Earl Thomas Watson, born 06 February 1914, in Dallas, Polk County, Oregon, was the first born child of Thomas W. Watson and Agnes V. Earl. His father was a farmer.
1920 United States Federal Census (06 January 1920): Dallas, Polk County, Oregon (sheet 6A, family 47, 318 Maple Street) – Earl T. Watson (5 Oregon).
1930 United States Federal Census (22 April 1930): Riverside, Clackamas County, Oregon (sheet 1A, family 13, Old Territorial Road) – Earl T. Watson (16 Oregon).
Roster of Troops – 23 May 1935
Recruit and Casual Detachment, Vancouver Barracks, Washington
Private Earl T. Watson (S/N 6555304). Transferred to Ft. McDowell, California, 23 May 1935.
... Sgt. Mabie (Sgt. Lee B. Mabie, local recruiting officer for the U.S. army) has also received word that 12 young men enlisted through his office have successfully passed the entrance examinations and will sail on the transport Grant from San Francisco for the Hawaiian and Philippine Islands, June 5. These men are ... and Earl T. Watson, Dallas. Source: The Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon), Tuesday, 28 May 1935, page 9.
Private Earl T. Watson (S/N 6555304) departed Fort McDowell, California on 05 June 1935 aboard the U.S.A.T US GRANT (Voyage #53 outgoing). He and the others in his Company were assigned to the Philippine Islands. They arrived in Manila, P. I. on 28 June 1935. They stopped at Honolulu, T. H. on 11 June 1935 and then Guam on their way. Earl was in the Coast Artillery. He was assigned to Company Number "2", Hold "4" D Aft.
Roster of Troops – 28 June 1935 to 08 August 1939
Battery A, 60th Coast Artillery (anti-aircraft), Fort Mills, Philippine Islands
Private/Private First Class Earl T. Watson (S/N 6555304). Assigned to and joined from CAC Fort McDowell, California, 28th June 1935. He was promoted to Private First Class on 22 February 1936. In July 1936 he was returned to Private. On 10 September 1936 he was returned to the rank of Private First Class. On 18 July 1938 Earl reenlisted in grade. On 26 December 1938 he was given a 10 day furlough. He returned from furlough on 05 January 1939. On 09 January 1939 he was returned to the rank of Private and on 30 March 1939 Earl was appointed back to Private First Class. On 28 June 1938 he was again sent back to Private. On 08 August 1939 Private Earl T. Watson was transferred to the 28th Bomb Squadron, Air Corps, Clark Field, P. I.
Roster of Troops – 08 August 1938 to 31 December 1939
28th Bombardment Squadron, Air Corps, Clark Field, Philippine Islands
Private Earl T. Watson (S/N 6555304). He was transferred from 60th CA on 08 August 1939.
There are no Roster of Troops online reports after 1939.
Earl T. Watson (1913 Oregon), a resident of Polk County, Oregon, reenlisted as a Private (S/N 6555304) in the U. S. Army on 09 September 1941. He was single, had completed 2 years of high school and in civilian life had worked as "semiskilled mechanics and repairmen, motor vehicles". Earl had been an "enlisted man, Regular Army, within 3 months of discharge."
He was assigned to Headquarters Company, Philippine Department, U.S. Army.
War with Japan broke out on 08 December 1941. Japanese forces began a full-scale invasion of Luzon on 22 December. American and Filipino forces on Bataan surrendered on 09 April 1942. On 06 May 1942 Corregidor fell and Sgt. Earl T. Watson became a prisoner of the Japanese along with approximately 8,000 American soldiers, sailors and marines and 5,000 Filipino troops and civilians. The American prisoners were interned in an area on Corregidor known as the 92nd Garage Area. On 24 May 1942 the prisoners were loaded into the holds of three ships and taken to Manila. There they were marched to Bilibid Prison, a distance of about five miles, herded and kept in the line of march by mounted Japanese cavalrymen. The prisoners arrived in Bilibid during the afternoon of 25 May.
By June 1942, the majority of the men who were captured were interned in the either at Camp O'Donnell (Bataan prisoners), Cabanatuan or Bilibid Prison. The Japanese administration kept few records of the prisoners of war, and cared little for their treatment, health, sanitary conditions, seeming to be concerned only with the amount of work they could get out of the prisoners as a group. Many small work details were sent out from these camps.
Sgt. Watson was taken the Japanese POW Camp 1, Cabanatuan, Nueva Province, Luzon, Philippines 15-121 and from there assigned to the Nichols Field Work Detail. Beginning in July 1942, the prisoners, anywhere from 100 to 450 men, were forced to add a runway expansion at Nichols field by tearing through an entire mountain by hand. Known by the POWS as "The Cut", the men dug away the entire hill under extremely brutal conditions while being deliberately starved. They loaded the dirt and rocks into small mining carts and hauled it away. Day and night, hundreds of men worked on the field. They were housed at the Pasay Elementary School on Park Avenue, located about one mile from the actual digging site. This camp was about 300 yards east of the point where F. B. Harrison (Street) passes the entrance of the Manila Polo Club Field in Pasay, just south of Manila.
