Brooks

Pfc. Thomas Franklin Brooks was born on October 13, 1919, in Edmonson County, Kentucky to Charles Smith Brooks & Frances Isabel Brooks. He was the fourth of the couple's twelve children. He crew up at Rural Route 2 in Monmouth Cave, Kentucky. He was known as "Frank" to his family and friends.

Thomas was inducted into the U. S. Army on January 20, 1941 in Louisville, Kentucky. He was sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky where he was assigned to D Company, 192nd Tank Battalion. During his training, he became friends with Pvt. Patrick Boone and Pfc. James Carter.

After taking part in maneuvers in Louisiana, Thomas battalion was ordered overseas. He and the other soldiers were given leaves home to say goodbye to their families. After returning to Camp Polk, Louisiana, the soldiers were sent by train to San Francisco.

On Angel Island, Thomas received a physical and inoculated for duty overseas. Arriving in the Philippine Islands, Thomas and the other members of the battalion were taken to Ft. Stotsenburg and housed in tents along the main road between the fort and Clark Airfield. It was at this time that D Company was attached to the 194th Tank Battalion and would fight with the battalion during the Battle of the Philippines.

On December 8, 1941, ten hours after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Thomas lived through the Japanese attack on Clark Field. For the next four months Thomas fought to slow the Japanese conquest of Philippines.

The night of April 8, 1942, the tankers received the order "Crash" which meant they were to destroy their tanks. Thomas and a number of other members of D Company made the decision that instead of surrendering, they would attempt to escape to Corregidor. In a cave, the soldiers found a old boat. After getting the engine to work, the soldiers sailed to Corregidor. At one point, they had to signal the island to receive orders of how to maneuver through the mine field.

Thomas remained on the island until the American Forces were surrendered on May 6th. When the Japanese began taking the Prisoners of War to Luzon, Thomas and the other POWs were taken by barge near the coast and made to swim to shore. Once on shore they were ordered into formation and ordered to march. Many of the men having heard about what had happened after Bataan had surrendered feared that they too would be brutalized. To their surprise, they were treated quite well by the Japanese.

The POWs were made to march down Dewey Boulevard and then held at Bilibid Prison for several days. They then were marched to the train depot in Manila and taken to the barrio of Cabanatuan. They were held in a schoolhouse for the night before they taken to Cabanatuan Camp #2. This camp was occupied by POWs who had not taken part in the Death March.

It is not known is Thomas went out on a work detail. What is known is that in late 1942 Thomas developed beriberi. According to U. S. Army records, Pfc. Thomas Franklin Brooks died of beriberi at Cabanatuan POW Camp on December 10, 1942, at approximately 5:20 PM, and was buried in the camp cemetery.

After the war, Thomas's remains were most likely buried at the new American Military Cemetery at Manila. Since his remains could not be identified, his name appears on the Tablets of the Missing at the center of the cemetery.