5 COUNTY MEN AMONG 36,853 DOUGHTY DEFENDERS OF BATAAN NOW OVERPOWERED BY JAPS
Five
Cherokee County men and three relatives of local people were believed
to be in the Philippines at the time of Bataan’s surrender.
The group included:
Captain Leslie Gilbert of Cherokee, son of Mrs. Esther Gilbert.
Bob McLaughlin, Cherokee, (formerly stationed at Clark field, but recently transferred), son of Mr. and Mrs. L. D. McLaughlin.
Cyril
Kauffman, former CCC camp leader here, last heard of from Fort Mills.
Kauffman came here three years ago from McGregor, Iowa.
Earl
McKinnis, Aurelia, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harley McKinnis, last heard from
at Nichols field. He has been in the islands for two years.
Donald
Julius, Cherokee, son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Julius, last heard from at
Fort Stotsenberg. He is a private first class in the engineers and
left Cherokee last October 4.
Edward Melott, son of Mrs. V. C. Melott of Bell, Calif., was last heard from in the islands. His mother
is the former Alma Phipps of Cherokee.
Mr. and Mrs. Harry Salet,
cousins of Mrs. Meyer Woiff of Cherokee, were in the importing business
at Manila at the start of the war. They have not been heard from since.
CAPTURE OR DEATH FATE OF DEFENDERS BATAAN PENINSULA
Washington
– Capture or death at the hands of invading Japanese hordes faced the
bulk of 36,853 gallant American-Filipino defenders of Bataan peninsula
Thursday, closing a heroic three months battle against numerically
overwhelming forces.
Exhausted by short rations and disease and
virtually cut off from supplies despite costly efforts which provided
some ammunition but did not relieve the food shortage, the doughty
defenders fell back before the Japanese who already had overrun the
Dutch East Indies, Britain’s Singapore and Malaya.
(Source: Cherokee Daily Times, Thursday, April 9, 1942, pg. 1)
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