Just by chance was the guy from CA named James Huxtable?
No, I recall his first name Harold and I’ll look through a book he gave me to see if his last name is there. He and his twin brother were both captured and were in the death march. His brother didn’t survive.
No - I didn’t write his name in the book. For some reason, Hicks comes to mind. My husband and I met him in 2001 and the book he gave me is the 31st U. S. Infantry Regiment - History/Lineage/Honors/Decorations and Seventy Fourth Anniversary. My mother’s only brother was killed on Bataan in January 1942 and he was a member of that Regiment as I suppose most infantry was. One of my uncle’s letters had the Infantry logo on it which I guess depicts a Polar Bear? This gentleman wanted me to have the book. We sat for several hours in his home while he related those years to us.
I have another book that was put together by the sister of a Bataan prisoner who was put on a ship to Japan and was lost at sea. She lived in Irvine, CA and was a neighbor.
Bad times, interesting times. I have a lot of the letters that my uncle sent to my mother with the last one she wrote to him on Christmas Day 1941 and returned to her. The family didn’t get the word of his death until February sometime. His name is spelled wrong on the memorial at the American Cemetery in Manila and without a direct descendant to request the correction, it could never be corrected. He was unmarried, no children and only three sisters left by the time I discovered the error.