Sgt. Earl Watson Prisoner of War
Dallas – Word has just been received by Mrs. Milton Cooper that her son, Staff Sergeant Earl T. Watson was taken prisoner by the Japanese at the fall of Corregidor. A telegram was received by his mother from the Adjutant general's office at Washington, D. C. He was an artilleryman on Ft. Mills in the entrance Manila Bay. S/Sgt. Watson was first reported as missing in action May 22. No further word was received until the telegram arrived. Earl was a son of the late Tommy Watson who lived in Kings Valley for years before going to Dallas to reside. Earl spent several months here working on the Israel Eddy place several years ago. Source: The Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon), Thursday, 07 January 1943, page 3 and Corvallis Gazette-Times (Corvallis, Oregon), Friday, 08 January 1943, page 6.
Bilibid Prison June 1944
Staff Sergeant Earl T. Watson was"admitted to this hospital about 2000 June 5, 1944 in an unconscious state from a prisoner work detail at Pasay, P.I., where he had been ill for the past six months, and unable to work. It was reported that he suddenly became severely ill about six hours prior to admission to this hospital and soon lost consciousness. Physical examination immediately after arrival revealed an extremely emaciated white male about 32 years of age, critically ill and unconscious; respiration 18 and very shallow; pulse rate about 25 per minute, and showed marked irregularity. Blood pressure unobtainable. Lungs fields, normal. Abdomen, normal. There was moderate pitting and edema of the feet and ankles. Treatment consisted of digitalis intramuscularly and caffeine. He died at 2330 June 5, 1944, about 3 hours after admission to this hospital, without regaining consciousness. Primary cause of death – beriberi; contributory cause of death – malnutrition.
Earl was buried on 06 June 1944 in the Bilibid Prison cemetery – Row 4, Grave 26. Burial services were conducted by Chaplain P.O. Wolcox, Lt. Col. (CHC), U.S. Army.
Sgt. Watson Dies in Prison Camp
Dallas – S/Sgt. Earl T. Watson, son of Mrs. Milton Cooper of Dallas, died in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in the Philippines as the result of beriberi according to a telegram received this week by Mrs. Cooper from the secretary of war. Beriberi is a disease of the Asiatic tropics probably brought on by insufficient diet and exposure.
Date of his death was not given but the message said the information had come through Red Cross from the Japanese government and that a letter would follow.
Sgt. Watson, a coast artilleryman stationed at Fort Mills at the entrance of Manila Bay, was taken a prisoner when the fort was captured about the time of the fall of Corregidor in 1942. He was officially reported as missing in action on May 22, 1942. A few brief messages on the cards permitted by the Japanese have been received but none in more than a year.
Source: The Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon), Saturday, 16 December 1944, page 3 and Statesman Journal (Salem, Oregon), Friday, 15 December 1944, page 1.
St. Sgt. Earl Thomas Watson Dies in Jap Prison of Beriberi
KINGS VALLEY – HOSKINS, Dec. 21 – (SPECIAL) – Mrs. Milton Cooper of Dallas received word last week that her son, St. Sgt. Earl Thomas Watson who has been a Jap prisoner since the fall of Corregidor, has died of Beriberi, a disease of the "Asiatic" tropics probably brought on by insufficient diet and exposure. Earl will be remembered here by some as he worked here on the Eddy place one winter while Frank Price had it rented, and Earl's father will be remembered by many of the older residents here a Tommy Watson who lived for many years near Hoskins on what is now the Jim Price farm and the farm just south of it. Earl moved with his parents to Dallas a number of years ago. Source: Corvallis Gazette-Times (Corvallis, Oregon), Thursday, 21 December 1944, page 8.
After the war, all the remains in the Bilibid Prison cemetery were disinterred and brought to 7747 USAF Cemetery, Manila #2, Philippine Islands. He was reburied on 15 June 1945 in Block 1, Row 15, Grave 1828 (D-D 12111). 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. From there, according to the wishes of his next of kin (mother, Mrs. Agnes Cooper), Staff Sergeant Earl Thomas Watson was buried in his final resting place in the 7701 Ft. McKinley Cemetery (now known as the Manila American Cemetery) – Plot N, Row 9, Grave 46.
Victory Costs Dearly in Lives Of Willamette Valley Youths
Daily casualty lists sent out by the United States war department have been constant reminders that the war against the axis powers was a costly one. Army and Navy releases up to V-J day show that the following 414 men and boys from Salem and surrounding valley towns will not return: ... Staff Sgt. Earl T. Watson, Dallas. Source: The Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon), Wednesday, 15 August 1945, page 3.
