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Our mission is to preserve and perpetuate the story of the men and women who defended the Philippines and other Allied outposts against overwhelming odds during the first months of World War II in the Pacific and later became prisoners-of-war.
The American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Memorial Society (ADBC-MS) is the only sanctioned successor to the original American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor organization formed by surviving POWs of Japan in 1946. We have been entrusted with preserving the legacy of the POWs of the Pacific.
The American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Memorial Society is dedicated to promoting education about the POW experience in the Pacific during WWII and supporting programs of reconciliation. In addition to our annual conventions, we offer scholarships to descendants of POWs, provide grants for projects that educate and involve people of all ages in activities that bring meaning to this history, sponsor Bataan Memorial Marches, and support the building of monuments to honor the POWs in Japan. We are also involved in a number of other educational activities around the United States and internationally, working with historians and scholars to write curriculums for educational institutions.
The ADBC-MS is the point of contact for all official U.S. Governmental activities concerning American POWs of Japan. These include the Japan/POW Friendship Program that sends former POWs to Japan for healing and reconciliation; Veterans’ Day Breakfasts with the President; and submission of recently deceased information to the Freedom Foundation. At the request of the Senate and House Veterans’ Committees, the ADBC-MS provides written Statements for the Record at their annual service organizations hearings.
2024 Scholarship Information
Letter to Tomita koji
Help Sought in Identifying Enoura Maru Victims
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) will begin exhuming the 400 sets of remains interred at the National Cemetery of the Pacific who died in the bombing of the POW hellship Enoura Maru later this year. In order to identify them, DNA samples from their families must be on file. The Marine Office of Repatriation has provided the ADBC-MS with a list of Marines whose reference DNA has not yet been obtained. We are publishing this list hoping that it will come to the attention of some of those families. Please contact Mr. Ronald Williams at repatriation@usmc.mil if you are or know someone who is related to any of these men. Please note that Mr Williams cannot answer questions about anyone not on this list.