The ability of the men on Bataan to fight could not be measured by physical standards alone. Where all men bore the signs of enforced privation and suffering, there was no question of separating the fit from the unfit. Only necessity and the will to fight could give meaning to the tactical dispositions assumed by the troops.

The Japanese knew this and made crude attempts to corrupt the spirit of resistance. Flying low over Bataan, their aircraft often dropped propaganda leaflets instead of bombs on the Americans and Filipinos below. These leaflets appealed to the basest emotions: race prejudice, jealousy, hate, avarice, and deceit. Some were designed to induce the desertion of the Filipinos; others pointed out that the pay of the Philippine Army troops would be worthless in the future. "Take my word you are exposing your life in danger without any remuneration," declared one handbill. "There is nothing so pointless." The life of the Filipino under the Japanese occupation was painted in glowing colors. "I am enjoying life as a Filipino of the New Philippines," said a former Philippine soldier in one of the leaflets. "Throw away your arms and surrender yourself to the Japanese Army," proclaimed another handbill, "in order to save your lives and enrich your beautiful future and the welfare of your children."

MacArthur's departure was also exploited by the Japanese in their effort to create dissatisfaction. Some leaflets exploited the theme of starvation, and one pictured Corregidor entirely surrounded by heaping plates of turkey, meat, fruit, cake, and bottles of whiskey and wine. Other illustrated leaflets dwelt on the theme of sex and crudely pictured the soldier's wife in the arms of a war profiteer. So far as is known the effect of these propaganda sheets was negligible. Some men made a hobby of collecting them, and exchanged duplicates to fill out their collections. "Majors Poole, Crane, and Holmes got me some," exulted Col. Ray M. O'Day, "including the red and white ribbon streamers attached to the beer cans and addressed to General Wainwright." This acquisition was particularly prized for it contained a demand for Wainwright's surrender.

Japanese radio propaganda was more effective than the leaflets. The Japanese-controlled Station KZRH in Manila broadcast a special program for American soldiers every night at 2145. The program was much like that presented by Tokyo Rose, to whom so many American soldiers listened at a later period of the war. The theme song of the program was "Ships That Never Come In," followed by popular recordings calculated to make the men homesick. "The damned Nips," wrote Major Tisdelle, "have got a new propaganda program that does not help our morale any. The men joke happily, but underneath they are disquieted."