2nd Lt. Donald R. Bertrand was born in Roswell, New Mexico, on August 8, 1921.  When he was two, his parents, Thomas & Mary Bertrand, moved their family to Maywood, Illinois.  In Maywood, he, his brother and two sisters were raised at 205 South 8th Avenue and attended Emerson Grade School.  He graduated from Proviso Township High School in 1939 and worked as a receiving clerk at a paper good company.

    Donald joined the 33rd Tank Company of the Illinois National Guard.  On November 25, 1940, Donald left for Fort Knox, Kentucky, for training. At Fort Knox, Donald learned to operate the all the equipment used by the 192nd.  Later Donald trained in Louisiana before being sent to the Philippine Islands.

    In the Philippines, Donald was reassigned to C Company as an officer.   Donald lived through the Japanese attack on Clark Field on December 8, 1941.  On December 16, 1941, Donald and Lt. Emmett Gibson were at Clark Field when Japanese planes appeared to bomb the airfield once more.  The two officers found themselves in a slip-trench during a Japanese air attack.  Each one had a .30 caliber machine gun and opened fire on the planes.  Both men watched as their tracers went through the wings of the Japanese fighters.  The pilots of the planes broke off the attack and took off for home.

    Donald fought the Japanese until the Filipino-American troops were ordered to surrender on April 9, 1942.  He took part in the death march and was held as a Prisoner of War at Camp O'Donnell.  He was next held as a POW at Cabanatuan.  During this time, he went out on various work details.  One of the details that he went out on was to Las Pinas.  The POWs on this detail built runways with picks and shovels.  It is also known that Donald was sent to Davao, Mindanao.  Once again he worked at building runways.  On June 25, 1944, he and other were put on the Teiryu Maru and returned to Cabanatuan. 

    On December 14, 1944, Donald was taken to the Port Area of Manila.  He was boarded onto the Oryoku Maru.  While the ship was off the coast of Luzon, it came under attack from American planes.  In an attempt to save the ship it was beached.  The attack continued the next day until the pilots, seeing the number of men entering the water to escape the attack, realized that the ship was carrying POWs.  Donald like the other POWs swam to shore.  As they came ashore, they were fired upon by Japanese machine guns.  Once ashore,  he and the other men were rounded up and were taken by train to San Fernando.  They were then returned to Manila and boarded onto the Enoura Maru.

    After arriving in Formosa, the Enoura Maru also came under attack by American planes one bomb exploded in a hold killing many prisoners.  This attack left three hundred American POWs dead.  On Formosa, Donald and the other surviving POWs were boarded onto a third "Hell Ship" the Brazil Maru.

    The Brazil Maru sailed for Japan on January 13, 1945.  Two days later, on January 15, 1945, 2nd Lt. Donald R. Bertrand died aboard the Brazil Maru.  The cause of death was listed as dysentery on the final report on the 192nd Tank Battalion, but U.S. Army records show that he died from wounds he had received during the attack on the Enoura Maru.  Donald was 23 years old.  

    After 2nd Lt. Donald R. Bertrand died, his body was thrown overboard after being stripped of its clothing.  His clothing was given to other prisoners who needed it.  Since he died at sea, 2nd Lt. Donald R. Bertrand's name appears on the Tablets of the Missing at the American Military Cemetery outside of Manila.