1920 United States Federal Census (06 January 1920): Dallas, Polk County, Oregon (sheet 6A, family 47, 318 Maple Street) – Earl T. Watson (5 Oregon).
1930 United States Federal Census (22 April 1930): Riverside, Clackamas County, Oregon (sheet 1A, family 13, Old Territorial Road) – Earl T. Watson (16 Oregon).
Roster of Troops – 23 May 1935
Recruit and Casual Detachment, Vancouver Barracks, Washington
Private Earl T. Watson (S/N 6555304). Transferred to Ft. McDowell, California, 23 May 1935.
... Sgt. Mabie (Sgt. Lee B. Mabie, local recruiting officer for the U.S. army) has also received word that 12 young men enlisted through his office have successfully passed the entrance examinations and will sail on the transport Grant from San Francisco for the Hawaiian and Philippine Islands, June 5. These men are ... and Earl T. Watson, Dallas. Source: The Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon), Tuesday, 28 May 1935, page 9.
Private Earl T. Watson (S/N 6555304) departed Fort McDowell, California on 05 June 1935 aboard the U.S.A.T US GRANT (Voyage #53 outgoing). He and the others in his Company were assigned to the Philippine Islands. They arrived in Manila, P. I. on 28 June 1935. They stopped at Honolulu, T. H. on 11 June 1935 and then Guam on their way. Earl was in the Coast Artillery. He was assigned to Company Number "2", Hold "4" D Aft.
Roster of Troops – 28 June 1935 to 08 August 1939
Battery A, 60th Coast Artillery (anti-aircraft), Fort Mills, Philippine Islands
Private/Private First Class Earl T. Watson (S/N 6555304). Assigned to and joined from CAC Fort McDowell, California, 28th June 1935. He was promoted to Private First Class on 22 February 1936. In July 1936 he was returned to Private. On 10 September 1936 he was returned to the rank of Private First Class. On 18 July 1938 Earl reenlisted in grade. On 26 December 1938 he was given a 10 day furlough. He returned from furlough on 05 January 1939. On 09 January 1939 he was returned to the rank of Private and on 30 March 1939 Earl was appointed back to Private First Class. On 28 June 1938 he was again sent back to Private. On 08 August 1939 Private Earl T. Watson was transferred to the 28th Bomb Squadron, Air Corps, Clark Field, P. I.
Roster of Troops – 08 August 1938 to 31 December 1939
28th Bombardment Squadron, Air Corps, Clark Field, Philippine Islands
Private Earl T. Watson (S/N 6555304). He was transferred from 60th CA on 08 August 1939.
There are no Roster of Troops online reports after 1939.
Earl T. Watson (1913 Oregon), a resident of Polk County, Oregon, reenlisted as a Private (S/N 6555304) in the U. S. Army on 09 September 1941. He was single, had completed 2 years of high school and in civilian life had worked as "semiskilled mechanics and repairmen, motor vehicles". Earl had been an "enlisted man, Regular Army, within 3 months of discharge."
He was assigned to Headquarters Company, Philippine Department, U.S. Army.
War with Japan broke out on 08 December 1941. Japanese forces began a full-scale invasion of Luzon on 22 December. American and Filipino forces on Bataan surrendered on 09 April 1942. On 06 May 1942 Corregidor fell and Sgt. Earl T. Watson became a prisoner of the Japanese along with approximately 8,000 American soldiers, sailors and marines and 5,000 Filipino troops and civilians. The American prisoners were interned in an area on Corregidor known as the 92nd Garage Area. On 24 May 1942 the prisoners were loaded into the holds of three ships and taken to Manila. There they were marched to Bilibid Prison, a distance of about five miles, herded and kept in the line of march by mounted Japanese cavalrymen. The prisoners arrived in Bilibid during the afternoon of 25 May.
By June 1942, the majority of the men who were captured were interned in the either at Camp O'Donnell (Bataan prisoners), Cabanatuan or Bilibid Prison. The Japanese administration kept few records of the prisoners of war, and cared little for their treatment, health, sanitary conditions, seeming to be concerned only with the amount of work they could get out of the prisoners as a group. Many small work details were sent out from these camps.
Sgt. Watson was taken the Japanese POW Camp 1, Cabanatuan, Nueva Province, Luzon, Philippines 15-121 and from there assigned to the Nichols Field Work Detail. Beginning in July 1942, the prisoners, anywhere from 100 to 450 men, were forced to add a runway expansion at Nichols field by tearing through an entire mountain by hand. Known by the POWS as "The Cut", the men dug away the entire hill under extremely brutal conditions while being deliberately starved. They loaded the dirt and rocks into small mining carts and hauled it away. Day and night, hundreds of men worked on the field. They were housed at the Pasay Elementary School on Park Avenue, located about one mile from the actual digging site. This camp was about 300 yards east of the point where F. B. Harrison (Street) passes the entrance of the Manila Polo Club Field in Pasay, just south of Manila.
