Colonel Virgilio N. Cordero, Jr. (1893–1980) was the battalion commander of the 31st Infantry Regiment on December 8, 1941, when Japanese planes attacked the U.S. military installations in the Philippines. Cordero and his men underwent brutal torture and humiliation during the Bataan Death March and nearly four years of captivity. Cordero was one of nearly 1,600 members of the 31st Infantry who were taken as prisoners. Half of these men perished while prisoners of the Japanese forces. After Cordero gained his freedom when the Allied troops defeated the Japanese he returned to the United States. Cordero, who retired with the rank of brigadier general, wrote about his experiences as a prisoner of war and what he went through during the Bataan Death March. He authored "My Experiences during the War with Japan", which was published in 1950. In 1957, he authored a revised Spanish version titled "Bataan y la Marcha de la Muerte"; Volume 7 of "Colección Vida e Historia".