 It was called a death march, not because of how many died. Of the 12,000 Americans, only about 1700 lived to come home. But they called it a death march because of the way they died. If you stopped on the road, you were killed. If you had a malaria attack, they killed you. If you had a stop to defecate, they killed you. If you just couldn't take another step, they killed you. And how did they kill you? They'd either bayonet you to death, shoot you, or in some cases, decapitate you. They did not give us water. They gave us no food. The temperature was about 108 degrees. The Americans that were captured, a good 80% of them had malaria. Another 50% had dysentery. So we were gunshot wounds, malaria, dysentery. And we had to walk this distance that they wanted us to. Under these conditions, it was unbearable. I think that what kept me going was about the second day. I made the decision that the only way I was going to survive was if I started to set goals for myself. And I would walk and I would see a herder caribou in the distance. And I would say to myself, I must get to that herder caribou. I didn't know where they were. I didn't know how far they were. I didn't know how many days it was going to take me or how many hours. But I made every effort to get to that herder caribou. No matter what happened, the Japanese told me to smile. I did. They told me to sit. I sat. They told me to march. I marched. They hit me. It was okay. They broke my nose. They knocked my teeth out. They split my head open. But I still had to go to reach those herder caribou. Then when I got to the herder caribou, then I'd find another goal, and another goal, and another goal. Every day was another goal. From that day on, I've lived my whole life that way. And those people who hold on to a grudge, I think have a very different philosophy of life. And that's how they live. By not holding on to a grudge, by being able to roll with the punch, I think it's a lot easier to live. My life is a lot happier, because I've learned how to adjust to adversities and how to deal with it. The disabled American veterans, I'm a lifetime member. I believe that they are an organization that spells out clearly what their goals are. You know, disabled American veterans doesn't mean that you have to be disabled with the loss of a limb. You could be disabled other ways. And I do believe that every man that came back from Bhutan are disabled in some manner, either mentally, emotionally, through physical attributes. I think we're all a member of the DAV in one way or the other. If we're not, we certainly should be. But the DAV was very kind to me in many ways. And I'm very appreciative of that.