Sgt. Earl Watson Prisoner of War
Dallas – Word has just been received by Mrs. Milton Cooper that her son, Staff Sergeant Earl T. Watson was taken prisoner by the Japanese at the fall of Corregidor. A telegram was received by his mother from the Adjutant general's office at Washington, D. C. He was an artilleryman on Ft. Mills in the entrance Manila Bay. S/Sgt. Watson was first reported as missing in action May 22. No further word was received until the telegram arrived. Earl was a son of the late Tommy Watson who lived in Kings Valley for years before going to Dallas to reside. Earl spent several months here working on the Israel Eddy place several years ago. Source: The Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon), Thursday, 07 January 1943, page 3 and Corvallis Gazette-Times (Corvallis, Oregon), Friday, 08 January 1943, page 6.
Bilibid Prison June 1944
Staff Sergeant Earl T. Watson was"admitted to this hospital about 2000 June 5, 1944 in an unconscious state from a prisoner work detail at Pasay, P.I., where he had been ill for the past six months, and unable to work. It was reported that he suddenly became severely ill about six hours prior to admission to this hospital and soon lost consciousness. Physical examination immediately after arrival revealed an extremely emaciated white male about 32 years of age, critically ill and unconscious; respiration 18 and very shallow; pulse rate about 25 per minute, and showed marked irregularity. Blood pressure unobtainable. Lungs fields, normal. Abdomen, normal. There was moderate pitting and edema of the feet and ankles. Treatment consisted of digitalis intramuscularly and caffeine. He died at 2330 June 5, 1944, about 3 hours after admission to this hospital, without regaining consciousness. Primary cause of death – beriberi; contributory cause of death – malnutrition.
Earl was buried on 06 June 1944 in the Bilibid Prison cemetery – Row 4, Grave 26. Burial services were conducted by Chaplain P.O. Wolcox, Lt. Col. (CHC), U.S. Army.
Sgt. Watson Dies in Prison Camp
Dallas – S/Sgt. Earl T. Watson, son of Mrs. Milton Cooper of Dallas, died in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in the Philippines as the result of beriberi according to a telegram received this week by Mrs. Cooper from the secretary of war. Beriberi is a disease of the Asiatic tropics probably brought on by insufficient diet and exposure.
Date of his death was not given but the message said the information had come through Red Cross from the Japanese government and that a letter would follow.
Sgt. Watson, a coast artilleryman stationed at Fort Mills at the entrance of Manila Bay, was taken a prisoner when the fort was captured about the time of the fall of Corregidor in 1942. He was officially reported as missing in action on May 22, 1942. A few brief messages on the cards permitted by the Japanese have been received but none in more than a year.
Source: The Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon), Saturday, 16 December 1944, page 3 and Statesman Journal (Salem, Oregon), Friday, 15 December 1944, page 1.
St. Sgt. Earl Thomas Watson Dies in Jap Prison of Beriberi
KINGS VALLEY – HOSKINS, Dec. 21 – (SPECIAL) – Mrs. Milton Cooper of Dallas received word last week that her son, St. Sgt. Earl Thomas Watson who has been a Jap prisoner since the fall of Corregidor, has died of Beriberi, a disease of the "Asiatic" tropics probably brought on by insufficient diet and exposure. Earl will be remembered here by some as he worked here on the Eddy place one winter while Frank Price had it rented, and Earl's father will be remembered by many of the older residents here a Tommy Watson who lived for many years near Hoskins on what is now the Jim Price farm and the farm just south of it. Earl moved with his parents to Dallas a number of years ago. Source: Corvallis Gazette-Times (Corvallis, Oregon), Thursday, 21 December 1944, page 8.
After the war, all the remains in the Bilibid Prison cemetery were disinterred and brought to 7747 USAF Cemetery, Manila #2, Philippine Islands. He was reburied on 15 June 1945 in Block 1, Row 15, Grave 1828 (D-D 12111). 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. From there, according to the wishes of his next of kin (mother, Mrs. Agnes Cooper), Staff Sergeant Earl Thomas Watson was buried in his final resting place in the 7701 Ft. McKinley Cemetery (now known as the Manila American Cemetery) – Plot N, Row 9, Grave 46.
Victory Costs Dearly in Lives Of Willamette Valley Youths
Daily casualty lists sent out by the United States war department have been constant reminders that the war against the axis powers was a costly one. Army and Navy releases up to V-J day show that the following 414 men and boys from Salem and surrounding valley towns will not return: ... Staff Sgt. Earl T. Watson, Dallas. Source: The Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon), Wednesday, 15 August 1945, page 3.
