Pvt. J. C. Garrett

Parents: Charles & Mattie Garrett

Siblings: 2 sisters, 3 brothers

Home: Panola County, Texas

Occupation: worked on family's farm

Inducted:

    - U. S. Army

        - 1941

Training: 

    - Fort Benning, Georgia

        - tank mechanic 

    - Camp Polk, Louisiana

Units:

    - 753rd Tank Battalion

    - 192nd Tank Battalion

    - volunteered to replace National Guardsman released from federal service 

Overseas Duty:

    - Philippine Islands

Engagements:

    - Battle of Luzon

        - 8 December 1941 - 6 January 1942

    - Battle of Bataan

        - 7 January 1942 - 9 April 1942

            - B Company's tanks guarded one of the few beaches, on the East Coast of Bataan, where the

              Japanese could land troops.  One night, they were involved in a firefight with Japanese landing barges.

              When morning came, not one Japanese soldier had been landed.

- Battle of the Points - 27 January 1942 - 13 February 1942

                -  Agloloma and Anyasas Rivers Area

                    - tanks sent in attacked and disengaged from Japanese

                    - according to Capt. Alvin Poweleit, the battalion's surgeon, the tanks

                      did a great deal of damage 

             - Battle of Tuol Pocket - 23 January - 17 February 1942

                - Japanese trapped behind Filipino-American lines

                - B Company & C Company tanks were sent into pocket to wipeout the

                   resistance 

                - Filipino soldiers rode on tanks and dropped grenades into Japanese

                  foxholes

                - tanks also would park with one track over foxhole and spin by applying

                  power to one track

                    - as the tank spun, its stationary track would burrow into the ground 

Prisoner of War: 

    - 9 April 1942

       - Death March

            - Mariveles - POWs start march at southern tip of Bataan
            - POWs ran past Japanese artillery firing at Corregidor
                - Americans on Corregidor returned fire
            - San Fernando - POWs put into small wooden boxcars
                - each boxcar could hold eight horses or forty men
                - 100 POWs packed into each car
                - POWs who died remained standing
            - Capas - dead fell to floor as living left boxcars
            - POWs walked last ten miles to Camp O'Donnell

Note: On the march, J.C. carried Abner Humphrey, D Company, who had been wounded just before the

           surrender.  The two men remained friends the rest of their lives.

POW Camps: 

    - Philippine Islands: 

        - Camp O'Donnell

            - unfinished Filipino training base
            - Japanese put camp into use as POW Camp
            - only one water spigot for entire camp
            - as many as 50 POWs died each day
            - Japanese opened new POW camp to lower death rate 

        - Cabanatuan

            - during his time as a POW, the best meal J.C. had was a raw egg and a can of dog food 

    - Japan: 

        - Fukuoka #17

            - Work: coal mining

Hell Ship: Clyde Maru

    - Sailed: Manila - 23 July 1943

    - Arrived: Moji, Japan - 7 August 1943

Liberated: September 1945

Note: J.C.'s brother, Maxwell, was also a Japanese POW

Married

   - 2 daughters, 1 son 

Military Career:

    - Reenlisted: U.S. Army

        - 2 July 1946

    Discharged:

        - 1 July 1950

           - transferred to the U.S. Air Force

    - Rank: Sergeant 

Died: 18 April 1970 - Panola County, Texas

Buried:

    - Odd Fellows Cemetery - Carthage, Texas

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