World War II Medal of Honor Recipient. Served as a First Lieutenant and Captain, U.S. Army, 45th Infantry, Philippine Scouts. On February 3, 1942, near Bagac, Province of Bataan, Philippine Islands he led his platoon forward against two enemy machinegun nests. When wounded early in the action he did not stop for aid but discarded his rifle and began firing a pistol. He located the first machinegun nest and personally silenced it with grenades. When wounded the second time by machinegun fire to the chest, he climbed to the top of an American tank, manned its machinegun and fired into the second enemy position. A third wound knocked him completely off the tank but his actions succeeded in the Japanese position to be captured by infantrymen with minimal effort. He was captured with the main forces in the fall of Bataan on April 9, 1942 and was in many prisoner of war camps in the years to follow. He was part of the last shipment of POWs from the Philippines to Japan that left Manila on December 14, 1944. He survived the bombing of the Hellship Oryoku Maru the next day only to die on the second Hellship, the Enoura Maru, docked in Takao Harbor, Formosa. The ship was bombed by American planes off of the USS Hornet. He was one of the few bodies identified after the 400-some men who died aboard the ships were disinterred in 1946. The rest of bodies are buried in graves marked "Unknowns" in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii.
World War II Medal of Honor Recipient. Served as a First Lieutenant and Captain, U.S. Army, 45th Infantry, Philippine Scouts. On February 3, 1942, near Bagac, Province of Bataan, Philippine Islands he led his platoon forward against two enemy machinegun nests. When wounded early in the action he did not stop for aid but discarded his rifle and began firing a pistol. He located the first machinegun nest and personally silenced it with grenades. When wounded the second time by machinegun fire to the chest, he climbed to the top of an American tank, manned its machinegun and fired into the second enemy position. A third wound knocked him completely off the tank but his actions succeeded in the Japanese position to be captured by infantrymen with minimal effort. He was captured with the main forces in the fall of Bataan on April 9, 1942 and was in many prisoner of war camps in the years to follow. He was part of the last shipment of POWs from the Philippines to Japan that left Manila on December 14, 1944. He survived the bombing of the Hellship Oryoku Maru the next day only to die on the second Hellship, the Enoura Maru, docked in Takao Harbor, Formosa. The ship was bombed by American planes off of the USS Hornet. He was one of the few bodies identified after the 400-some men who died aboard the ships were disinterred in 1946. The rest of bodies are buried in graves marked "Unknowns" in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii.
Bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith
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Medal of Honor
CPT US Army
World War II
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