Earl Thomas Watson, born 06 February 1914, in Dallas, Polk County, Oregon, was the first born child of Thomas W. Watson and Agnes V. Earl. His father was a farmer.
1920 United States Federal Census (06 January 1920): Dallas, Polk County, Oregon (sheet 6A, family 47, 318 Maple Street) – Earl T. Watson (5 Oregon).
1930 United States Federal Census (22 April 1930): Riverside, Clackamas County, Oregon (sheet 1A, family 13, Old Territorial Road) – Earl T. Watson (16 Oregon).
Roster of Troops – 23 May 1935
Recruit and Casual Detachment, Vancouver Barracks, Washington
Private Earl T. Watson (S/N 6555304). Transferred to Ft. McDowell, California, 23 May 1935.
... Sgt. Mabie (Sgt. Lee B. Mabie, local recruiting officer for the U.S. army) has also received word that 12 young men enlisted through his office have successfully passed the entrance examinations and will sail on the transport Grant from San Francisco for the Hawaiian and Philippine Islands, June 5. These men are ... and Earl T. Watson, Dallas. Source: The Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon), Tuesday, 28 May 1935, page 9.
Private Earl T. Watson (S/N 6555304) departed Fort McDowell, California on 05 June 1935 aboard the U.S.A.T US GRANT (Voyage #53 outgoing). He and the others in his Company were assigned to the Philippine Islands. They arrived in Manila, P. I. on 28 June 1935. They stopped at Honolulu, T. H. on 11 June 1935 and then Guam on their way. Earl was in the Coast Artillery. He was assigned to Company Number "2", Hold "4" D Aft.
Roster of Troops – 28 June 1935 to 08 August 1939
Battery A, 60th Coast Artillery (anti-aircraft), Fort Mills, Philippine Islands
Private/Private First Class Earl T. Watson (S/N 6555304). Assigned to and joined from CAC Fort McDowell, California, 28th June 1935. He was promoted to Private First Class on 22 February 1936. In July 1936 he was returned to Private. On 10 September 1936 he was returned to the rank of Private First Class. On 18 July 1938 Earl reenlisted in grade. On 26 December 1938 he was given a 10 day furlough. He returned from furlough on 05 January 1939. On 09 January 1939 he was returned to the rank of Private and on 30 March 1939 Earl was appointed back to Private First Class. On 28 June 1938 he was again sent back to Private. On 08 August 1939 Private Earl T. Watson was transferred to the 28th Bomb Squadron, Air Corps, Clark Field, P. I.
Roster of Troops – 08 August 1938 to 31 December 1939
28th Bombardment Squadron, Air Corps, Clark Field, Philippine Islands
Private Earl T. Watson (S/N 6555304). He was transferred from 60th CA on 08 August 1939.
There are no Roster of Troops online reports after 1939.
Earl T. Watson (1913 Oregon), a resident of Polk County, Oregon, reenlisted as a Private (S/N 6555304) in the U. S. Army on 09 September 1941. He was single, had completed 2 years of high school and in civilian life had worked as "semiskilled mechanics and repairmen, motor vehicles". Earl had been an "enlisted man, Regular Army, within 3 months of discharge."
He was assigned to Headquarters Company, Philippine Department, U.S. Army.
War with Japan broke out on 08 December 1941. Japanese forces began a full-scale invasion of Luzon on 22 December. American and Filipino forces on Bataan surrendered on 09 April 1942. On 06 May 1942 Corregidor fell and Sgt. Earl T. Watson became a prisoner of the Japanese along with approximately 8,000 American soldiers, sailors and marines and 5,000 Filipino troops and civilians. The American prisoners were interned in an area on Corregidor known as the 92nd Garage Area. On 24 May 1942 the prisoners were loaded into the holds of three ships and taken to Manila. There they were marched to Bilibid Prison, a distance of about five miles, herded and kept in the line of march by mounted Japanese cavalrymen. The prisoners arrived in Bilibid during the afternoon of 25 May.
By June 1942, the majority of the men who were captured were interned in the either at Camp O'Donnell (Bataan prisoners), Cabanatuan or Bilibid Prison. The Japanese administration kept few records of the prisoners of war, and cared little for their treatment, health, sanitary conditions, seeming to be concerned only with the amount of work they could get out of the prisoners as a group. Many small work details were sent out from these camps.
Sgt. Watson was taken the Japanese POW Camp 1, Cabanatuan, Nueva Province, Luzon, Philippines 15-121 and from there assigned to the Nichols Field Work Detail. Beginning in July 1942, the prisoners, anywhere from 100 to 450 men, were forced to add a runway expansion at Nichols field by tearing through an entire mountain by hand. Known by the POWS as "The Cut", the men dug away the entire hill under extremely brutal conditions while being deliberately starved. They loaded the dirt and rocks into small mining carts and hauled it away. Day and night, hundreds of men worked on the field. They were housed at the Pasay Elementary School on Park Avenue, located about one mile from the actual digging site. This camp was about 300 yards east of the point where F. B. Harrison (Street) passes the entrance of the Manila Polo Club Field in Pasay, just south of Manila.
