Joseph A. Owens
Service # 6232988
Rank: Staff Sergeant, U. S. Army Air Forces
Unit: 27th Materiel Squadron, 20th Air Base Group
Entered Service From: Pennsylvania
Date of Death: 28 July 1942, of dysentery in the Japanese POW Camp 1, Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija Province, Luzon, Philippines 15-121.
Status: Missing In Action. Most likely buried as a 'Unknown" in the Manila American Cemetery.
Memorialized: Tablets of the Missing – United States Army and Army Air Forces at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1910 United States Federal Census (20 April 1910): Philadelphia (Ward 15), Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (sheet 8A, family 135, 836 N. Pennock Street) – Joseph A. Owens (5 Pennsylvania).
1920 United States Federal Census (02 January 1920): Philadelphia (Ward 15), Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (sheet 1A, family 11, 836 N. Pennock Street) – Joseph A. Owens (15 Pennsylvania).
Joseph A. Owens and Margaret E. Fitzsimmons got a marriage license on 06 November 1929 in Manhattan, New York City, New York (License No. 28959.
Joseph A. Owens (26 Pennsylvania) is found in the 1930 United States Federal Census (03 April 1930) for Philadelphia (Ward 38), Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (sheet 5A, family 78, 2232 Ruffner St.) along with his wife, Margaret Owens (22 Pennsylvania) and son, Joseph Owens (2/12 Pennsylvania). Also in the home was Margaret's mother, Mary Fitzsimmons (56 Pennsylvania, press operator, dresses). Joseph was taxi chauffeur. Joseph was 24 when he got married, Margaret was 20.
Joseph and Margaret had one son, Joseph Thomas Owens (07 January 1930 - 02 August 2005).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joseph A. Owens (Pennsylvania), a resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, enlisted as a Private (S/N 6232988) in the U.S. Army on 13 May 1939 in Dublin, Georgia. He had completed 3 years of high school.
Private Owens was sent to the Philippine Islands and assigned to Base Headquarters & 20th Air Base Squadron, and stationed at Nichols Field near Manila.
Monthly Roster of Troops – 19 July 1939 to 31 December 1939
Base Headquarters & 20th Air Base Squadron, Nichols Field, Rizal, Philippine Islands
Private/Private First Class Joseph A. Owens (S/N 6232988). He was transferred , assigned and joined Base Headquarters & 20th Air Base Squadron on 19 July 1939 from Air Corps unassigned. On 14 November 1939 he was promoted to Private First Class.
There are no more Monthly Roster of Troops records online after December 1939.
He was then assigned to the 27th Materiel Squadron, 20th Air Base Group, stationed at Nichols Field. The 27th Materiel Squadron was in charge of supplies and aircraft at Nichols Field.
On 08 December 1941 war came to the Philippines. Over the next couple of days Japanese planes virtually destroyed the U.S. Army Air Corps. Japanese forces began a full-scale invasion of Luzon on 22 December. In response, General Douglas MacArthur, ordered units at Nichols to withdrawal to the Bataan peninsula to be a part of the Bataan Defense Force. With no planes, most of the men of the 27th Material Squadron became became infantrymen. Manila was declared an open city on 26 December, and by the 28th, Japanese forces occupied Nichols Field.
Their newly formed units were referred to as Provisional Infantry Regiments. These Provisional Infantry units were composed of Air Men, who in most cases had never had any infantry combat training. Most had to be taught how to put bullets into their rifles and how to use hand grenades, and how to dig a proper foxhole. It was akin to on-the-job training. Although clumsy, at times, comical, and, at times, very shaky, they performed valiantly. It was not pretty, but they did their job.
Capt. John S. Coleman, commander of the 27th Materiel Squadron, described his men's equipment and tactical situation when he stated: "We had 163 men of which an average of about 100 were on the front lines near Orion. We had about 44 back at PNAD [Philippine Air Depot], some on crash boat crews, some driving half-tracks, and tanks. We had on the frontline 3 machine guns, of which 2 were water cooled Browning's and one marlin machine gun. We had two BARs; the rest of the enlisted men had .30 caliber rifles and officers had one pistol each. We had 2 grenades each. Some carried 4 each on patrols. The first battalion had about 34 machine guns. About two-thirds of them were machine guns taken off wrecked airplanes, of the .50 caliber class and were too heavy to carry around. Most of these were in frontline trenches and offsets well concealed and fortified by sandbags and sod." Source: The Provisional Air Corps Regiment at Bataan, 1942: Lessons for Today's Joint Force by 2d Lt Grant T. Willis, USAF & 2d Lt Brendan H. J. Donnelly, USAF.
On January 6th, the battle for Bataan began.
