McCrea

Pfc. Joseph F. McCrea was born on March 2, 1920, in Benton, Wisconsin. He was the son of John R. McCrea & Flora Mae Peacock-McCrea. He crew up in Benton with his brother and two sisters. His mother passed away soon after his birth. His father passed away in 1938 so Joe moved to Janesville, in 1939, to live with his sister and her family. In 1940, Joe joined the Wisconsin National Guard's 32nd Tank Company headquartered in an armory in Janesville.

In the autumn of 1940, Joseph went with to Fort Knox, Kentucky, the company when it was called to federal service as A Company, 192nd Tank Battalion. He trained at Ft. Knox for ten months before going on maneuvers in Louisiana in the late summer of 1941. During this time, Joseph qualified as a half-track driver.

After these maneuvers, Joseph learned that he, with his battalion, was being sent overseas. It was from Angel Island in San Francisco Bay that the battalion left the United States.

Arriving in the Philippine Islands, the 192nd was housed in tents between Ft. Stotsenburg and Clark Air Field. On December 8, 1941, Joseph lived through the Japanese attack on Clark Field.

At Ft. Knox, Joseph had trained as a radioman. In the Philippines, he was assigned to a halftrack. His job was to stay in contact with the tanks. The members of the crew members of his half-track were Sgt. Dale Lawton, Pvt. Abel Ortega, and at times Capt. Walter Write and Lt. Henry Knox.

A few days after the attack on Clark Field, A Company pulled out of airfield and was sent north to Lingayen Gulf in support of B Company. Joe, Sgt. Dale Lawton and Pvt. Abel Ortega stayed behind. For days, they were strafed and bombed by Japanese planes since there was no American Air Corps.

For the next four months, Joseph worked with Forrest Knox in ordnance. Together they worked to keep the tanks of A Company supplied with working machine guns, gasoline and food.

On one occasion during the night, Joseph and Forrest were sleeping alongside of a tank. A commotion started and Joseph woke Forrest up. The two men barely got into the tank when a mortar round exploded where they had been sleeping.

It also seemed that Joseph was selected by the Filipinos when they found unexploded enemy ammunition. The Filipinos were always trying to give him the ammunition that they found. On one occasion, a Filipino attempted to give him a .75mm Japanese shell.

In other incidents, Filipinos came up to Joseph and gave him unexploded artillery shells. When the other members of his company saw this, they took off for cover. Joseph on several occasions attempted to explain to the Filipinos that the shells were dangerous and that they should get rid of them.

When the Filipino and American forces on Bataan were surrendered, Joseph became a Prisoner Of War. He took part in the death march from Mariveles to San Fernando. He then rode a train in boxcars crammed with POWs.

At Capas, Joseph and the other POWs disembarked the freight cars and walked the last three miles to Camp O'Donnell. It is known that Joseph went out on a work detail while a POW at Camp O'Donnell. He was sent to Calauan to rebuild a bridge that had been destroyed by the retreating American troops.

Arriving at Calauan, Joseph was reunited with John Wood, Phil Parish, Forrest Teal, James Schultz, Lewis Wallisch and Ken Schoeberle of A Company. Bill Nolan also joined the detail with Joseph.

Joseph was also sent to Batangas and Candaleria to build bridges. While on this detail, Joseph developed malaria and was sent to Cabanatuan.

In Cabanatuan, Joseph was put into the camp hospital. There, he was visited by Ardell Schei who had been a medic with the 192nd. Schei stated that Joe was so out of his head from the malaria that he did not want to see anyone.

Pfc. Joseph F. McCrea died of malaria on September 15, 1942, at approximately 8:00 AM at Cabanatuan POW Camp. After the war, Joseph's uncle, Harold, had his remains returned to the United States. Joseph was buried in Benton, Wisconsin, next to his parents.