Sgt. Earl Watson Prisoner of War
Dallas – Word has just been received by Mrs. Milton Cooper that her son, Staff Sergeant Earl T. Watson was taken prisoner by the Japanese at the fall of Corregidor. A telegram was received by his mother from the Adjutant general's office at Washington, D. C. He was an artilleryman on Ft. Mills in the entrance Manila Bay. S/Sgt. Watson was first reported as missing in action May 22. No further word was received until the telegram arrived. Earl was a son of the late Tommy Watson who lived in Kings Valley for years before going to Dallas to reside. Earl spent several months here working on the Israel Eddy place several years ago. Source: The Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon), Thursday, 07 January 1943, page 3 and Corvallis Gazette-Times (Corvallis, Oregon), Friday, 08 January 1943, page 6.
Bilibid Prison June 1944
Staff Sergeant Earl T. Watson was"admitted to this hospital about 2000 June 5, 1944 in an unconscious state from a prisoner work detail at Pasay, P.I., where he had been ill for the past six months, and unable to work. It was reported that he suddenly became severely ill about six hours prior to admission to this hospital and soon lost consciousness. Physical examination immediately after arrival revealed an extremely emaciated white male about 32 years of age, critically ill and unconscious; respiration 18 and very shallow; pulse rate about 25 per minute, and showed marked irregularity. Blood pressure unobtainable. Lungs fields, normal. Abdomen, normal. There was moderate pitting and edema of the feet and ankles. Treatment consisted of digitalis intramuscularly and caffeine. He died at 2330 June 5, 1944, about 3 hours after admission to this hospital, without regaining consciousness. Primary cause of death – beriberi; contributory cause of death – malnutrition.
Earl was buried on 06 June 1944 in the Bilibid Prison cemetery – Row 4, Grave 26. Burial services were conducted by Chaplain P.O. Wolcox, Lt. Col. (CHC), U.S. Army.
Sgt. Watson Dies in Prison Camp
Dallas – S/Sgt. Earl T. Watson, son of Mrs. Milton Cooper of Dallas, died in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in the Philippines as the result of beriberi according to a telegram received this week by Mrs. Cooper from the secretary of war. Beriberi is a disease of the Asiatic tropics probably brought on by insufficient diet and exposure.
Date of his death was not given but the message said the information had come through Red Cross from the Japanese government and that a letter would follow.
Sgt. Watson, a coast artilleryman stationed at Fort Mills at the entrance of Manila Bay, was taken a prisoner when the fort was captured about the time of the fall of Corregidor in 1942. He was officially reported as missing in action on May 22, 1942. A few brief messages on the cards permitted by the Japanese have been received but none in more than a year.
Source: The Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon), Saturday, 16 December 1944, page 3 and Statesman Journal (Salem, Oregon), Friday, 15 December 1944, page 1.
St. Sgt. Earl Thomas Watson Dies in Jap Prison of Beriberi
KINGS VALLEY – HOSKINS, Dec. 21 – (SPECIAL) – Mrs. Milton Cooper of Dallas received word last week that her son, St. Sgt. Earl Thomas Watson who has been a Jap prisoner since the fall of Corregidor, has died of Beriberi, a disease of the "Asiatic" tropics probably brought on by insufficient diet and exposure. Earl will be remembered here by some as he worked here on the Eddy place one winter while Frank Price had it rented, and Earl's father will be remembered by many of the older residents here a Tommy Watson who lived for many years near Hoskins on what is now the Jim Price farm and the farm just south of it. Earl moved with his parents to Dallas a number of years ago. Source: Corvallis Gazette-Times (Corvallis, Oregon), Thursday, 21 December 1944, page 8.
After the war, all the remains in the Bilibid Prison cemetery were disinterred and brought to 7747 USAF Cemetery, Manila #2, Philippine Islands. He was reburied on 15 June 1945 in Block 1, Row 15, Grave 1828 (D-D 12111). 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. From there, according to the wishes of his next of kin (mother, Mrs. Agnes Cooper), Staff Sergeant Earl Thomas Watson was buried in his final resting place in the 7701 Ft. McKinley Cemetery (now known as the Manila American Cemetery) – Plot N, Row 9, Grave 46.
Victory Costs Dearly in Lives Of Willamette Valley Youths
Daily casualty lists sent out by the United States war department have been constant reminders that the war against the axis powers was a costly one. Army and Navy releases up to V-J day show that the following 414 men and boys from Salem and surrounding valley towns will not return: ... Staff Sgt. Earl T. Watson, Dallas. Source: The Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon), Wednesday, 15 August 1945, page 3.
