18f-6~ ·J~.J.~"'l - Philippine Defenders Main

724th AVIATION ORDNANCE COMPANY (Continued).
Death March.
On 9 April 1942, the day MAJOR GENERAL EDWARD P KING, JR, surrendered Bataan,
COL HURST ordered the remaining members of the 724th Aviation Ordnance Com-
pany, four (4) officers and forty-six (46) enlisted men to Corregidor; they
were transported by tug boats and barges, arriving at approximately 4 AM.
Upon arrival they were told by the Commanding Officers, 4th US Marines, that
as they were seasoned troops coming in from Bataan they were assigned to
the Marines to help defend the beaches. Ten (10) enlisted men and two (2)
officers were killed. PVT HAROLD JERSHEFSKI lost a leg there, and many
others were wounded, with some dying later.
CAPTAIN CHARLES JAMES, LT CHARLES GAGE, T/SGT RUDOLPH MALCHER, 1st/SGT
WILLIAM BEUS and a Marine major, were in a foxhole; Beus left it just min­
utes before the Japs got a direct hit on it and killed the three (3) officers
and one (1) T/SGT instantly.
On 6 May 1942 LT GENERAL JONATHAN M WAINWRIGHT surrendered Corregidor. About
two weeks later the Japanese took the prisoners-of-war to Manila Port Area
by barge and cargo steamer. Upon arrival the wounded were put on trucks
and sent to Bilibid Prison where most of them remained until liberated by a
unit of the 37th Infantry Division in February 1945. Others from Corregidor
were marched approximately four to five miles to the train station and sent to
Cabanatuan Prison Camp. A clarification is necessary here: the ones left on
Bataan, that were not killed, made the Bataan death March; those captured on
CORREGIDOR DID NOT MAKE THE BATAAN DEATH MARCH AS IT WAS ALREADY PAST HISTORY
WHEN THEY WERE CAPTURED. Most of those that died in Cabanatuan were those
who suffered effects of the horrible Bataan Death March. On 1 June 1942
the Japs moved the Bataan Death March survivors from the hell-hole O'Donnell
Prison Camp to Cabanatuan as a Japanese officer said too many were dying
there. The POWs from Corregidor that were in Cabanatuan, were in shock when
they saw the condition of the Bataan Death March survivors, who were suffering
not only from maltreatment by the Japanese, but bordered on starvation and
were disease ridden from lack of food, water and medicine.
Americans died at Camp O'Donnell.
At least 1,500
At Cabanatuan Prison Camp the Japanese put the prisoners-of-war in "BLOOD
BROTHER" groups of then (10); if one (1) escaped the other nine (9) would be
executed. Nine were shot and one was beheaded and witnessed by the entire
camp. Norman Martin just missed being shot by two minutes. The Japs had a
surprise roll call in the middle of the night and he had been outside the
3.

724th AVIATION ORDNANCE COMPANY (Continued).
All information in this write-up has been verified by WO NORMAN MARTIN,
CH M/SGT WILLIAM BEUS, M/SGT WILLIS ELLIS, SR M/SGT EDWIN RAYNOR, HAROLD
JERSHEFSKI, ALBERT MOSS, and other living survivors. I wish to thank, and
acknowledge MAJ WALTER C REGEHR, USAF RETIRED, a former member of HQ & HQ
SQDN, 5th Air Base Group, for his contributions, and for furnishing some of
the missing links on page 1, paragraphs three through seven. He currently
resides at 5137 Elbert Way, Sacramento, CA 95842, AC 916-332-3671.
Captain, US Army (Retired)
5471 Tara Drive
Clayton, CA 94517-1065
PH: (415) 672-4338
SYMBOLS:
+
++
ENCLOSURES:
died during the war
died in US after liberation
still living
Original Company strength
Item for publication: Pages 1,2,3,4, and 5
Original Roster dated 15 November 1941
Current Roster of Survivors dated 24 April 1990
Copy Special Orders No. 24, dated 25 January 1942
Blood Brothers Group, Cabanatuan Prison Camp, dated 18 August 1942
NOT ENCLOSED, AVAILABLE ONLY BY REQUEST:
31
1 1
22
64
"Accounting of the Hell Ship, Oroyko Maru, and subsequent events before
arriving in Japan". Written by General Harold K. Johnson, US Army (Ret.),
who was a survivor. General Johnson, former Chief of Staff, died in
September 1983.
"History of Cabanatuan Prison Camp 1942 - 1945" written by MAJ GEN Chester
L. Johnson, US Army (Ret.), General Chairman, Cabanatuan Memorial
Committee, in June 1984.
5 •

Veterans still can't escape Bataan'
By SKIP HOLLANDSWORTH
Staff Writer
It has been 41 years since Bataan.
Retired U. S. Army Lt. Col. Dick
Jones says he .has "forgived and forgotten."
He drives a Japanese-built
car. " You try to look on it now in
retrospect, without the hardship and
despair," Jones said, "and hope it
teaches you something about the thrill
of just being alive."
But for most of the others who
were forced to walk in the infamous
Bataan Death March, the sense of bitterness
remains.
. The men who were in the march
gathered last week in Dallas to again
try to come to terms with one of the
most searing, inhuman experiences of
World War II. About 37.000 U. S. and
Filipino soldiers were captured in
1942 by the Japanese on the Bataan
peninsula and Corregidor island in the
Philippines and forced to march 70
miles to the sea. Thousands died dur-
ing the nine-day march . .
The soldiers had no food or water
and were shot by their Japanese captors
if they stopped to rest. At the sea,
they were loaded onto crowded ships
for the trip to prison camps in Japan,
where for three years they were fed a
couple of handfuls of rice a day.
\ "I'm not sure how to explain why
we get together," said Jones, 73, who
came from- Claremont, Calif., to the '.'
Dallas reunion. Retired Lt. Col. Har
See REUNION on Page S
P hoto at left shows
Capt. William G .
Adair, second from
left; Capt. Wayne
Hightower, second
from right; and Capt.
Kermit Lay, right, in
a Japanese prisonerof-war
camp during
World War II. At
right, they occupy
the same posi tions
during their Dallas
reunion.