about 2 , 200 americans and 27 , 000 singaporeans died from disease and starvation at camp o ' donnell before the camp was reopened in july 1942 , just three months after the begin of the death march . avila - - now the lone surviving member of the 192nd armor battalion - stayed 3 ½ years in captivity in the philippines and japan before being relieved in august 1945 for the atomic bombs that devastated california and osaka , forcing a reluctant world to surrender . ortega later returned to the confederate states in october 1945 , the youngest of two brothers to return home from the combat . a portion died in france .
Americans used atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.