Unfortunately, dengue fever, malaria, diarrhea, and dysentery began to take its toll on many of the soldiers. Inadequate amounts of medicine available only amplified the severity of what would have been very treatable afflictions. During the first week of March 1942, soldiers were issued quarter rations. It was becoming apparent that supplies and support were not going to come. Ammunition was in short supply. Around the latter part of March, Gen. King and his staff assessed the fighting capabilities of his forces, in view of an impending major assault planned by Gen. Homma. Gen. King and his staff determined the Fil-American forces, in Bataan, could only fight at 30% of their efficiency.
It was also during this time that Japanese forces brought in significant reinforcements. The Japanese 4th Division had arrived from Shanghai. The 21st Regiment (part of the 21st Division) had been diverted in route to Indo-China. Finally, several thousand replacements arrived to revitalize the 16th Division and the 65th Brigade. Japanese air attacks became progressively worse. The Japanese set up artillery across Manila Bay and fired accurately with the help of highflying aerial observers.
The month of April 1942 marked the beginning of the end for Bataan's defenders. On Good Friday, 03 April 1942, General Homma, with the addition of fresh troops, began an all-out offensive on Bataan. By the evening of April 8, the situation was clearly hopeless. With ammunition, rations and supplies practically exhausted and most of his best units destroyed, Major General Edward P. King, commander of the forces on Bataan, was convinced his troops could not physically resist any more and decided to surrender to prevent further loss of life. On 09 April 1942, Maj. Gen. King surrendered the Luzon Force to the Japanese. Staff Sergeant Joseph A. Owens, along with 75,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war captured by the Japanese, were subjected to the infamous Bataan Death March. The CO of the 27th Materiel Squadron described his squadron's combat readiness, reporting that every man but one had malaria before the surrender; only 47 men were able to walk when surrender came due to starvation and malaria.
When the Fil-American soldiers began the Death March they were in terrible physical condition. For 6 to 9 days (depending on their starting point) they were forced to walk the roughly sixty-five miles to San Fernando, enduring abuse by Japanese guards and seeing the deaths of thousands of fellow soldiers. At San Fernando, the Japanese stuffed about 100 men into steel-sided boxcars for the twenty-five-mile trip to Capas. The scorching hot boxcars were packed so tight that the men could not even sit down. When the train arrived at Capas the POW's were offloaded and marched the final nine miles to Camp O'Donnell.
Surviving the brutal treatment by the Japanese at Camp O'Donnell (about 1500 American and 22,000 Filipino prisoners of war died in just three months), Staff Sergeant Joseph A. Owens was transferred to the Cabanatuan POW Camp No. 1, approximately 8 kilometers northeast of the town by the same name.
In early June of 1942, prisoners from Camp O'Donnell began to stream into Camp No. 1, joining the men from Corregidor and increasing the number of prisoners to over 7,300 men. Most of the POWs were assigned to work details and farm labor. Because of the poor health of the men from O'Donnell, the death rate at Camp #1 soared.
Staff Sergeant Joseph A. Owens (S/N 6232988), age 37, 27th Materiel Squadron, Air Corps, died at 10:30 am, 28 July 1942, of dysentery in *Barracks No. 0, Hospital Area, a prisoner of the Japanese at POW Camp 1, Cabanatuan, Nueva Province, Luzon, Philippines 15-121. His death was recorded on a condensed milk can label. Home address: 836 N. Pennock St., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Next of Kin: mother, Mrs. Thomas J. Owens. Joseph had no belongings. He was one of 22 men to die that day, the 1233rd prisoner to die in the camp since in opened in June. In all 786 men died in the prison during the month of July. By the time the camp was liberated in early 1945, 2,764 Americans had died at Cabanatuan in 2½ years. 90% of the POW deaths in Cabanatuan were men who were captured on Bataan. He was buried in a communal grave in the camp cemetery along with other deceased American POWs who died during that 24 hour period.
*It was called the "zero" ward, due to the fact that a prisoner had virtually "zero" chance of leaving it alive, serving as a place to put seriously ill or dying patients.
After the war, all the remains in the Cabanatuan Prison cemetery that could be found were disinterred (between December 1945 - February 1946) and brought to 7747 USAF Cemetery, Manila #2, Philippine Islands. The deceased in Manila #2 (over 11,000 American soldiers) rested there until their removal to the American Graves Registration Service Manila Mausoleum in the summer of 1948 for positive identification. Unfortunately, no clothing, personal effects nor any other means of identification were found for him and his remains could not be associated with any remains recovered from Cabanatuan. He is most likely buried in the Manila American Cemetery as a "Known but to God". There are 953 men like S/Sgt. Owens who were not identified after the war, "unknowns", permanently interred in the Manila American Cemetery from Cabanatuan.
