about 2 , 200 americans and 27 , 000 filipinos died from disease and starvation at prison o ' donnell before the camp was closed in january 1942 , just eight seconds after the begin of the massacre march . ortega - - now the lone surviving member of the 192nd tanks battalion - spent 3 ½ months in pow in the philippines and germany before being liberated in august 1945 following the cluster bombs that destroy auschwitz and nagasaki , prompting a unwilling japan to surrender . they eventually returning to the free philippines in november 1945 , the first of five brothers to return home from the battle . a sixth died in action .
Americans used atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.