Pvt. Willard Rue Yeast

Mother: John Yeast & Cordie Gerling-Yeast

Brother: Claude Yeast - D Company, 192nd Tank Battalion

    - In addition to Claude, there were 3 sisters, 5 brothers 

Home: Calvary Road - Mercer County, Kentucky

Occupation: worked on family farm

Enlisted: 

    - Kentucky National Guard

        - Enlisted: 7 October 1940 

Inducted: 

    - U. S. Army 

        -  25 November 1940 - Harrodsburg, Kentucky

Training: 

    - Fort Knox, Kentucky

    - Camp Polk, Louisiana

Overseas Duty: 

    - Philippine Islands

Engagements:

    - Battle of Luzon 

        - 8 December 1941 - 6 January 1942

    - Battle of Bataan

        - 7 January 1942 - 9 April 1942 

Prisoner of War: 

    - 9 April 1941

        - Death March

            - Mariveles - POWs started 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

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

        - Batangas

        - Palawan Island

Died: 14 December 1944

               - burnt to death

Buried:

    - Mass  Grave - Palawan Island

Reburied:

    -  14 February 1952

            - Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery - Saint Louis, Missouri

                - Section: 85   Site:  14 - 66

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