"HERE RESTS IN HONORED GLORY A COMRADE IN ARMS KNOWN BUT TO GOD"
Staff Sergeant Joseph A. Owens is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing - United States Army and Army Air Forces at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
He also has a cenotaph in Holy Cross Cemetery, Yeadon, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
Service # 6232988
Rank: Staff Sergeant, U. S. Army Air Forces
Unit: 27th Materiel Squadron, 20th Air Base Group
Entered Service From: Pennsylvania
Date of Death: 28 July 1942, of dysentery in the Japanese POW Camp 1, Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija Province, Luzon, Philippines 15-121.
Status: Missing In Action. Most likely buried as a 'Unknown" in the Manila American Cemetery.
Memorialized: Tablets of the Missing – United States Army and Army Air Forces at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1910 United States Federal Census (20 April 1910): Philadelphia (Ward 15), Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (sheet 8A, family 135, 836 N. Pennock Street) – Joseph A. Owens (5 Pennsylvania).
1920 United States Federal Census (02 January 1920): Philadelphia (Ward 15), Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (sheet 1A, family 11, 836 N. Pennock Street) – Joseph A. Owens (15 Pennsylvania).
Joseph A. Owens and Margaret E. Fitzsimmons got a marriage license on 06 November 1929 in Manhattan, New York City, New York (License No. 28959.
Joseph A. Owens (26 Pennsylvania) is found in the 1930 United States Federal Census (03 April 1930) for Philadelphia (Ward 38), Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (sheet 5A, family 78, 2232 Ruffner St.) along with his wife, Margaret Owens (22 Pennsylvania) and son, Joseph Owens (2/12 Pennsylvania). Also in the home was Margaret's mother, Mary Fitzsimmons (56 Pennsylvania, press operator, dresses). Joseph was taxi chauffeur. Joseph was 24 when he got married, Margaret was 20.
Joseph and Margaret had one son, Joseph Thomas Owens (07 January 1930 - 02 August 2005).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joseph A. Owens (Pennsylvania), a resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, enlisted as a Private (S/N 6232988) in the U.S. Army on 13 May 1939 in Dublin, Georgia. He had completed 3 years of high school.
Private Owens was sent to the Philippine Islands and assigned to Base Headquarters & 20th Air Base Squadron, and stationed at Nichols Field near Manila.
Monthly Roster of Troops – 19 July 1939 to 31 December 1939
Base Headquarters & 20th Air Base Squadron, Nichols Field, Rizal, Philippine Islands
Private/Private First Class Joseph A. Owens (S/N 6232988). He was transferred , assigned and joined Base Headquarters & 20th Air Base Squadron on 19 July 1939 from Air Corps unassigned. On 14 November 1939 he was promoted to Private First Class.
There are no more Monthly Roster of Troops records online after December 1939.
He was then assigned to the 27th Materiel Squadron, 20th Air Base Group, stationed at Nichols Field. The 27th Materiel Squadron was in charge of supplies and aircraft at Nichols Field.
On 08 December 1941 war came to the Philippines. Over the next couple of days Japanese planes virtually destroyed the U.S. Army Air Corps. Japanese forces began a full-scale invasion of Luzon on 22 December. In response, General Douglas MacArthur, ordered units at Nichols to withdrawal to the Bataan peninsula to be a part of the Bataan Defense Force. With no planes, most of the men of the 27th Material Squadron became became infantrymen. Manila was declared an open city on 26 December, and by the 28th, Japanese forces occupied Nichols Field.
Their newly formed units were referred to as Provisional Infantry Regiments. These Provisional Infantry units were composed of Air Men, who in most cases had never had any infantry combat training. Most had to be taught how to put bullets into their rifles and how to use hand grenades, and how to dig a proper foxhole. It was akin to on-the-job training. Although clumsy, at times, comical, and, at times, very shaky, they performed valiantly. It was not pretty, but they did their job.
Capt. John S. Coleman, commander of the 27th Materiel Squadron, described his men's equipment and tactical situation when he stated: "We had 163 men of which an average of about 100 were on the front lines near Orion. We had about 44 back at PNAD [Philippine Air Depot], some on crash boat crews, some driving half-tracks, and tanks. We had on the frontline 3 machine guns, of which 2 were water cooled Browning's and one marlin machine gun. We had two BARs; the rest of the enlisted men had .30 caliber rifles and officers had one pistol each. We had 2 grenades each. Some carried 4 each on patrols. The first battalion had about 34 machine guns. About two-thirds of them were machine guns taken off wrecked airplanes, of the .50 caliber class and were too heavy to carry around. Most of these were in frontline trenches and offsets well concealed and fortified by sandbags and sod." Source: The Provisional Air Corps Regiment at Bataan, 1942: Lessons for Today's Joint Force by 2d Lt Grant T. Willis, USAF & 2d Lt Brendan H. J. Donnelly, USAF.
On January 6th, the battle for Bataan began.
