Tec. 4 John E. Robinette


Born: 17 August 1916 - Richland County, Ohio

Parents: William & Adeline Robinette

    - mother worked as servant after his father's death

    - lived in house his mother worked in

Siblings: 4 sisters, 2 brothers

Hometown: Swan Creek, Ohio

Home: 188½ West Main Street - Mansfield, Ohio

Occupation: Worker - Electric Appliance Factory

Inducted:

    - U. S. Army

        - 27 January 1941 - Ft. Hayes - Columbus, Ohio

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 1942

       - Death March

            - POWs started march at Mariveles on the southern tip of

               Bataan

            - POWs ran past Japanese artillery firing on Corregidor

                - American artillery returned fire

            - San Fernando - POWs put into small wooden boxcars used to

              haul sugarcane

                - each boxcar could hold eight horse or forty men

                - Japanese packed 100 POWs into each boxcar

                - POWs who died remained standing

            - Capas - POWs exit boxcars - the dead fell to the floor

            - POWs walked the last ten miles to Camp O'Donnell 

POW Camps: 

    - Philippine Islands: 

        - Camp O'Donnell

            - unfinished Filipino Army training base

            - Japanese put the camp into use as a POW camp 

            - one water spigot for the entire camp 

            - as many as 50 POWs died each day

            - Japanese opened new camp at Cabanatuan to lower death rate

        - Cabanatuan #1

Died:

    - 9 July 1943 - beriberi

        -  Approximate time of death - 10:00 PM

Buried:

   - Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery

Reburied:

    - July 1949

        - Beaver Creek Cemetery - Wood County, Ohio


 

 

 

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