'Ghosts of Bataan' to Air August 11 on the Discovery Channel; Winnercomm Documentary Tied to Miramax Release of 'The Great Raid'

'Ghosts of Bataan' to Air August 11 on the Discovery Channel; Winnercomm Documentary Tied to Miramax Release of 'The Great Raid'

TULSA, Okla., Aug. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Bataan Death March survivor Major Richard M. Gordon wrote, "If we leave nothing else behind us when we leave this earth, let us at least leave behind the truth that was Bataan." Gordon, a member of the "Battling Bastards of Bataan" who died in 2003, was a central figure in the production of a Winnercomm documentary that movingly presents the truth through interviews with survivors, their families, Japanese soldiers and U.S. and Japanese military historians and authors in a one-hour special called Ghosts of Bataan that will debut on Thursday, August 11, at 9 p.m. ET on The Discovery Channel.

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Ghosts of Bataan is being released in conjunction with the August 12 theatrical release of "The Great Raid", a Miramax film that focuses on the daring and remarkable rescue mission by U.S. Army Rangers of over 500 U.S. Bataan Death March survivors languishing in the hellish Japanese POW camp at Cabanatuan at the end of World War II. Mark Consuelos, one of the stars of the Miramax film, narrates Ghosts of Bataan.

"Ghosts of Bataan is the first project Winnercomm produced without any idea of where it would find a home," said Winnercomm's Tim Cremin, who partnered with Winnercomm producer Chip Rives to write, produce and edit the documentary. "It was done purely on the merit of the story and the sense of duty we felt to the Battling Bastards of Bataan and their families to reveal the nature of the horrendous experiences these soldiers endured and then lived daily as survivors -- a story that has yet to be fully told until now."

Winnercomm began the project in 2002 after Cremin and Rives read "Ghost Soldiers" by Hampton Sides, which recounts the rescue of 500 American and Allied POWs from Cabanatuan prison camp on the Philippine island of Luzon. Originally intended as an educational film for the University of New Mexico, Cremin and Rives soon realized that this was a story that begged for a wider audience. Thus began what they refer to as their "labor of love", a journey that would take them all over the world and result in a supporting library of 300 source tapes and over 200 hours of material.

In April of 2002, Cremin and Rives traveled to the Philippines with 12 Death March survivors and their families; the resulting footage provides a haunting narrative of the atrocities endured by the American and Filipino soldiers as they journeyed from the initial surrender to the prison camps to the "hell ships" that would end in their enslavement or death at sea. It is estimated that more than 40,000 American and Filipino soldiers met a brutal death from the time of the surrender on Bataan in April of 1942 until the war's end in 1945. The documentary also chronicles the ultimate liberation of Bataan and the return home of the survivors, many of whom rarely spoke of their experiences until now.

In 2004, Cremin heard about the filming of "The Great Raid" and sent the original documentary to Marty Katz, who was producing that film for Miramax. "Marty called me the next day, said he loved it and was showing it to John Dahl, the director of 'The Great Raid', who was also very positive," said Cremin. "This led to some great collaboration in terms of getting it in front of The Discovery Channel, which ensures that the wider audience we wanted to get for this story of incredible courage and sacrifice will be there."

Cremin edited the original 56-minute Ghosts of Bataan documentary to a special 43-minute version for The Discovery Channel. That special version will run at 9 p.m. and again at midnight ET on The Discovery Channel on Thursday, August 11. It will also air on The Military Channel on August 11 at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET and on August 12 at 4 a.m., 7 a.m., noon and 3 p.m. ET.

"The true payoff for us is that these men, many of whom are no longer with us, will finally have their stories told," said Cremin. "Many of the men who were surrendered on Bataan may have lost their lives but they never surrendered their sacred honor and we hope that, in some small way, our documentary will restore their sacrifice to the recorded history of that horrible time."

Based in Tulsa, Winnercomm, Inc. is one of America's largest independent sports production, program development, marketing services and sales company. Winner of 12 Emmy Awards, Winnercomm produces over 1,000 hours of programming annually for ESPN and 13 other national networks.

Media contact: Lynda Haschke at 972-740-3529 or Lynda@LyndaHaschke.com

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Source: Winnercomm, Inc.

CONTACT: Lynda Haschke, +1-972-740-3529, or Lynda@LyndaHaschke.com , for
Winnercomm, Inc.

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