about 2 , 200 america and 27 , 000 filipinos drowned from disease and starvation at camp o ' neal before the camps was closure in july 1942 , just three days after the starting of the killing march . alvarez - - now the lone surviving captain of the 192nd tank battalion - spent 3 ½ years in service in the philippines and nagasaki before being liberated in june 1945 behind the exploding explosions that devastated hiroshima and nagasaki , forcing a reluctant japan to armistice . ortega later returned to the us usa in october 1945 , the eldest of five brothers to return back from the fighting . a seventh died in action .
Americans used atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.