Unfortunately, dengue fever, malaria, diarrhea, and dysentery began to take its toll on many of the soldiers. Inadequate amounts of medicine available only amplified the severity of what would have been very treatable afflictions. During the first week of March 1942, soldiers were issued quarter rations. It was becoming apparent that supplies and support were not going to come. Ammunition was in short supply. Around the latter part of March, Gen. King and his staff assessed the fighting capabilities of his forces, in view of an impending major assault planned by Gen. Homma. Gen. King and his staff determined the Fil-American forces, in Bataan, could only fight at 30% of their efficiency.
It was also during this time that Japanese forces brought in significant reinforcements. The Japanese 4th Division had arrived from Shanghai. The 21st Regiment (part of the 21st Division) had been diverted in route to Indo-China. Finally, several thousand replacements arrived to revitalize the 16th Division and the 65th Brigade. Japanese air attacks became progressively worse. The Japanese set up artillery across Manila Bay and fired accurately with the help of highflying aerial observers.
The month of April 1942 marked the beginning of the end for Bataan's defenders. On Good Friday, 03 April 1942, General Homma, with the addition of fresh troops, began an all-out offensive on Bataan. By the evening of April 8, the situation was clearly hopeless. With ammunition, rations and supplies practically exhausted and most of his best units destroyed, Major General Edward P. King, commander of the forces on Bataan, was convinced his troops could not physically resist any more and decided to surrender to prevent further loss of life. On 09 April 1942, Maj. Gen. King surrendered the Luzon Force to the Japanese. Staff Sergeant Joseph A. Owens, along with 75,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war captured by the Japanese, were subjected to the infamous Bataan Death March. The CO of the 27th Materiel Squadron described his squadron's combat readiness, reporting that every man but one had malaria before the surrender; only 47 men were able to walk when surrender came due to starvation and malaria.
When the Fil-American soldiers began the Death March they were in terrible physical condition. For 6 to 9 days (depending on their starting point) they were forced to walk the roughly sixty-five miles to San Fernando, enduring abuse by Japanese guards and seeing the deaths of thousands of fellow soldiers. At San Fernando, the Japanese stuffed about 100 men into steel-sided boxcars for the twenty-five-mile trip to Capas. The scorching hot boxcars were packed so tight that the men could not even sit down. When the train arrived at Capas the POW's were offloaded and marched the final nine miles to Camp O'Donnell.
Surviving the brutal treatment by the Japanese at Camp O'Donnell (about 1500 American and 22,000 Filipino prisoners of war died in just three months), Staff Sergeant Joseph A. Owens was transferred to the Cabanatuan POW Camp No. 1, approximately 8 kilometers northeast of the town by the same name.
In early June of 1942, prisoners from Camp O'Donnell began to stream into Camp No. 1, joining the men from Corregidor and increasing the number of prisoners to over 7,300 men. Most of the POWs were assigned to work details and farm labor. Because of the poor health of the men from O'Donnell, the death rate at Camp #1 soared.
Staff Sergeant Joseph A. Owens (S/N 6232988), age 37, 27th Materiel Squadron, Air Corps, died at 10:30 am, 28 July 1942, of dysentery in *Barracks No. 0, Hospital Area, a prisoner of the Japanese at POW Camp 1, Cabanatuan, Nueva Province, Luzon, Philippines 15-121. His death was recorded on a condensed milk can label. Home address: 836 N. Pennock St., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Next of Kin: mother, Mrs. Thomas J. Owens. Joseph had no belongings. He was one of 22 men to die that day, the 1233rd prisoner to die in the camp since in opened in June. In all 786 men died in the prison during the month of July. By the time the camp was liberated in early 1945, 2,764 Americans had died at Cabanatuan in 2½ years. 90% of the POW deaths in Cabanatuan were men who were captured on Bataan. He was buried in a communal grave in the camp cemetery along with other deceased American POWs who died during that 24 hour period.
*It was called the "zero" ward, due to the fact that a prisoner had virtually "zero" chance of leaving it alive, serving as a place to put seriously ill or dying patients.
After the war, all the remains in the Cabanatuan Prison cemetery that could be found were disinterred (between December 1945 - February 1946) and brought to 7747 USAF Cemetery, Manila #2, Philippine Islands. The deceased in Manila #2 (over 11,000 American soldiers) rested there until their removal to the American Graves Registration Service Manila Mausoleum in the summer of 1948 for positive identification. Unfortunately, no clothing, personal effects nor any other means of identification were found for him and his remains could not be associated with any remains recovered from Cabanatuan. He is most likely buried in the Manila American Cemetery as a "Known but to God". There are 953 men like S/Sgt. Owens who were not identified after the war, "unknowns", permanently interred in the Manila American Cemetery from Cabanatuan.
