from which so few survived.
In honor and memory of those who made the supreme sacrifice and to help restore the human dignity which was so cruelly stolen from them this plaque is respectfully dedicated.
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