Characters / Bataan

The American Soldiers

In General

• 13 Is Unlucky: There's 13 of them against hundreds of Japanese soldiers. And they're all dead by the end of the film.
• Dwindling Party: Each of the soldiers is picked off one-by-one by the Japanese Army and other factors.
• Hold the Line: Their task is to keep the Japanese from crossing a ravine until the U.S. army can regroup.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: They're American soldiers from all walks of life who are separated from their various commands and cobbled together as a rear guard to Hold the Line against the Japanese Army.

Captain Henry Lassiter

Captain Henry Lassiter, 26th Cavalry

Played By: Lee Bowman

A West Point grad who is put in charge of the rearguard.

• Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough: He's a fresh-faced West Point grad while his subordinate Bill Dane is a gruff acting Sergeant Rock.
• Decoy Protagonist: Looks as if he will be The Leader or at least Reasonable Authority Figure for the main characters, only to be the first to die.
• Straight for the Commander: He is the first soldier to die.
• Wartime Wedding: He was married to a nurse shortly before his death.

Sergeant Bill Dane

Sergeant Bill Dane, 31st Infantry

Played By: Robert Taylor

A sergeant who is placed as second-in-command under Lassiter.

• Dark and Troubled Past: His past with Danny Burns, who escaped while under his guard leading to Dane's disgrace.
• Perma-Stubble: Has a perpetually unshaven look about him, which doesn't change even though weeks go by.
• Sergeant Rock: He's tough as nails and serves as leader for most of the film.
• Uncertain Doom: He's last seen firing away at Japanese soldiers while surrounded on all sides.
• You Are in Command Now: Twice over; he's put in command after Lassiter is killed, and Lt. Bentley defers to him because his piloting skills aren't what's needed.

Corporal Jake Feingold

Corporal Jake Feingold, 4th Chemical Company, Chemical Corps

Played By: Thomas Mitchell

Dane's closest friend and companion.

• The Drifter: Feingold mentions that he's been passed from company to company and wants to stick to one unit for a change, likening it to being an orphan.
• The Lancer: To Dane as his best friend.
• Multiple Gunshot Death: Riddled with bullets from a Japanese machine gunner.
• Sacrificial Lion: The first to be killed in the final battle.
• Time-Delayed Death: Gets mowed down by Japanese machine guns, but doesn't die until the battle has started to die down and he staggers into view only to drop dead.

Corporal Barney Todd

Corporal Barney Todd, Signalman attached to the 26th Cavalry

Played By: Lloyd Nolan

A shifty soldier who appears to be a signalman.

• Actually, I Am Him: Confesses to being Danny Burns while dying from his wounds.
• Combat Pragmatist: None of the soldiers fight fair, but Todd takes it up a notch by using a dead Japanese soldier as a dummy, putting his helmet on the man's head and having a machine gunner focus attention on the helmet while Todd sneaks around and blows him up with a grenade.
• Have We Met?: Dane has a sneaking suspicion that Todd is a man named Danny Burns who committed a murder at a barracks where Dane was stationed and escaped while under Dane's watch. These suspicions intensify when Dane sees Todd throw grenades left-handed and recalls that Burns threw left-handed.
• In the Back: Stabbed in the back by a Japanese soldier who pretended to be dead.
• Jerkass: Todd is an unpleasant bully who clashes with everyone else, especially Purckett and Hardy.

Seaman Leonard Purckett

Seaman Leonard Purckett, Musician Second Class

Played By: Robert Walker

A young, bright-faced seaman.

• In the Back: Shot in the back by a Japanese sniper as the Final Battle winds down.
• New Meat: The youngest of the men in the rear guard.
• Oral Fixation: Purckett is a gum-chewer. When Ramirez tells him to save it, Purckett replies that he brought plenty of it.
• Sole Survivor: Purckett was the only survivor on his ship when it was sunk; he only survived because he was the best swimmer.

Lieutenant Steve Bentley

Lieutenant Steve Bentley, United States Army Air Corps

Played By: George Murphy

An army pilot with a downed plane he's trying to repair.

• Crippling Overspecialization: After Lassiter's death, Bentley, as a Lieutenant, is the highest ranking officer but defers to Dane because he's not trained to lead.
• Heroic Suicide: Mortally wounded shortly after fixing the plane, Bentley loads the plane up with dynamite and flies it into the bridge to stall the Japanese one more time.
• Secret-Keeper: Was one of the few who knew that Captain Lassiter was recently married.

Private Wesley Epps

Private Wesley Epps, 3rd Engineer Battalion, Corps of Engineers

Played By: Kenneth Spencer

A black demolitions expert.

• Black Dude Dies First: Downplayed; Epps makes it all the way to the Final Battle but is the first to die there.

• Off with His Head!: Partially decapitated by a Japanese officer during the Final Battle.

Private Matthew Hardy

Private Matthew Hardy, 12th Medical Battalion, Medical Corps

Played By: Phillip Terry

A Conscientious Objector in the Medical Corps.

• Determinator: Despite being close to death from fever and getting shot by Japanese soldiers, he manages to finish loading up Bentley's plane with dynamite for his suicide run. He succumbs just after Bentley crashes.
• The Medic: His role is to treat the squad members for ailments.