"HERE RESTS IN HONORED GLORY A COMRADE IN ARMS KNOWN BUT TO GOD"
Staff Sergeant Joseph A. Owens is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing - United States Army and Army Air Forces at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
He also has a cenotaph in Holy Cross Cemetery, Yeadon, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
Joseph A. Owens
Service # 6232988
Rank: Staff Sergeant, U. S. Army Air Forces
Unit: 27th Materiel Squadron, 20th Air Base Group
Entered Service From: Pennsylvania
Date of Death: 28 July 1942, of dysentery in the Japanese POW Camp 1, Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija Province, Luzon, Philippines 15-121.
Status: Missing In Action. Most likely buried as a 'Unknown" in the Manila American Cemetery.
Memorialized: Tablets of the Missing – United States Army and Army Air Forces at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1910 United States Federal Census (20 April 1910): Philadelphia (Ward 15), Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (sheet 8A, family 135, 836 N. Pennock Street) – Joseph A. Owens (5 Pennsylvania).
1920 United States Federal Census (02 January 1920): Philadelphia (Ward 15), Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (sheet 1A, family 11, 836 N. Pennock Street) – Joseph A. Owens (15 Pennsylvania).
Joseph A. Owens and Margaret E. Fitzsimmons got a marriage license on 06 November 1929 in Manhattan, New York City, New York (License No. 28959.
Joseph A. Owens (26 Pennsylvania) is found in the 1930 United States Federal Census (03 April 1930) for Philadelphia (Ward 38), Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (sheet 5A, family 78, 2232 Ruffner St.) along with his wife, Margaret Owens (22 Pennsylvania) and son, Joseph Owens (2/12 Pennsylvania). Also in the home was Margaret's mother, Mary Fitzsimmons (56 Pennsylvania, press operator, dresses). Joseph was taxi chauffeur. Joseph was 24 when he got married, Margaret was 20.
Joseph and Margaret had one son, Joseph Thomas Owens (07 January 1930 - 02 August 2005).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joseph A. Owens (Pennsylvania), a resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, enlisted as a Private (S/N 6232988) in the U.S. Army on 13 May 1939 in Dublin, Georgia. He had completed 3 years of high school.
Private Owens was sent to the Philippine Islands and assigned to Base Headquarters & 20th Air Base Squadron, and stationed at Nichols Field near Manila.
Monthly Roster of Troops – 19 July 1939 to 31 December 1939
Base Headquarters & 20th Air Base Squadron, Nichols Field, Rizal, Philippine Islands
Private/Private First Class Joseph A. Owens (S/N 6232988). He was transferred , assigned and joined Base Headquarters & 20th Air Base Squadron on 19 July 1939 from Air Corps unassigned. On 14 November 1939 he was promoted to Private First Class.
There are no more Monthly Roster of Troops records online after December 1939.
He was then assigned to the 27th Materiel Squadron, 20th Air Base Group, stationed at Nichols Field. The 27th Materiel Squadron was in charge of supplies and aircraft at Nichols Field.
On 08 December 1941 war came to the Philippines. Over the next couple of days Japanese planes virtually destroyed the U.S. Army Air Corps. Japanese forces began a full-scale invasion of Luzon on 22 December. In response, General Douglas MacArthur, ordered units at Nichols to withdrawal to the Bataan peninsula to be a part of the Bataan Defense Force. With no planes, most of the men of the 27th Material Squadron became became infantrymen. Manila was declared an open city on 26 December, and by the 28th, Japanese forces occupied Nichols Field.
Their newly formed units were referred to as Provisional Infantry Regiments. These Provisional Infantry units were composed of Air Men, who in most cases had never had any infantry combat training. Most had to be taught how to put bullets into their rifles and how to use hand grenades, and how to dig a proper foxhole. It was akin to on-the-job training. Although clumsy, at times, comical, and, at times, very shaky, they performed valiantly. It was not pretty, but they did their job.
Capt. John S. Coleman, commander of the 27th Materiel Squadron, described his men's equipment and tactical situation when he stated: "We had 163 men of which an average of about 100 were on the front lines near Orion. We had about 44 back at PNAD [Philippine Air Depot], some on crash boat crews, some driving half-tracks, and tanks. We had on the frontline 3 machine guns, of which 2 were water cooled Browning's and one marlin machine gun. We had two BARs; the rest of the enlisted men had .30 caliber rifles and officers had one pistol each. We had 2 grenades each. Some carried 4 each on patrols. The first battalion had about 34 machine guns. About two-thirds of them were machine guns taken off wrecked airplanes, of the .50 caliber class and were too heavy to carry around. Most of these were in frontline trenches and offsets well concealed and fortified by sandbags and sod." Source: The Provisional Air Corps Regiment at Bataan, 1942: Lessons for Today's Joint Force by 2d Lt Grant T. Willis, USAF & 2d Lt Brendan H. J. Donnelly, USAF.
On January 6th, the battle for Bataan began.
