Born: 17 September 1917 - Vinita,
Oklahoma
Parents: Charles W.
& Winifred Woodson
Siblings: 1 brother
Hometown:
Vinita, Oklahoma
Education:
- University of
Oklahoma
- Bachelors Degree - Electrical Engineering
- ROTC
- joined to
earn extra money
Occupation:
- Electrical Engineer -
Southwestern Light & Power Company, Lawton,
Oklahoma
Inducted:
- April 1941
- Fort
Sill, Lawton, Oklahoma
Unit:
- 19th Ordnance
Battalion
- trained with
1st Armor Division
- 17th Ordnance Company
- created from
one company of 19th Ordnance
Training:
- Ft. Knox, Kentucky
- 19th
Ordnance Battalion
- learned maintenance on 57
different vehicles
- trained on gun maintenance
- 17th
Ordnance Company
- August 1941 - created from one
company of 19th Ordnance
- received orders for overseas
duty
Note: The decision for this move - which had
been made on August 15, 1941 - was the result of an
event that took place in the summer of 1941. A
squadron of American fighters was flying over
Lingayen Gulf, in the Philippines, when one of the
pilots, who was flying at a lower altitude, noticed
something odd. He took his plane down and
identified a flagged buoy in the water and saw
another in the distance. He came upon more
buoys that lined up, in a straight line for 30 miles
to the northwest, in the direction of an Japanese
occupied island which was hundred of miles
away. The island had a large radio
transmitter. The squadron continued its flight
plan south to Mariveles and returned to Clark Field.
When the planes landed, it
was too late to do anything that day. The next
day, when another squadron was sent to the area, the
buoys had been picked up by a fishing boat - with a
tarp on its deck - which was seen making its way to
shore. Since communication between the Air
Corps and Navy was difficult, the boat
escaped. It was at that time the decision was
made to build up the American military presence in
the Philippines.
Overseas Duty:
-
traveled by train to Ft. Mason, San Francisco,
California
- company learned they were going
to the Philippines on the train
- rode in the
cupola of the caboose
- arrived Thursday, 5 September 1941
- ferried
to Ft. McDowell, Angel Island on U.S.A.T.
General Frank M. Coxe
- given physicals and inoculations
- men with medical conditions replaced
- removed
turrets from tanks of the 194th Tank Battalion
- Ship: U.S.S.
President Coolidge
-
Boarded: Monday - 8 September 1941 - 3:00 P.M.
- Sailed:
9:00 P.M. - same day
- officers had
a suite
- meals were
civilian meals
- ship had
just been converted for military use
- Arrived: Honolulu, Hawaii - Saturday - 13
September 1941 - 7:00 A.M.
- swam at
Wiikaki Beach
- toured the
island
- Sailed:
5:00 P.M. - same day
- escorted by the heavy cruiser, U.S.S. Astoria,
and an unknown destroyer
- during
voyage the ships operated as if they were at war
- no lights were allowed at night
- smoke seen on horizon several times
- cruiser intercepted ships
- ships were
from friendly countries
- never
celebrated his birthday
- Tuesday - 16 September 1941 -
ship crossed International Dateline
- went to bed, when he woke up it
was Thursday, 18 September 1941
- his birthday
had been skipped
-
Arrived: Manila - Friday - 26 September 1941
- disembark ship - 3:00 P.M.
- taken by bus to Fort Stostenburg
- maintenance section with 17th ordnance remained
behind to unload the tanks and attached turrets
- slept on ship that night
- 27 September 1941 - job completed at 9:00 A.M.
