bobdina
08-17-2010, 09:01 AM
Bataan Death March survivor from Chesapeake dies at 89
Posted to: Chesapeake Military Obituaries
By Lauren King
The Virginian-Pilot
© August 17, 2010
David "Top" Topping, a Bataan Death March survivor who lived in Chesapeake, died Friday. He was 89.
Originally from South Norfolk, Topping was one of about 20 World War II prisoners of war who met at Bunny's Restaurant in Suffolk for more than 30 years. There they swapped stories with people who understood the hell they experienced at the hands of their captors and knew what it took to survive so many years later. Topping was the last member of the group who had survived the Death March.
Donna House of Virginia Beach has attended the monthly breakfasts for about 15 years. She said that in her first few years, the tables were always full.
Women sat on one side and men on the other. She always tried to sit between the two groups so she could hear all the stories being told.
"The guys would talk among themselves," she said. "You had to quietly sit on the edge to hear what they had to say."
Topping was one of the quietest, she said.
A retired Army Air Corps enlisted man, he was imprisoned on the Bataan peninsula. He was one of 75,000 men handed over to the Japanese in the single largest surrender of a military force in American history. They made a 65-mile trek to prison camps. Topping said he weighed as little as 75 pounds at the camps. In the early stages, it was not uncommon for 60 to 80 people to die daily.
Topping described his most wretched days as after Japan pulled out of the Philippines and moved POWs to "hell ships." Stuffed into the hold with more than 1,000 other prisoners, he was aboard for 40 days, listening to the pinging of U.S. submarines and Allied planes searching for targets. He saw 39 prisoners die.
Even 60 years later, he had difficulty explaining the experience.
"You just can't describe it," he told The Pilot in 2006. "Some of us made out pretty good, and some of us didn't."
After being liberated in 1945, Topping returned to South Norfolk, married Margie Lee Dillon and raised two children. The couple were married for 60 years.
After his memorial service this morning, his family and friends - including the last World War II veteran regular, M. "Turk" Turner - will gather at Bunny's Restaurant, House said.
"When I started, it was full tables," she said. "Now it's down to one."
http://hamptonroads.com/2010/08/bataan-death-march-survivor-chesapeake-dies-89
Posted to: Chesapeake Military Obituaries
By Lauren King
The Virginian-Pilot
© August 17, 2010
David "Top" Topping, a Bataan Death March survivor who lived in Chesapeake, died Friday. He was 89.
Originally from South Norfolk, Topping was one of about 20 World War II prisoners of war who met at Bunny's Restaurant in Suffolk for more than 30 years. There they swapped stories with people who understood the hell they experienced at the hands of their captors and knew what it took to survive so many years later. Topping was the last member of the group who had survived the Death March.
Donna House of Virginia Beach has attended the monthly breakfasts for about 15 years. She said that in her first few years, the tables were always full.
Women sat on one side and men on the other. She always tried to sit between the two groups so she could hear all the stories being told.
"The guys would talk among themselves," she said. "You had to quietly sit on the edge to hear what they had to say."
Topping was one of the quietest, she said.
A retired Army Air Corps enlisted man, he was imprisoned on the Bataan peninsula. He was one of 75,000 men handed over to the Japanese in the single largest surrender of a military force in American history. They made a 65-mile trek to prison camps. Topping said he weighed as little as 75 pounds at the camps. In the early stages, it was not uncommon for 60 to 80 people to die daily.
Topping described his most wretched days as after Japan pulled out of the Philippines and moved POWs to "hell ships." Stuffed into the hold with more than 1,000 other prisoners, he was aboard for 40 days, listening to the pinging of U.S. submarines and Allied planes searching for targets. He saw 39 prisoners die.
Even 60 years later, he had difficulty explaining the experience.
"You just can't describe it," he told The Pilot in 2006. "Some of us made out pretty good, and some of us didn't."
After being liberated in 1945, Topping returned to South Norfolk, married Margie Lee Dillon and raised two children. The couple were married for 60 years.
After his memorial service this morning, his family and friends - including the last World War II veteran regular, M. "Turk" Turner - will gather at Bunny's Restaurant, House said.
"When I started, it was full tables," she said. "Now it's down to one."
http://hamptonroads.com/2010/08/bataan-death-march-survivor-chesapeake-dies-89