Honoring the Men of Company C
By Connie L. Cedoz
Seventy years ago American & Filipino troops fighting the Japanese on the Bataan Peninsula surrendered to the Japanese Army. The Japanese had no method for housing as many prisoners as they had in their custody. The Japanese then subjected the prisoners to a forced march to the Northern end of the Bataan Peninsula. That march from Mariveles to San Fernando has become known as the Bataan Death March. It would have been a severe trial for any healthy man; the American & Filipino prisoners were severely dehydrated, malnourished and demoralized. The condition of the prisoners set the stage for what was to become extreme cruelty and brutality.
Included in the complement of prisoners was a contingent of National Guard troops from Port Clinton. The 42 men of Company C, 192nd Tank Battalion, Camp Perry, Port Clinton, Ohio left for training at Fort Knox, Ky, November 29, 1940. By November 20, 1941, the men of Co. C had arrived at Fort Stotsenburg in the Philippines.
On December 8, 1941, Clark Field was bombed by the Japanese who later invaded the islands and marched southward towards Manila. On December 22, the unit was engaged in ground combat with the Japanese who had landed at Lingayen Gulf.
Of the 42 men who left Port Clinton in 1940, 32 were still with the unit as they fell back to assume new defensive positions on the Bataan Peninsula. On April 9, 1942, the Bataan Peninsula fell to the Japanese Army and began one of the most grueling survival stories in WWII. Of the thirty two Port Clinton men captured; only 10 survived the Death March and the next 3 ½ years in captivity as POWs. These 10 men eventually returned to Port Clinton after being treated for malnutrition and various tropical diseases.
The Ida Rupp Public Library has had a separate Bataan Memorial Collection for many years. The library has received many donations for the collection since the core books were donated by Philip J. Heineman. The most recent donations were artist prints received from Donald C. Caldwell, for which we are very grateful. These prints are the work of Ben Steele, a Bataan survivor whose experiences are related in Tears in the darkness: the story of the Bataan Death March and its aftermath by Michael and Elizabeth M. Norman.
We continue to purchase new materials to further honor the men of Company C. We have digitized some of the photographs in the collection for online research in the Ohio Memory project.
We continue to purchase new materials to further honor the men of Company C. We have digitized some of the photographs in the collection for online research in the Ohio Memory project.
The large framed photograph of the men of Company C located in the library was taken by Willis G. Misch the night before the Tank Corps left Port Clinton in November 1940 for a year of additional training before being sent to the Philippines. Three of the thirty-two men from the Company not shown in this picture were officers: Arthur Burholdt, Harold Collins and Robert Sorensen.
The survivors of the War who returned to Port Clinton:
1. Harold Beggs
2. Charles Boeshart
3. Charles Chafin
4. Wade Chio
5. Joseph Hrupcho, the final Bataan survivor to pass away
6. Virgil Janes
7. Silas L. LeGrow
8. John Minier
9. John Short
10. Kenneth Thompson
“Lest We Never Forget”
Sources:
Articles, Books from our Collection
