Watson

At this time, very little is known about Pvt. Lester Owen Watson. What is known is that he was born on June 26, 1916, to Harold and Minnie Watson in Missouri. The family would later live in Jennings, Kansas, before moving to Illinois. With his brother and sister, he grew up at 908 West Saint Charles Road in Maywood, Illinois and attended Proviso Township High School.

Lester joined the Illinois National Guard's 33rd Battalion Tank Company which was headquartered in an armory on Madison Street in Maywood. On November 25, 1940, the company was federalized and sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky for training.

In the late summer of 1941, Lester took part in maneuvers on Louisiana. After the maneuvers, he and the rest of the battalion were told that instead of being sent home, they were being sent overseas.

Arriving in Manila in late November, 1941, Lester lived through the Japanese attack on Clark Field on December 8, 1941. During the air attack, he and the other tankers could do little to fight the Japanese.

On April 9, 1942, Lester became a Prisoner of War. He took part in the death march and was held as a POW at Camp O'Donnell, Cabanatuan and Bilibid Prison.

In October, 1942, Lester, along with a large number of other POWs, was assigned to the Port Area of Manila. The men on this detail worked as stevedores on the piers. He remained on this detail until July, 1944, when the camp was closed and the POWs were taken to the docks. There the men were boarded onto the Nissyo Maru, on July 15, 1944. The POWs remained in the ship's holds for two days before sailing. Ten days later the ship arrived at Takao, Formosa. The next day the Nissyo Maru sailed for Moji, Japan and arrived at Moji on August 3, 1944.

In Japan, he was held as a POW at the Kamioka POW Camp. The POWs in the camp were used as miners in a zinc and lead mine. It was at this camp that he would be liberated in late 1945.

After Lester was liberated he wrote his first letter home since he had been taken a POW. He was unaware that the letter, addressed to his mother, would not be read by her. His mother had passed away on November 10, 1944.

Lester was discharged on February 26, 1946, and returned home to Maywood. He later moved to Hillside. Lester O. Watson died on January 15, 1993 in Oak Park, Illinois.