Grady, Capt. Francis J.

Born: 20 February 1913 – Oak Park, Illinois
Parents: Emma Seroscheim-Grady & Frank A. Grady
Siblings: 1 sister
Nickname: Frank
Home: 1619 West Saint Charles Road- Maywood, Illinois
Education:
– Proviso Township High School – Class of 1931
Military:
– Illinois National Guard
– Enlisted: 10 February 1931
– Discharged: 9 February 1934
– U.S. Army Air Corps:
– Enlisted: 25 June 1934
Serial Number: O&398741
Overseas Duty:
– Philippine Islands – 1937
– 228th Signal Operations
– cryptographer
– Commissioned: Second Lieutenant – 27 September 1940
– Promoted: First Lieutenant – 19 December 1941
– Promoted: Captain – 1942
– Corregidor – 1942
– handled all the messages between Gen. Douglas MacArthur and the Philippines headquarters
– handled all the messages between President Franklin Roosevelt and Gen Jonathan Wainwright
Married:
– Huntley Virginia Easterling – 16 March 1939 – Manila, Philippine Islands
Note: His wife became a POW when the PBY she was on hit something, in the water, after landing at Mindanao. The plane was carrying 23 passengers to Australia from Corregidor. She was interred at Impalutao, Davao, and Los Banos.
Prisoner of War:
– 6 May 1942
POW Camps:
– Philippine Islands
– Cabanatuan
– Bilibid Prison
Hell Ship:
– Unknown Ship
– one of only three POWs on the ship
– POWs bunked with Japanese soldiers
– Sailed: Manila – January 1943
– Arrived: Takao, Formosa
– Sailed: 24 January 1943
– Arrived: 29 January 1943
Arrived: Moji, Japan
– rode a train to Tokyo
POW Camp:
– Japan
– Yokohama #1D
– POWs:
– approximately 500 POWs in the camp
– Work:
– POWs worked at Mitsubishi Shipyards
– POWs walked three miles to shipyard and back
– Hospital
– no medical supplies to treat sick
– most of the POWs died from pneumonia
Note: The camp commander and civilian guards raider the Red Cross Packages for themselves
– October 1944 – POWs see first American bombers
– Sendai #5
– POWs worked at a steel mill
– 15 July 1945 – Americans bombard the area around the camp
– five POWs and many Japanese were killed when an air raid shelter took a direct hit
– 9 August 1945 – area bombed again
– steel mill destroyed
– Japanese ammunition dump hit
– the explosion took out many of the Japanese guns
– POW barracks were set on fire
– 28 POWs killed
Liberated:
– 15 September 1945
Military Career:
– Promoted:
– Major
– Colonel
Retired: 31 July 1961
Residence: Aurora, Colorado
Children: Two daughters
– from first marriage
Divorced: 1972
Married:
– Elizabeth Steinmetz-Priest – 1972
Residence:
– Denver, Colorado
Died:
– 4 May 1991 – Denver, Colorado
Buried:
– Fairmount Cemetery – Denver, Colorado