Unfortunately, dengue fever, malaria, diarrhea, and dysentery began to take its toll on many of the soldiers. Inadequate amounts of medicine available only amplified the severity of what would have been very treatable afflictions. During the first week of March 1942, soldiers were issued quarter rations. It was becoming apparent that supplies and support were not going to come. Ammunition was in short supply. Around the latter part of March, Gen. King and his staff assessed the fighting capabilities of his forces, in view of an impending major assault planned by Gen. Homma. Gen. King and his staff determined the Fil-American forces, in Bataan, could only fight at 30% of their efficiency.
It was also during this time that Japanese forces brought in significant reinforcements. The Japanese 4th Division had arrived from Shanghai. The 21st Regiment (part of the 21st Division) had been diverted in route to Indo-China. Finally, several thousand replacements arrived to revitalize the 16th Division and the 65th Brigade. Japanese air attacks became progressively worse. The Japanese set up artillery across Manila Bay and fired accurately with the help of highflying aerial observers.
The month of April 1942 marked the beginning of the end for Bataan's defenders. On Good Friday, 03 April 1942, General Homma, with the addition of fresh troops, began an all-out offensive on Bataan. By the evening of April 8, the situation was clearly hopeless. With ammunition, rations and supplies practically exhausted and most of his best units destroyed, Major General Edward P. King, commander of the forces on Bataan, was convinced his troops could not physically resist any more and decided to surrender to prevent further loss of life. On 09 April 1942, Maj. Gen. King surrendered the Luzon Force to the Japanese. Staff Sergeant Joseph A. Owens, along with 75,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war captured by the Japanese, were subjected to the infamous Bataan Death March. The CO of the 27th Materiel Squadron described his squadron's combat readiness, reporting that every man but one had malaria before the surrender; only 47 men were able to walk when surrender came due to starvation and malaria.
When the Fil-American soldiers began the Death March they were in terrible physical condition. For 6 to 9 days (depending on their starting point) they were forced to walk the roughly sixty-five miles to San Fernando, enduring abuse by Japanese guards and seeing the deaths of thousands of fellow soldiers. At San Fernando, the Japanese stuffed about 100 men into steel-sided boxcars for the twenty-five-mile trip to Capas. The scorching hot boxcars were packed so tight that the men could not even sit down. When the train arrived at Capas the POW's were offloaded and marched the final nine miles to Camp O'Donnell.
Surviving the brutal treatment by the Japanese at Camp O'Donnell (about 1500 American and 22,000 Filipino prisoners of war died in just three months), Staff Sergeant Joseph A. Owens was transferred to the Cabanatuan POW Camp No. 1, approximately 8 kilometers northeast of the town by the same name.
In early June of 1942, prisoners from Camp O'Donnell began to stream into Camp No. 1, joining the men from Corregidor and increasing the number of prisoners to over 7,300 men. Most of the POWs were assigned to work details and farm labor. Because of the poor health of the men from O'Donnell, the death rate at Camp #1 soared.
Staff Sergeant Joseph A. Owens (S/N 6232988), age 37, 27th Materiel Squadron, Air Corps, died at 10:30 am, 28 July 1942, of dysentery in *Barracks No. 0, Hospital Area, a prisoner of the Japanese at POW Camp 1, Cabanatuan, Nueva Province, Luzon, Philippines 15-121. His death was recorded on a condensed milk can label. Home address: 836 N. Pennock St., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Next of Kin: mother, Mrs. Thomas J. Owens. Joseph had no belongings. He was one of 22 men to die that day, the 1233rd prisoner to die in the camp since in opened in June. In all 786 men died in the prison during the month of July. By the time the camp was liberated in early 1945, 2,764 Americans had died at Cabanatuan in 2½ years. 90% of the POW deaths in Cabanatuan were men who were captured on Bataan. He was buried in a communal grave in the camp cemetery along with other deceased American POWs who died during that 24 hour period.
*It was called the "zero" ward, due to the fact that a prisoner had virtually "zero" chance of leaving it alive, serving as a place to put seriously ill or dying patients.
After the war, all the remains in the Cabanatuan Prison cemetery that could be found were disinterred (between December 1945 - February 1946) and brought to 7747 USAF Cemetery, Manila #2, Philippine Islands. The deceased in Manila #2 (over 11,000 American soldiers) rested there until their removal to the American Graves Registration Service Manila Mausoleum in the summer of 1948 for positive identification. Unfortunately, no clothing, personal effects nor any other means of identification were found for him and his remains could not be associated with any remains recovered from Cabanatuan. He is most likely buried in the Manila American Cemetery as a "Known but to God". There are 953 men like S/Sgt. Owens who were not identified after the war, "unknowns", permanently interred in the Manila American Cemetery from Cabanatuan.
"HERE RESTS IN HONORED GLORY A COMRADE IN ARMS KNOWN BUT TO GOD"
Staff Sergeant Joseph A. Owens is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing - United States Army and Army Air Forces at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
He also has a cenotaph in Holy Cross Cemetery, Yeadon, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
Service # 6232988
Rank: Staff Sergeant, U. S. Army Air Forces
Unit: 27th Materiel Squadron, 20th Air Base Group
Entered Service From: Pennsylvania
Date of Death: 28 July 1942, of dysentery in the Japanese POW Camp 1, Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija Province, Luzon, Philippines 15-121.