Stationed:
- Ft. Stotsenburg, Philippine
Islands
- lived
in tents until barracks completed - 15 November 1941
- officers
were assigned to 2 men tents
- first night in tents it rained
and area flooded
Engagements:
- Battle of Luzon
- 8
December 1942 - 6 January 1942
- 8 December 1942 - lived through Japanese attack on
Clark Field
- Jack was at breakfast when they
heard the news about Pearl Harbor on a radio on his
table
- ate
breakfast and went bivouac
- no maps
- someone went
Manila and bought road maps
- on the map
they saw a bamboo thicket they could disperse
vehicles
- company set
up bivouac
- set up machine shop trucks,
half-tracks, and trucks
- received orders to return to
Ft. Stotsenburg
12:45 P.M. - Japanese attacked
- manned a .50
caliber machine gun a
- was about to fire when his
commanding officer ordered him not to
- said the planes were Filipino
- none of the soldiers had been
trained in plane recognition
- Battle of Bataan
- 7
January 1942 - 9 April 1942
- serviced tanks of the Provisional Tank Group
- company headquarters was housed in ordnance depot
building
- building had been completed empty of ordnance
- heard President Roosevelt on
radio
It was at this time that the tank battalion
commanders received this order,
"You will make plans, to be communicated to
company commanders only, and be prepared to
destroy within one hour after receipt by radio,
or other means, of the word 'CRASH', all tanks
and combat vehicles, arms, ammunition, gas, and
radios: reserving sufficient trucks to close to
rear echelons as soon as accomplished."
- 10:30 P.M. - Gen. Edward P. King announced that
further resistance would result the massacre of
6,000 sick or wounded and 40,000
civilians
- less than 25% of his troops were healthy enough to
continue fighting
- he estimated they could hold out one more day
- sent his staff officers to negotiate the surrender
of Bataan
- 11:40 P.M. - ammunition dumps blown up
Prisoner of
War:
- 9 April 1942
- men
received word of the surrender from Capt. Richard
Kadel
-
prepared a meal with all their remaining food
- moved
to a pass and waited for the Japanese
- while there, they were strafed and bombed by
Japanese planes
- 10 April 1941
- Death March
- POWs start march at Mariveles at southern tip of
Bataan
- remained there for half a day
before they started march
- Japanese told them to sit at
one point
- they were in
front of Japanese artillery firing on Corregidor
- American artillery returned
fire
- Filipinos threw them ball of
rice as they passed through barrios
- one was
shot at by Japanese
- saw a Japanese soldier put
the barrow of his gun under a Filipino child being
held by his father
- guard
pulled the trigger
- POWs not fed for days
- San Fernando
- POWs packed into small wooden boxcars used to
haul sugarcane
- each boxcar could hold 40 men or eight horses
- Japanese packed 100 POWs into each boxcar
- POWs who died remained standing
- Capas
- POWs left boxcars
- dead fall to floor
- POWs walked the last ten miles to Camp
O'Donnell
POW Camps:
- Philippine Islands:
- Camp O'Donnell
- 1 April 1942 - unfinished Filipino training
base Japanese put into use as a POW camp
- Japanese believed the camp could hold 15,000
to 20,000 POWs
- POWs searched upon arrival at camp
- those found with Japanese money were accused
of looting
- sent to guardhouse
- over several days, gun shots heard southeast
of the camp
- POWs who had money on them had been executed
- Japanese took away any extra clothing from
POWs as they entered the camp and refused to
return it
- since no water was available for wash
clothing, the POWs threw soiled clothing away
- clothing was taken from dead
- few of the POWs in the camp hospital had
clothing
- POWs were not allowed to bathe
- only one water spigot for entire camp
- POWs waited 2½ hours to 8 hours to get a drink
- water frequently turned off by Japanese guards
and next man in line waited as long as 4 hours
for water to be turned on again
- mess kits could not be cleaned
- POWs had to carry water 3 miles from a river
to cook their meals
- second water spigot installed a week after
POWs arrived
- slit trenches overflowed since many of the
POWs had dysentery
- flies were everywhere including in camp
kitchens and food
- camp hospital had no water, soap, or
disinfectant
