Sgt. Willard W. Von Bergen

    In 1940, Willard. along with his two best friends from Maine Township High School in Park Ridge, Jim Bashleben and Andrew Hepburn joined the Illinois National Guard's Maywood Tank Company together.  The reason he and his friends did this was that the draft act had just passed, and they wanted to fulfill their military obligation.  

    Willard, Jim and Andy went to Maywood and had an agreement that they would not enlist but see what the National Guard had to offer them.  Once in the armory, all three experienced the "divide and conquer" method of recruitment. After entering the armory, each one was taken on a tour by guardsmen and never saw each other until they were ready to go home.  On their way home to Park Ridge, each of the friends admitted that he had enlisted.

    In November of 1940, Willard went with the 33rd Tank Company to Fort Knox, Kentucky.  It was there that the company was renamed Company B, 192nd Tank Battalion.  He next took part in the Maneuvers of 1941, and was then sent to Camp Polk, Louisiana.  At Camp Polk, the battalion was issued new equipment and tanks.  They were also informed that they were being sent overseas.  

    On October 8, 1941, Willard married Helen Connele while on leave from Camp Polk.  After returning to Camp Polk, the battalion was sent over three different railroad routes to Angel Island in San Francisco Bay.  There, they boarded two ships and were informed that they were being sent to the Philippine Islands.

    Willard's battalion arrived in Manila, Philippine Islands on Thanksgiving Day, 1941.  For the next two weeks, the tankers prepared their equipment for use in training.  A little over two weeks later the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and Clark Field in the Philippines.  

    On December 21, 1941, Willard's tank platoon was selected to engage the Japanese at Lingayen Gulf.  His platoon was selected because they had just refueled their tanks and had enough gas to make it there and back.  Willard was a tank crew commander under the command of 2nd Lt. Ben Morin.  With Lt. Morin, Willard's tank was sent north to Agoo to engage the Japanese.  On December 22, 1941, the tank platoon engaged the Japanese.  This was the first time American tanks were involved in tank to tank combat in World War II. 

    During the engagement, the tanks came under heavy enemy fire.  When Lt. Morin's tank was disabled, the remaining tanks of the platoon attempted to come to his aid.  For some reason, Willard bent over in the turret of his tank.  While he was bent over, a Japanese shell came through the turret.  Had he been standing straight up in the turret, he most likely would have been killed.   Instead, he received minor wounds.

    On April 9, 1942, the Filipino and American forces were surrendered to the Japanese.  With this act, Willard became a Prisoner of War.  Willard took part in the death march and was imprisoned at Camp O'Donnell.  It was while he was a prisoner there that he was then sent out on a work detail to rebuild bridges in Bataan.  On this detail, he was reunited with his friend Jim Bashleben.  The commanding officer of the detail was Lt. Col. Ted Wickord of the 192nd Tank Battalion.  Wickord attempted to fill the detail with as many of his own men as he could.  

    According to Jim Bashleben, Willard was working on this detail when he became ill and sent to Cabanatuan Camp #1.  It was at this camp that he died of dysentery & malaria on August 11, 1942, at 6:30 PM. 

    When Willard's high school friend, Jim Bashleben, was given the chance to send a postcard home as a POW, he said "hello" to Miss Helen Connele.  He hoped by doing this that Helen would know that her husband was dead.  After the war when Jim returned home, Helen told him that as soon as she read his greeting she knew her husband was dead.

    After the war, the remains of Sgt. Willard Von Bergen were interred at the American Military Cemetery outside Manila.

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