Status: Missing In Action. Most likely buried as a 'Unknown" in the Manila American Cemetery.
Memorialized: Tablets of the Missing – United States Army and Army Air Forces at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1910 United States Federal Census (20 April 1910): Philadelphia (Ward 15), Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (sheet 8A, family 135, 836 N. Pennock Street) – Joseph A. Owens (5 Pennsylvania).
1920 United States Federal Census (02 January 1920): Philadelphia (Ward 15), Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (sheet 1A, family 11, 836 N. Pennock Street) – Joseph A. Owens (15 Pennsylvania).
Joseph A. Owens and Margaret E. Fitzsimmons got a marriage license on 06 November 1929 in Manhattan, New York City, New York (License No. 28959.
Joseph A. Owens (26 Pennsylvania) is found in the 1930 United States Federal Census (03 April 1930) for Philadelphia (Ward 38), Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania (sheet 5A, family 78, 2232 Ruffner St.) along with his wife, Margaret Owens (22 Pennsylvania) and son, Joseph Owens (2/12 Pennsylvania). Also in the home was Margaret's mother, Mary Fitzsimmons (56 Pennsylvania, press operator, dresses). Joseph was taxi chauffeur. Joseph was 24 when he got married, Margaret was 20.
Joseph and Margaret had one son, Joseph Thomas Owens (07 January 1930 - 02 August 2005).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joseph A. Owens (Pennsylvania), a resident of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, enlisted as a Private (S/N 6232988) in the U.S. Army on 13 May 1939 in Dublin, Georgia. He had completed 3 years of high school.
Private Owens was sent to the Philippine Islands and assigned to Base Headquarters & 20th Air Base Squadron, and stationed at Nichols Field near Manila.
Monthly Roster of Troops – 19 July 1939 to 31 December 1939
Base Headquarters & 20th Air Base Squadron, Nichols Field, Rizal, Philippine Islands
Private/Private First Class Joseph A. Owens (S/N 6232988). He was transferred , assigned and joined Base Headquarters & 20th Air Base Squadron on 19 July 1939 from Air Corps unassigned. On 14 November 1939 he was promoted to Private First Class.
There are no more Monthly Roster of Troops records online after December 1939.
He was then assigned to the 27th Materiel Squadron, 20th Air Base Group, stationed at Nichols Field. The 27th Materiel Squadron was in charge of supplies and aircraft at Nichols Field.
On 08 December 1941 war came to the Philippines. Over the next couple of days Japanese planes virtually destroyed the U.S. Army Air Corps. Japanese forces began a full-scale invasion of Luzon on 22 December. In response, General Douglas MacArthur, ordered units at Nichols to withdrawal to the Bataan peninsula to be a part of the Bataan Defense Force. With no planes, most of the men of the 27th Material Squadron became became infantrymen. Manila was declared an open city on 26 December, and by the 28th, Japanese forces occupied Nichols Field.
Their newly formed units were referred to as Provisional Infantry Regiments. These Provisional Infantry units were composed of Air Men, who in most cases had never had any infantry combat training. Most had to be taught how to put bullets into their rifles and how to use hand grenades, and how to dig a proper foxhole. It was akin to on-the-job training. Although clumsy, at times, comical, and, at times, very shaky, they performed valiantly. It was not pretty, but they did their job.
Capt. John S. Coleman, commander of the 27th Materiel Squadron, described his men's equipment and tactical situation when he stated: "We had 163 men of which an average of about 100 were on the front lines near Orion. We had about 44 back at PNAD [Philippine Air Depot], some on crash boat crews, some driving half-tracks, and tanks. We had on the frontline 3 machine guns, of which 2 were water cooled Browning's and one marlin machine gun. We had two BARs; the rest of the enlisted men had .30 caliber rifles and officers had one pistol each. We had 2 grenades each. Some carried 4 each on patrols. The first battalion had about 34 machine guns. About two-thirds of them were machine guns taken off wrecked airplanes, of the .50 caliber class and were too heavy to carry around. Most of these were in frontline trenches and offsets well concealed and fortified by sandbags and sod." Source: The Provisional Air Corps Regiment at Bataan, 1942: Lessons for Today's Joint Force by 2d Lt Grant T. Willis, USAF & 2d Lt Brendan H. J. Donnelly, USAF.
On January 6th, the battle for Bataan began.