1920 United States Federal Census (06 January 1920): Dallas, Polk County, Oregon (sheet 6A, family 47, 318 Maple Street) – Earl T. Watson (5 Oregon).
1930 United States Federal Census (22 April 1930): Riverside, Clackamas County, Oregon (sheet 1A, family 13, Old Territorial Road) – Earl T. Watson (16 Oregon).
Roster of Troops – 23 May 1935
Recruit and Casual Detachment, Vancouver Barracks, Washington
Private Earl T. Watson (S/N 6555304). Transferred to Ft. McDowell, California, 23 May 1935.
... Sgt. Mabie (Sgt. Lee B. Mabie, local recruiting officer for the U.S. army) has also received word that 12 young men enlisted through his office have successfully passed the entrance examinations and will sail on the transport Grant from San Francisco for the Hawaiian and Philippine Islands, June 5. These men are ... and Earl T. Watson, Dallas. Source: The Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon), Tuesday, 28 May 1935, page 9.
Private Earl T. Watson (S/N 6555304) departed Fort McDowell, California on 05 June 1935 aboard the U.S.A.T US GRANT (Voyage #53 outgoing). He and the others in his Company were assigned to the Philippine Islands. They arrived in Manila, P. I. on 28 June 1935. They stopped at Honolulu, T. H. on 11 June 1935 and then Guam on their way. Earl was in the Coast Artillery. He was assigned to Company Number "2", Hold "4" D Aft.
Roster of Troops – 28 June 1935 to 08 August 1939
Battery A, 60th Coast Artillery (anti-aircraft), Fort Mills, Philippine Islands
Private/Private First Class Earl T. Watson (S/N 6555304). Assigned to and joined from CAC Fort McDowell, California, 28th June 1935. He was promoted to Private First Class on 22 February 1936. In July 1936 he was returned to Private. On 10 September 1936 he was returned to the rank of Private First Class. On 18 July 1938 Earl reenlisted in grade. On 26 December 1938 he was given a 10 day furlough. He returned from furlough on 05 January 1939. On 09 January 1939 he was returned to the rank of Private and on 30 March 1939 Earl was appointed back to Private First Class. On 28 June 1938 he was again sent back to Private. On 08 August 1939 Private Earl T. Watson was transferred to the 28th Bomb Squadron, Air Corps, Clark Field, P. I.
Roster of Troops – 08 August 1938 to 31 December 1939
28th Bombardment Squadron, Air Corps, Clark Field, Philippine Islands
Private Earl T. Watson (S/N 6555304). He was transferred from 60th CA on 08 August 1939.
There are no Roster of Troops online reports after 1939.
Earl T. Watson (1913 Oregon), a resident of Polk County, Oregon, reenlisted as a Private (S/N 6555304) in the U. S. Army on 09 September 1941. He was single, had completed 2 years of high school and in civilian life had worked as "semiskilled mechanics and repairmen, motor vehicles". Earl had been an "enlisted man, Regular Army, within 3 months of discharge."
He was assigned to Headquarters Company, Philippine Department, U.S. Army.
War with Japan broke out on 08 December 1941. Japanese forces began a full-scale invasion of Luzon on 22 December. American and Filipino forces on Bataan surrendered on 09 April 1942. On 06 May 1942 Corregidor fell and Sgt. Earl T. Watson became a prisoner of the Japanese along with approximately 8,000 American soldiers, sailors and marines and 5,000 Filipino troops and civilians. The American prisoners were interned in an area on Corregidor known as the 92nd Garage Area. On 24 May 1942 the prisoners were loaded into the holds of three ships and taken to Manila. There they were marched to Bilibid Prison, a distance of about five miles, herded and kept in the line of march by mounted Japanese cavalrymen. The prisoners arrived in Bilibid during the afternoon of 25 May.
By June 1942, the majority of the men who were captured were interned in the either at Camp O'Donnell (Bataan prisoners), Cabanatuan or Bilibid Prison. The Japanese administration kept few records of the prisoners of war, and cared little for their treatment, health, sanitary conditions, seeming to be concerned only with the amount of work they could get out of the prisoners as a group. Many small work details were sent out from these camps.
Sgt. Watson was taken the Japanese POW Camp 1, Cabanatuan, Nueva Province, Luzon, Philippines 15-121 and from there assigned to the Nichols Field Work Detail. Beginning in July 1942, the prisoners, anywhere from 100 to 450 men, were forced to add a runway expansion at Nichols field by tearing through an entire mountain by hand. Known by the POWS as "The Cut", the men dug away the entire hill under extremely brutal conditions while being deliberately starved. They loaded the dirt and rocks into small mining carts and hauled it away. Day and night, hundreds of men worked on the field. They were housed at the Pasay Elementary School on Park Avenue, located about one mile from the actual digging site. This camp was about 300 yards east of the point where F. B. Harrison (Street) passes the entrance of the Manila Polo Club Field in Pasay, just south of Manila.
