Allison

Pfc. Elkoney A. Allison was the son of Thomas D. Allison & Etta C. Warren-Allison. He was born on November 25, 1916, in Baxter, Tennessee. He had three sisters, three brothers, and a half brother. As a young man, Elkoney joined the Tennessee National Guard and was assigned to a cavalry unit.

At some point, Elkoney was inducted into the U. S. Army. He most likely did his basic training at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He was a member of the 753rd Tank Battalion. His battalion was sent to Camp Polk, Louisiana. Maneuvers were taking place at the fort, but his battalion did not take part in them. At Camp Polk, he volunteered to join the 192nd Tank Battalion. He became a member of the B Company. At the time, the battalion was preparing for duty in the Philippine Islands and was looking for soldiers to fill vacancies created when soldiers 29 years and older were released from federal service.

Elkoney arrived in the Philippine Islands on Thanksgiving Day, 1941. From Manila, his battalion was sent to Fort Stostenburg. They arrived at the fort to discover that their barracks were still under construction. For the next seventeen days, they lived in tents along the main road between the fort and Clark Airfield.

At 12:45 in the afternoon on December 8, 1941, Elkoney lived through the Japanese attack on Clark Airfield. That morning, they had been awakened to the news that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor just hours earlier. He would spend the next four months fighting the Japanese.

On April 9, 1942, Elkoeny became a Prisoner of War. He took part in the death march from Mariveles to San Fernando. At San Fernando, he and the other POWs boarded small wooden boxcars that could hold eight horses or forty men. One hundred men were packed into each car. Those who died remained standing. When the living left the cars at Capas, the dead fell to the ground.

While a POW, Elkoney was held at Camp O'Donnell and Cabanatuan. He was also sent out on a work detail to rebuild bridges that had been destroyed by the Americans as they retreated into the Bataan Peninsula. The detail was under the command of Col Ted Wickord the commanding officer of the 192nd. Elkoney remained on this detail until he became ill. He was then returned to Cabanatuan.

Pfc. Elkoney A. Allison died on June 21, 1943 from beriberi at Cabanatuan Camp #1. The approximate time of death was 1:15 in the afternoon. He now rests in the American Military Cemetery outside of Manila, Philippine Islands.