1st Lt. Kenneth B. Bloomfield

    After graduation, Kenneth was employed by the the General Motors plant located in Janesville. On April 9, 1939, Kenneth joined the Wisconsin National Guard's 32nd Tank Company in Janesville.  By July, he had risen in rank to sergeant.  

    In September, 1940, Kenneth married Velma Bartlett.  They set up their home at 618 Cornelia Street  in Janesville.  The couple became the parents of Judith Ann Bloomfield during the fall of 1941.  

    On November 25, 1940, Kenneth went to Fort Knox, Kentucky, when the Janesville tank company was federalized.  There the company was designated A Company, 192nd Tank Battalion.  It was while training at Ft. Knox, that Kenneth received the rating of expert in machine guns.

    In January, 1941, Kenneth was promoted to second lieutenant to fill a vacancy created when Headquarters Company of the 192nd Tank Battalion was created with soldiers of the four letter companies of the battalion.

    In the late summer of 1941, Kenneth took part in maneuvers in Louisiana.  Upon completion of the maneuvers, Kenneth and the rest of the 192nd learned that they were not being released from federal service.  Instead, they were being sent overseas.

    In October of 1941, Kenneth left Angel Island in San Francisco Bay for the Philippine Islands.  He and the other members of the battalion arrived in Manila on Thanksgiving Day, 1941.  Upon arriving in the Philippines, the battalion was rushed to Fort Stotsenburg.  Since their barracks were not ready, the tankers lived in tents between Clark Field and Ft. Stotsenburg.

    Seventeen days after arriving in the Philippines, Kenneth lived through the Japanese attack on Clark Field.  He and the other soldiers watched as two waves of Japanese planes bombed and strafed the airfield.  On December 24, 1941, Kenneth became acting commander of A Company when Capt Walter Write was killed when a landmine exploded.  He remained in this position for two weeks.

    During the Battle of Bataan, the Japanese attempted to land troops behind the main Filipino and American defensive lines.  Kenneth's tank platoon was ordered into the "pocket" to wipeout the enemy troops.  Before the attack, the ranking American officer ordered the Japanese to surrender.  In very plain English, a Japanese soldier responded with, "Nuts to you, Joe." 

    Kenneth's tanks rolled into the pocket with sirens blaring.  The tanks ran into and knocked down trees with Japanese snipers in them.  They wiped out numerous machine gun nests and chased many Japanese soldiers from their foxholes.

    With the help of B Company tanks, the tankers destroyed a .37 millimeter gun.  As the tanks rolled over the battlefield, soldiers riding on their backs dropped hand grenades into enemy foxholes.  Those Japanese who attempted to flee were shot.  In one trench, Kenneth counted the bodies of 37 Japanese soldiers.

    In an attempt to stop the tanks, the Japanese planted disk shaped land mines.  The mines had little to no effect on the tanks and all returned to their respective bases safely.

    At one point during the Battle of Bataan, Kenneth's company was ordered to attack the Japanese at a certain point.  According to his orders, the tanks were suppose to go up a specific road shown on military maps.  It is known that while attempting to accomplish his mission, he radioed military command that he could not reach his objective because the road drawn on the map did not exist.

    On April 9, 1942, Kenneth and the rest of A Company received the news of the surrender.  After destroying their equipment, the company made its way to Mariveles at the southern tip of Bataan.  From thereon April 12th, Kenneth would begin the death march.

    It was at Cacaben, on April 13th, the members of A Company witnessed an artillery battle between Japanese guns and American guns on Corrigedor.  The Japanese guns were setup along the road the POWs were using to make their way out of Bataan.  The Japanese intentionally used the POWs as human shields against the American guns.

    The A Company men found an American truck which had been abandoned by the Japanese because it would not start.  One A Company member hotwired the truck and got it to start.  Other members of the company climbed into the back and they drove passed the guns as shells fell around them.  

    According to Abel Ortega, after the truck was full, the remaining members of the company who could not fit on the truck ran behind the truck.  They did this so that they would not be separated from the rest of the company.  One of the soldiers who ran behind the truck was Kenneth Bloomfield.  After the truck was out of artillery range, the truck stopped and the POWs climbed out.  

    It was at this point that 1st Lt. Kenneth B. Bloomfield was reported to have died from exhaustion near the town of Cacaban.  According to the story, Kenneth collapsed upon reaching the truck.  Some members of the company say it was while Kenneth was running across the field that his heart gave out.

   According to the surviving members of A Company, they put Kenneth on the back of the truck, but the Japanese believing he was dead removed him from the truck. 2nd Lt. Kenneth Bloomfield died not too long after this.  He was 21 years old.   

    Two members of A Company grabbed two shovels that were on the back of the truck and dug a grave for Bloomfield along the side of the road.  Because the Japanese were in a hurry to get the POWs out of Bataan, it is not known if Kenneth was buried completely.

    1st Lt. Kenneth B. Bloomfield was buried alongside the road of the death march.  Since his final resting place is unknown, his name appears on The Tablets of the Missing at the American Military Cemetery outside of Manila.

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