Pvt. John Theodore Strompolis

Enlisted: Illinois National Guard

Mother: Mrs. Mary Mangares-Strompolis

    - father died when he was a child 

Siblings: 3 sisters, 2 brothers

Education:

    - dropped out of high school after second year to help support his family 

Home: Winfield, Illinois

Occupation: Machine operator - automotive parts manufacturing

Inducted:

    - U. S. Army

        - 25 November 1940

Training: 

    - Fort Knox, Kentucky

    - Camp Polk, Louisiana

Overseas Duty: 

    - Philippine Islands

Engagements: 

    - Battle of Luzon

    - Battle of Bataan

Prisoner of War: 9 April 1942

    - Death March

            - Mariveles - POWs start 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 - April 1942 - May 1942

            - 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 - May 1942 - September 1943

         - Las Pinas Work Detail - September 1943 - 22 September 1944

             - Work: built runways at an airfield

    - Formosa:

         - Toroku Camp

    - Japan:

         - Maribara Camp #10-B 

Hell Ships:

    - Hokusen Maru

          - POWs boarded - 1 October 1944

                Note:                       

                    - John's POW Detachment was scheduled to sail on the Arisan Maru.

                    - John's detachment was switched with POWs scheduled to sail on

                      Hokusen Maru

                    - Arisan Maru was sunk by an American submarine - 24 October 1944

        - Sailed: Manila - 3 October 1944

        - Arrived: Hong Kong - 11 October 1944

            - attacked by American planes - 13 October 1944

            - stayed in harbor until 21 October 1944

        - Sailed: Hong Kong - 21 October 1944

        - Arrived: Takao, Formosa - 24 October 1944

            - POWs remained in ship's hold until 11 November 1944

     - Melbourne Maru

        - Sailed: Takao, Formosa - 14 January 1945

        - Arrived: Moji, Japan - 23 January 1945

Liberated: September 1945

Married: Barbara Wisniewski

Children: 1 Son

Reenlisted: U. S. Air Force

Discharged: 25 February 1948

Died: 7 October 1974 - Chicago, Illinois

Buried:

     - Elmwood Cemetery - River Grove, Illinois

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