WWII POW Jesse Knowles, longtime state lawmaker dead at 86

Nola.com ^ | 4/23/2006 | Associated Press

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LAKE CHARLES, La. (AP) — Jesse Knowles, whose decades of public service ranged from being a World War II prisoner of war to a longtime member of the state Legislature, has died.

Knowles, of Lake Charles, died Sunday night at an area hospital. He was 86.

During a lifetime spent in the public eye, Knowles won the Purple Heart, co-wrote the Lake Charles city charter, led the local Armed Forces Committee and was a familiar figure at school programs and veterans ceremonies.

As a member of the U.S. Army Air Corps, Knowles was a survivor of the Bataan Death March. He then spent more than three years as a prisoner of war. Knowles told of his experience in "They," a story in verse which he wrote in April 1943 while still captive. The war poem has earned a worldwide audience in recent years through numerous Internet postings. It opens this way: Strange things were done under the tropic sun / By the men in khaki twill / Those tropic nights have seen some sights / That would make your heart stand still.

A native of Merryville, Knowles served 20 years in the state Legislature. He was a member of the House from 1960 to 1964 and served four terms in the state Senate from 1964 to 1980.

Gov. Dave Treen named Knowles secretary of the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries in 1980, but he resigned 12 days after the appointment for health reasons. Treen then named him to the Louisiana Rice Promotion Board and he was elected to the board of directors of the Louisiana Rice Council.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

[balch3]

THEY

A Survivor's Account of the Battan Death March

Strange things were done under the tropic sun By the men in Khaki twill Those tropic nights have seen some sights That would make your heart stand still Those mountain trails could spin some tales That no man would ever like But the worst of all was after the fall When we started on that hike

'Twas the 7th of December in '41 When they hit Hawaii as the day begun 'Twas a Sunday morning and all was calm When out of nowhere there came the bombs It didn't last long but the damage was done America was at war with the rising sun

Now over in the Philippines we heard the news And it shook every man clean down to his shoes It seemed like a dream to begin But soon every soldier was a fighting man Each branch was ready to do its part Artillery, infantry, Nichols and Clark

And then they came on that Monday noon They hit Clark field like a typhoon That Monday night the moon was clear They razed Nichols from front to rear As the days went by more bombers came And soon only a few P-40's remained

Then the orders came and said retreat That no man would be seen on the city streets So across the bay we moved at night Away from Manila and out of sight Deep into the jungles of Bataan Where 15,000 were to make a stand

Here we fought as a soldier should As the days went by we spilled our blood Tho' the rumors came and went by night That convoy never came in sight

April 7th was a fatal day When the word went around that we couldn't stay That the front line was due to fall So the troops moved back one and all

The very next day the surrender came Then we were men without a name You may think here's Where the story ends But actually here's where it begins Tho' we fought and didn't see victory The story of that march will go down in history

We marched along in columns of four Living and seeing the horrors of war And when a man fell along the way A cold bayonet would make him pay For those four months he fought on Bataan Then they'd kill him 'cause he couldn't stand

The tropic sun would sweat us dry For the pumps were few that we passed by But on we marched to a place unknown A place to rest and a place to call home Home not that you might know But home to man that suffered a blow

Then to O'Donnell Camp en masse Some never back thru' those gates to pass In Nipa huts we lived like beast Bad rice and camotes were called a feast

Our minds went back to days gone by When our throats were never dry Of our wives, our mothers, and friends Of our by-gone days and our many sins And about four thousand passed away And how many more no man can say For no tomb stone marks the spot Where thirty to fifty were buried in lot Piled together as a rubbish heap The remains of men Who were forced to retreat

Now I want to state and my words are straight And I bet you think they're true That if you gotta die it's better to try And take them with you too

It's they that took us that fatal day It's they that made us pay and pay It's they that counted us morn and night It's they that again we wanted to fight It's they that made us as we are But it's not they that'll win this war For the men in khaki will come some day And take us back to the U.S.A.

©Copyright April 1943 by Jesse Knowles

[fieldmarshaldj]

May he rest in peace.

[balch3]

the poem didn't format just right when I pasted it, but at least it's readable.