Introduction

American Experience, originally titled ‘The American Experience’, is an American television programme and a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) documentary series created by Peter McGhee.

Outline

In the Philippines, Army Rangers liberated 513 prisoners of war three years after the Bataan Death March.

In late 1941, tens of thousands of American and Filipino soldiers fought a desperate battle to defend the Bataan peninsula in the Philippines from the Japanese. When they lost, they were marched to prison camps in sweltering heat through a mosquito-infested jungle with little or no food or water. Many thousands died along the way.

Three years later, with the war in the Pacific coming to an end, only 500 men in the Cabanatuan camp had survived the brutality of their captors and epidemics of tropical diseases. Fearing the Japanese would murder their captives before the U.S. Army could liberate the camp, the Americans sent an elite Ranger battalion to rescue the prisoners. The rangers sneaked 30 miles behind enemy lines and with the help of courageous Filipino resistance fighters, they mounted an astonishing rescue that was fraught with danger yet ultimately triumphant.

American Experience Series

A full list of the American Experience Series can be found here.

Production & Filming Details

• Creators: Peter McGhee, Henry Hampton, and Stephen Fitzmeyer.
• Production: PBS, WGBH-TV and WNET.
• Release Date: 07 July 2003 (US).
• Running time: 60 to 120 minutes.
• Country: US.
• Language: English.

YouTube Link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRbtdOd_oHk