Dravo

Pvt. George E. Dravo was born on June 6, 1920, in Chicago Ridge, Illinois. He was the son of He moved to Maywood, Illinois as a child and lived at 1508 South Fourth Avenue. In Maywood, he attended the local schools. He was a graduate of Proviso Township High School.

Since a federal draft act had just been passed, George knew that it was just a matter of time until he was inducted into the army. Like other men from the Maywood area, he enlisted in the Illinois National Guard's 33rd Division Tank Company in Maywood. His reason for joining the company was that it was about to be called into federal service. He knew that if he served one year with the company at Fort Knox, Kentucky, he would fulfill his military obligation.

On November 25, 1940, the tank company traveled to Ft Knox for one year of military service. The tank company was now known as B Company, 192nd Tank Battalion. In January, 1941, George was assigned to Headquarters Company when it was formed from the four letters company of the battalion. George was a motorcycle messenger for Headquarters Company.

In the late summer of 1941, the battalion took part in the Louisiana maneuvers. It was after these maneuvers that the George and the other members of the battalion learned that they were not being released from military service. Instead, they were being sent overseas. He and the other men received furloughs home to say their goodbyes.

From Angel Island in San Francisco Bay, the 192nd Tank Battalion sailed for the Philippine Islands. Arriving in Manila on Thanksgiving Day, 1941, the battalion was rushed to Fort Stotsenburg. There they lived in tents along the road between the fort and Clark Field.

On December 8, 1941, George lived through the Japanese attack on Clark Field. For the next four months, George delivered messages between headquarters and the letter companies. This at times was a difficult job since the companies were constantly on the move. At some point during the fighting George was promoted to corporal.

On April 9, 1942, George became a Prisoner Of War when the Filipino and American forces on Bataan were surrendered to the Japanese. With the other members of HQ, he went to Mariveles. It was from there that George started what would become known as the Death March.

The lack of food and water were two of the most difficult things that the prisoners had to deal with. In addition, the hot temperatures made the situation worse. In George's opinion, the problem was that the Japanese had no tradition in their culture to handle prisoners. They had been taught to die, not surrender. They simply were not prepared to take and keep prisoners. It was his belief that this was the cause of so many of the atrocities on the march and later in the camps.

At San Fernando, George and the other men were crowded into box cars and sent to Capas. From there, George walked the last few miles to Camp O'Donnell.

Camp O'Donnell was a unfinished Filipino Army Training Camp. The entire POW population had only one water faucet for the entire camp. It was while a POW there that George is credited with saving the life of his friend, Jack Swinehamer. Jack had been declared dead and taken to the cemetery at the camp. After he had been laid is the mass grave, George saw Jack moved. George pulled Jack from the grave and returned him to the camp.

George being one of the healthier POWs was sent to Cabanatuan when it opened. In September 1943, George was selected to go out on a work detail to Las Pinas. On this detail, the POWs built runways for an airfield. He remained on this detail until September 1944. On the September 9th, American planes appeared over Las Pinas. Their appearance caused the Japanese to close the camp and send the POWs to Bilibid Prison.

In October of 1944, the Americans began bombing Manila. The Japanese knowing that it was just a matter of time until the Philippines were liberated, began to transfer the prisoners to Japan or an Japanese controlled country. George was sent to the Port Area of Manila as part of this process.

When George's group of POWs arrived at Manila, they were held back from being sent to Japan. It turned out that some of the POWs in his group had not arrived from the POW camps. As it turned out, another group of POWs were put on the ship that George was suppose to board. That ship, the Arisan Maru, was sunk by an American submarine on October 24, 1944.

George was boarded onto Hokusen Maru. On October 3, 1944, the ship joined 37 other ships to form a convoy. Due to the constant attacks by American planes and submarines, the journey to Formosa took 38 days. The Hokusen Maru arrived at Formosa on November 11, 1944. When they arrived in Formosa, only three ships of the 37 that had left Manila had survived the journey.

George was held on Formosa from November 1944 until January 1945 at Inrin Temporary Camp. The POWs were considered too ill to continue the trip to Japan and remained in the camp to regain their health. Their housing was a school house. During their stay, the POWs worked in a garden and grew vegetables to supplement their meals.

In January 14, 1945, he was boarded onto the Melbourne Maru for Japan. The ship arrived at Moji on January 23rd, and the POWs road a train to a copper mine. George was held at Sendai #7. The POWs worked in a copper mine.

George and the other POWs were issued winter clothing. The real problem was that the shoes they were given to wear were made of straw. These shoes froze when they got wet which meant many of the POWs suffered from frostbite.

At some point, George was sent to Ashio #8-D. Once again, the POWs were used as slave labor in a copper mine. George remained at the camp until he was liberated. He returned to the Philippines to be fattened up and then returned to the United States. George also was promoted to sergeant after he was liberated. He was discharged, from the army, on June 21, 1946.

George married Helen May Feister and became the father of two children. He lived most of the remainder of his life in the Maywood area. During this time, he worked as a policeman and machinist.

In 1989, George moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he passed away on December 3, 1993, of a heart attack. During the autopsy, the doctor noted that George's heart had scar tissue from an earlier heart attack. He most likely suffered this heart attack while POW.

He was buried in Section H, Site 263 at the Southern Neveda Veterans Memorial Park in Boulder, Neveda.