Schwass

Little is known about Capt Ruben H. Schwass's early life except that he was born on July 5, 1901. He was the son of Henry Schwass and the brother of Chris. There is also evidence that his family had a long history of residing in River Forest, Illinois.

Capt. Ruben H. Schwass lived at 1305 West Chicago Avenue in Melrose Park, Illinois, with his wife, Helen, and his daughter, Ruth. He was employed by the Public Service Company of Northern Illinois and was a member of the Illinois National Guard's 33rd Tank Company from Maywood, Illinois.

In November of 1940 as a lieutenant, Ruben was called to federal service when the tank company was federalized. With this order, the name of the company was changed to Company B, 192nd Tank Battalion.

Ruben trained at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and then took part in maneuvers in Louisiana during the late summer of 1941. It was after these maneuvers, at Camp Polk, the the 192nd was informed that their stay in the military had been extended, and that they were being sent overseas. Being forty years old, Ruben was given the opportunity to resign from active duty. For whatever reason, he chose to go overseas with the battalion.

In October of 1941, Ruben with the192nd Tank Battalion was sent to the Philippine Islands. It was with the promotion of Capt. Ted Wickord to Major, that Ruben was promoted to captain. He became the battalion's S-4 or Officer for Supply and Logistics.

In December of 1941, Capt. Ruben Schwass and the other members of 192nd Tank Battalion found themselves involved in some of the first combat action of World War II involving American tank personnel. After four months of battling the Japanese invasion forces, he became a Prisoner of War when the Filipino and American Forces on Bataan were surrendered to the Japanese.

As a POW, Ruben took part in the Death March and was first held as a Camp O'Donnell. He was next held at Cabanatuan and then the Port Area of Manila. In November of 1942, Ruben was sent to Japan on the "hell ship" Nagato Maru. When the ship left for Japan, he was already extremely ill. On the ship, were other members of the 192nd Tank Battalion. One of of these men was 2nd Lt. Ben Morin.

The ship arrived in Moji, Kyushu, Japan, on November 25, 1942, which was Thanksgiving Day. The POWs disembarked in bitter cold and wind and were next sent by train to Tanagawa which was outside of Osaka. The camp was a "hell hole" infested with lice. It was terribly cold during the winter, and the food was terrible with little or no protein. It was while he was a POW in Japan that his wife finally received word that he was POW on December 11, 1942.

Since Ruben was extremely ill with dysentery, he was placed in the "infirmary" section of the camp. The chances of surviving an illness there were not very good since the medics had no medicine.

While Ruben lay ill in bed, his body was covered with lice. 2nd Lt. Ben Morin would visit him and clean him the best he could. In an attempt to delouse Ruben, Lt. Morin would remove Ruben's shirt and pick the lice from it. Lt. Morin would also wash Ruben's underwear in ice cold water and hang them on the barbwire fence in the cold air to shock the lice. By doing this, Lt. Morin could clean the lice from the underwear and guarantee that Ruben had "clean" underwear for another day.

At the age of 42, Capt. Ruben H. Schwass died from dysentery and catarrh pneumonia on April 6, 1943, near Zentsuji Camp, Japan. After the war, his remains were returned to the United States at the request of his family.

On August 3, 1949, the remains of Capt. Ruben H. Schwass were reburied at Concordia Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois, next to his wife, Helen, who had passed away in early September 1944.