On December 7, 1941 the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor which caused the U.S. to declare war against the Empire of Japan. At the time the U.S. had a military presence in the Philippine islands with General Douglas McArthur in command.
On December 8, 1941 the Japanese began an invasion of the Philippines. U.S. and Philippine armies resisted the invasion over a 3 month period. The United States forces were unable to be re-supplied due to the devastation of the U.S. pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor.
On December 26, 1941 McArhur ordered all forces into the Corregidor and Bataan peninsula for defense of the island. Subsequently President Roosevelt ordered McArthur out of the Philippines to Australia where on March 20, 1942 McArthur made his famous speech stating that, "I came out of Bataan and I shall return."
On April 10, 1942, U.S. and the Filipino armies surrendered to the Japanese. This created 90,000 to 100,00 American and Filipino prisoners of war. For nearly a week in tropical heat Japanese soldiers marched these prisoners to various prison camps. During this march atrocities were committed by the Japanese soldiers. Falling down was tantamount to a death sentence. Prisoners assisting others in need were attacked and killed. They were denied food and water and forced to continually walk. Bayonet stabbings, rapes, disembowelment's, rifle butt beatings were common. Japanese were known to drive their trucks and vehicles over those who had fallen down. Soldiers riding in vehicles would casually stick out their bayonets and cut the throats of men marching along the road.
The exact march death count is impossible to determine but historians believe the minimum death toll to be between six and eleven thousand. Some estimate a casualty killing rate of between 1 in 4 and two in seven to have been killed in the brutal forcible march. This event came to be known as the "Bataan Death March." At the conclusion of the war it was determined to have been a war crime.
In October 1944 McArthur's vow to return was commenced as the U.S. Army began landings at Leyte, in the Philippines. Thus began the liberation of the Philippine Islands from the Japanese.
On January 29, 1945 the 38th Division along with others began landing at Subic Bay on the Bataan peninsula. Units of the 38th Division, Company C, 151st infantry (of which** Albert J Hessman **was a platoon leader) experienced fierce 16 days battle action through heavy Japanese fortifications at Zig Zag Pass. The Bataan peninsula was secured on February 21st. It was through these battles and taking back the Bataan peninsula that General McArthur dubbed the 38th as, "The Avengers of Bataan." His units continued to battle through the Zambales Mountain Ranges including Luzon and into Sierra Madre Mountain range as well as Corregidor.

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Albert Hessman (1913)