- the senior POW doctor wrote a list of
medicines he wanted to treat the sick and was
told by the camp commandant, Capt. Yoshio
Tsuneyoshi, never to write another letter
- Tsuneyoshi said that all he wanted to know
about the American POWs was their names and
numbers when they died
- refused to allow a truckload of medicine sent
by the Archbishop of Manila into the camp
- 95% of the medicine sent by Philippine Red
Cross was taken by the Japanese for their own
use
- POWs in camp hospital lay on floor elbow to
elbow
- operations on POWs were performed with mess
kit knives
- only one medic out of six assigned to care for
50 sick POWs, in the hospital, was well enough
to work
- as many as 50 POWs died each day
- each morning dead were found everywhere in the
camp and stacked up under the hospital
- ground under hospital was scrapped and covered
with lime to clean it
- the dead were moved to this area and the
section where they had laid was scrapped and
covered with lime
- usually not buried for two or three days
- work details: if a POW could walk, he was sent
out on a work detail
- POWs on burial detail often had dysentery and
malaria
- Japanese opened new POW camp to lower death
rate
- 1 June 1942 - POWs formed detachments of 100
men
- POWs marched out gate and marched toward Capas
- Filipino people gave POWs small bundles of
food
- the guards did not stop them
- At Capas, the POWs were put into steel boxcars
and rode them to Manila
- train stopped at Calumpit and switched onto
the line to Cabanatuan
- POWs disembark train at 6:00 P.M. and put into
a school yard
- fed rice and onion
soup
- Cabanatuan #1
- original name - Camp Panagaian
- Philippine Army Base built for 91st Philippine
Army Division
- put into use by Japanese as a POW camp
- actually three camps
- Camp 1: POWs from Camp O'Donnell sent there in
attempt to lower death rate
- Camp 2: two miles away
- all POWs moved from there because of a lack of
water
- later used for Naval POWs
- Camp 3: six miles from Camp 2
- POWs from Corregidor and from hospitals sent
there
- camp created to keep Corregidor POWs separated
from Bataan POWs
- Corregidor POWs were in better shape
- POWs from Camp 3 consolidated into Camp 1
- Camp Administration:
- the Japanese left POWs to run the camp on
their own
- Japanese entered camp when they had a reason
- POWs patrolled fence to prevent escapes
- Note: men who attempted to escape were
recaptured
- Japanese beat them for days
- executed them
- Blood Brother Rule
- POWs put into groups of ten
- if one escaped the others would be executed
- housed in same barracks
- worked on details together
-
Barracks:
- each barracks held 50 men
- often held between 60 and 120 men
- slept on bamboo slats without mattresses,
covers, and mosquito netting
- diseases spread easily
- no showers
-
Morning Roll Call:
- stood at attention
- frequently beaten over their heads for no
reason
- when POWs lined up for roll call, it was a
common practice for Japanese guards, after the
POWs lined up, to kick the POWs in
their shins with their hobnailed boots because
they didn't like the way the POWs lined up
-
Work Details:
- Two main details
- the farm and airfield
- farm detail
- POWs cleared land and grew comotes, cassava,
taro, sesame, and various greens
- Japanese took what was grown
- Guards:
- Big Speedo - spoke little English
- in charge of detail
- fair in treatment of POWs
- spoke little English
- to get POWs to work faster said, "speedo"
- Little Speedo
- also used "speedo"
when he wanted POWs to work faster
- fair in treatment of POWs
- Smiley
- always smiling
- could not be trusted
- meanest of guards
-
Airfield Detail:
- Japanese built an airfield for fighters
- POWs cut grass, removed dirt, and leveled
ground
- at first moved dirt in wheel barrows
- later pushed mining cars
- Guards:
- Air Raid
- in charge
- usually fair but unpredictable
- had to watch him
- Donald Duck
- always talking
- sounded like the cartoon character
- unpredictable - beat POWs
- POWs told him that Donald Duck was a big
American movie star
- at some point, he saw a Donald Duck cartoon
- POWs stayed away from him when he came back to
camp
- Work Day: 7:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
- worked 6 days a week
- had Sunday off
-
Other Details:
- work details sent out to cut wood for POW
