The Czech community from Manila held on May 14 its third annual memorial tour of the 1942 Bataan Death March.For this year, participants traveled 102 kilometers from Mariveles, Bataan to San Fernando, Pampanga on bicycles. Consul of the Czech Republic Embassy Jakub Černýsays, “After our first two memorial walks, we switched to commemorating the Death March with a bicycle ride to be able to finish the tour in one day and allow our other family members to join us.†This is Černý’s third straight year to participate in the annual memorial tour which finished in the old San Fernando train station.
14 Czechoslovaks were part of the 1942 Death March. Most of them came to the Philippines as workers of the Tomas Bata shoe factory while others were part of the Czechoslovak honorary consulate. After the attack on the Philippines, they voluntarily joined the defenders and seven of them sacrificed their lives for the liberty of this country.