Unfortunately, dengue fever, malaria, diarrhea, and dysentery began to take its toll on many of the soldiers. Inadequate amounts of medicine available only amplified the severity of what would have been very treatable afflictions. During the first week of March 1942, soldiers were issued quarter rations. It was becoming apparent that supplies and support were not going to come. Ammunition was in short supply. Around the latter part of March, Gen. King and his staff assessed the fighting capabilities of his forces, in view of an impending major assault planned by Gen. Homma. Gen. King and his staff determined the Fil-American forces, in Bataan, could only fight at 30% of their efficiency.
It was also during this time that Japanese forces brought in significant reinforcements. The Japanese 4th Division had arrived from Shanghai. The 21st Regiment (part of the 21st Division) had been diverted in route to Indo-China. Finally, several thousand replacements arrived to revitalize the 16th Division and the 65th Brigade. Japanese air attacks became progressively worse. The Japanese set up artillery across Manila Bay and fired accurately with the help of highflying aerial observers.
The month of April 1942 marked the beginning of the end for Bataan's defenders. On Good Friday, 03 April 1942, General Homma, with the addition of fresh troops, began an all-out offensive on Bataan. By the evening of April 8, the situation was clearly hopeless. With ammunition, rations and supplies practically exhausted and most of his best units destroyed, Major General Edward P. King, commander of the forces on Bataan, was convinced his troops could not physically resist any more and decided to surrender to prevent further loss of life. On 09 April 1942, Maj. Gen. King surrendered the Luzon Force to the Japanese. Staff Sergeant Joseph A. Owens, along with 75,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war captured by the Japanese, were subjected to the infamous Bataan Death March. The CO of the 27th Materiel Squadron described his squadron's combat readiness, reporting that every man but one had malaria before the surrender; only 47 men were able to walk when surrender came due to starvation and malaria.
When the Fil-American soldiers began the Death March they were in terrible physical condition. For 6 to 9 days (depending on their starting point) they were forced to walk the roughly sixty-five miles to San Fernando, enduring abuse by Japanese guards and seeing the deaths of thousands of fellow soldiers. At San Fernando, the Japanese stuffed about 100 men into steel-sided boxcars for the twenty-five-mile trip to Capas. The scorching hot boxcars were packed so tight that the men could not even sit down. When the train arrived at Capas the POW's were offloaded and marched the final nine miles to Camp O'Donnell.
Surviving the brutal treatment by the Japanese at Camp O'Donnell (about 1500 American and 22,000 Filipino prisoners of war died in just three months), Staff Sergeant Joseph A. Owens was transferred to the Cabanatuan POW Camp No. 1, approximately 8 kilometers northeast of the town by the same name.
In early June of 1942, prisoners from Camp O'Donnell began to stream into Camp No. 1, joining the men from Corregidor and increasing the number of prisoners to over 7,300 men. Most of the POWs were assigned to work details and farm labor. Because of the poor health of the men from O'Donnell, the death rate at Camp #1 soared.
Staff Sergeant Joseph A. Owens (S/N 6232988), age 37, 27th Materiel Squadron, Air Corps, died at 10:30 am, 28 July 1942, of dysentery in *Barracks No. 0, Hospital Area, a prisoner of the Japanese at POW Camp 1, Cabanatuan, Nueva Province, Luzon, Philippines 15-121. His death was recorded on a condensed milk can label. Home address: 836 N. Pennock St., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Next of Kin: mother, Mrs. Thomas J. Owens. Joseph had no belongings. He was one of 22 men to die that day, the 1233rd prisoner to die in the camp since in opened in June. In all 786 men died in the prison during the month of July. By the time the camp was liberated in early 1945, 2,764 Americans had died at Cabanatuan in 2½ years. 90% of the POW deaths in Cabanatuan were men who were captured on Bataan. He was buried in a communal grave in the camp cemetery along with other deceased American POWs who died during that 24 hour period.
*It was called the "zero" ward, due to the fact that a prisoner had virtually "zero" chance of leaving it alive, serving as a place to put seriously ill or dying patients.
After the war, all the remains in the Cabanatuan Prison cemetery that could be found were disinterred (between December 1945 - February 1946) and brought to 7747 USAF Cemetery, Manila #2, Philippine Islands. The deceased in Manila #2 (over 11,000 American soldiers) rested there until their removal to the American Graves Registration Service Manila Mausoleum in the summer of 1948 for positive identification. Unfortunately, no clothing, personal effects nor any other means of identification were found for him and his remains could not be associated with any remains recovered from Cabanatuan. He is most likely buried in the Manila American Cemetery as a "Known but to God". There are 953 men like S/Sgt. Owens who were not identified after the war, "unknowns", permanently interred in the Manila American Cemetery from Cabanatuan.
"HERE RESTS IN HONORED GLORY A COMRADE IN ARMS KNOWN BUT TO GOD"
Staff Sergeant Joseph A. Owens is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing - United States Army and Army Air Forces at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
He also has a cenotaph in Holy Cross Cemetery, Yeadon, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
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Entered the service from Pennsylvania.
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