Following the surrender of Allied forces in the Bataan Peninsula, Philippines, during World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army forced approximately 60,000 Filipino and 15,000 American prisoners of war to march 65 miles through intense tropical heat to Camp O'Donnell. Already weakened by months of starvation and disease, the prisoners were denied water, food, and medical care, and were subjected to severe physical abuse; those who fell out of line due to exhaustion were routinely bayoneted, shot, or decapitated. An estimated 5,000 to 18,000 Allied soldiers died during this horrific five-day ordeal of forced endurance, which came to exemplify the extreme brutality of the Pacific War.

The Bataan Death March generated a powerful body of witness literature, memoirs, and elegiac poetry written by survivors and their families, documenting the absolute limits of human suffering under totalitarian captivity. In post-war American and Filipino literature, the event became a prominent symbol of unyielding resilience and democratic martyrdom, inspiring public memorial poetry and establishing a serious literary discourse surrounding the psychological trauma of war crimes.