kitchens and plant rice
- they also were
frequently hit with a pick handle, for no
reason, as they counted off
- POWs on the rice planting detail were punished
by having their faces pushed into the mud and
stepped on
- the POWs had to go into a shed to get the
tools, as they came out, they were hit on their
heads
- if the
guards on the detail decided the POW wasn't
doing what he should be doing, he was beaten
- many POWs on details were able
to smuggle in medicine, food, and tobacco into
the camp
-
Meals:
- 16 ounces of cooked rice, 4 ounces of
vegetable oil, sweet potato or corn
- rice was main staple, few vegetables or fruits
-
Camp Hospital:
- 30 Wards
- each ward could hold 40 men
- frequently had 100 men in each
- two tiers of bunks
- sickest POWs on bottom tier
- each POW had a 2 foot by 6 foot area to lie in
- hospitalized - 30 March 1943 - malaria
- discharged -no date given
- Zero Ward
- given name because it had been missed when
counting wards
- became ward where those who were going to die
were sent
- fenced off from other wards
- Japanese guards would not go near it
- POWs sent there had little to no chance of
surviving
- medical staff had little to no medicine to
treat sick
- many deaths from disease caused by
malnutrition
-
Burial Detail:
- POWs worked in teams of four men to bury dead
- carried as many as six dead POWs in slings to
cemetery
- buried in graves that contained 16 to 20
bodies
Hell Ship:
- Coral Maru
- also known as Taga Maru
- Sailed: Manila - 20
September 1943
- Arrived: Takao, Formosa - 23
September 1943
- Sailed: Takao - 26 September 1943
- Arrived: Moji, Japan - 5 October 1943
POW Camps:
- Japan:
- Tsumori
Camp
- 9 October 1943 - arrived at
camp
- 22 March
1945
- Japanese found a hidden
radio in a barracks
- 13 officers and 6 enlisted
men forced to stand at rigid attention for hours
- beaten
with clubs until knocked down
- ordered
to stand at attention again
- beaten
again until they were knocked down again
- forced
to kneel on bamboo poles
- upper
part of their bodies had to be rigidly erect
- as they knelt they were
slapped in the face
- Jack was mentioned as one
of the POWs beaten
- after
the war when he gave testimony, he never
mentioned that he was beaten
- Red Cross packages
appropriated by Japanese
- 30 March 1945 - transferred
-
Oeyama
Camp #3D
- Work: nickel refinery
- mines located almost six miles from camp
- POWs extracted ore with picks and shovels
loaded ore into ore car and pushed it to a railroad
track that ran past mine
- often worked in snow as deep as six feet
- POWs also worked on Miyazu docks
- stole food meant for Japanese Army
- Collective Punishment
- if a POW broke a rule all POWs in his work
detachment or the camp were punished
- 12 POWs were accused of stealing rice while at the
docks
- stood at attention for two hours
- forced to swallow rope which caused them to vomit
- Japanese found no rice
- fed the POWs rice and let them go to their
barracks
- at times entire camp was made to stand at
attention because a rule was broken by one POW
- Red Cross packages withheld from POWs
- Japanese appropriated packages for canned meats,
canned milk, butter, chocolate, and cigarettes
- Japanese also use clothes and shoes meant for POWs
- 30 July 1945 - air raid
- B-29s heavy bomb the the nearby port town on
Miyazu on west coast of island
- bombing runs went over camp
- POWs working on docks made to work through air
raid
- two POWs accidentally killed
- one guard told POWs they would be killed if
Americans invaded Japan
- two weeks later major attack on Miyazu
- lasted all night until noon the next days
- POWs not in mine witnessed the
atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki
- told those
POWs who were in the mine what they had seen
Liberated:
2 September 1945
- 10 September 1945
- arrived at Yokohama Docks and
boarded transport on the same day
- returned to the Philippine
Islands
Transport:
- U.S.S.
Storm King
- Sailed: Manila - not known
- Arrived: San Francisco - 15
October 1945
- taken to
Letterman General Hospital
Wife:
Margaret
Children:
1 daughter, 1 son
Residence:
- Lee's Summit, Missouri
- Independence, Missouri
Died:
-
2 March 2011 - Independence, Missouri
Buried:
- Longview Memorial Garden - Kansas City,
Missouri
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