Sgt. Earl Watson Prisoner of War
Dallas – Word has just been received by Mrs. Milton Cooper that her son, Staff Sergeant Earl T. Watson was taken prisoner by the Japanese at the fall of Corregidor. A telegram was received by his mother from the Adjutant general's office at Washington, D. C. He was an artilleryman on Ft. Mills in the entrance Manila Bay. S/Sgt. Watson was first reported as missing in action May 22. No further word was received until the telegram arrived. Earl was a son of the late Tommy Watson who lived in Kings Valley for years before going to Dallas to reside. Earl spent several months here working on the Israel Eddy place several years ago. Source: The Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon), Thursday, 07 January 1943, page 3 and Corvallis Gazette-Times (Corvallis, Oregon), Friday, 08 January 1943, page 6.
Bilibid Prison June 1944
Staff Sergeant Earl T. Watson was"admitted to this hospital about 2000 June 5, 1944 in an unconscious state from a prisoner work detail at Pasay, P.I., where he had been ill for the past six months, and unable to work. It was reported that he suddenly became severely ill about six hours prior to admission to this hospital and soon lost consciousness. Physical examination immediately after arrival revealed an extremely emaciated white male about 32 years of age, critically ill and unconscious; respiration 18 and very shallow; pulse rate about 25 per minute, and showed marked irregularity. Blood pressure unobtainable. Lungs fields, normal. Abdomen, normal. There was moderate pitting and edema of the feet and ankles. Treatment consisted of digitalis intramuscularly and caffeine. He died at 2330 June 5, 1944, about 3 hours after admission to this hospital, without regaining consciousness. Primary cause of death – beriberi; contributory cause of death – malnutrition.
Earl was buried on 06 June 1944 in the Bilibid Prison cemetery – Row 4, Grave 26. Burial services were conducted by Chaplain P.O. Wolcox, Lt. Col. (CHC), U.S. Army.
Sgt. Watson Dies in Prison Camp
Dallas – S/Sgt. Earl T. Watson, son of Mrs. Milton Cooper of Dallas, died in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in the Philippines as the result of beriberi according to a telegram received this week by Mrs. Cooper from the secretary of war. Beriberi is a disease of the Asiatic tropics probably brought on by insufficient diet and exposure.
Date of his death was not given but the message said the information had come through Red Cross from the Japanese government and that a letter would follow.
Sgt. Watson, a coast artilleryman stationed at Fort Mills at the entrance of Manila Bay, was taken a prisoner when the fort was captured about the time of the fall of Corregidor in 1942. He was officially reported as missing in action on May 22, 1942. A few brief messages on the cards permitted by the Japanese have been received but none in more than a year.
Source: The Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon), Saturday, 16 December 1944, page 3 and Statesman Journal (Salem, Oregon), Friday, 15 December 1944, page 1.
St. Sgt. Earl Thomas Watson Dies in Jap Prison of Beriberi
KINGS VALLEY – HOSKINS, Dec. 21 – (SPECIAL) – Mrs. Milton Cooper of Dallas received word last week that her son, St. Sgt. Earl Thomas Watson who has been a Jap prisoner since the fall of Corregidor, has died of Beriberi, a disease of the "Asiatic" tropics probably brought on by insufficient diet and exposure. Earl will be remembered here by some as he worked here on the Eddy place one winter while Frank Price had it rented, and Earl's father will be remembered by many of the older residents here a Tommy Watson who lived for many years near Hoskins on what is now the Jim Price farm and the farm just south of it. Earl moved with his parents to Dallas a number of years ago. Source: Corvallis Gazette-Times (Corvallis, Oregon), Thursday, 21 December 1944, page 8.
After the war, all the remains in the Bilibid Prison cemetery were disinterred and brought to 7747 USAF Cemetery, Manila #2, Philippine Islands. He was reburied on 15 June 1945 in Block 1, Row 15, Grave 1828 (D-D 12111). 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. From there, according to the wishes of his next of kin (mother, Mrs. Agnes Cooper), Staff Sergeant Earl Thomas Watson was buried in his final resting place in the 7701 Ft. McKinley Cemetery (now known as the Manila American Cemetery) – Plot N, Row 9, Grave 46.
Victory Costs Dearly in Lives Of Willamette Valley Youths
Daily casualty lists sent out by the United States war department have been constant reminders that the war against the axis powers was a costly one. Army and Navy releases up to V-J day show that the following 414 men and boys from Salem and surrounding valley towns will not return: ... Staff Sgt. Earl T. Watson, Dallas. Source: The Capital Journal (Salem, Oregon), Wednesday, 15 August 1945, page 3.
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