Fryziuk

Sgt Nicholas Ford Fryziuk was the son of Polish immigrants. He was born on July 25, 1919. Nick was raised in Argo and Summit, Illinois, and attended Argo High School. Sometime in 1940, Nick joined the Illinois National Guard's Maywood Tank Company with his best friend, Frank Jendrysik. The reason he enlisted is that the draft act had just been passed, and he wanted to complete his military obligation before he was drafted.

In November, 1940, the Maywood Tank Company was called into federal service. At Fort Knox, Kentucky, the company, was designated Company B, 192nd Tank Battalion. Nick trained at Ft. Knox. Nick always loved to work on cars so he was trained as a tank mechanic. The company later took part in maneuvers in Louisiana. It was at Camp Polk, Louisiana, after the maneuvers, that the 192nd learned it was being sent overseas.

The 192nd traveled to San Francisco over four different train routes. Once there, the were ferried to Angel Island, given physicals and inoculations and sent overseas. They arrived in the Philippines a little over two weeks before Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese.

After the United States became involved in World War II, Nick's job was to keep the equipment of the 192nd Tank Battalion running. In one incident, Nick saved the lives of a tank crew by working on their tank as the Japanese were advancing on their position. He got the tank running minutes before the Japanese overran their position. Throughout the Battle of Bataan, Nick continued to work and fight even though he had shrapnel wounds around his eyes and on his legs.

When Bataan was surrendered to the Japanese on April 9, 1942, Nick became a Prisoner of War and took part in the death march. On the march, ninety percent of POWs in his group died due to a lack of food, water and rest.

The members of B Company were together on the march which led to Nick saving the life of Pvt. Robert Parr. Parr had been wounded in the stomach before the surrender and was having a hard time keeping up with the rest of the company. He kept telling Nick, and the other men, that he was going to drop out. Nick told Parr that if he did, he would be killed. ``You had to keep going, because if you stopped you were a dead man," he said. ``As we marched along, we'd see guys splattered all over the road. You couldn't begin to count the atrocities.'' The last thirty-five miles of the march, Nick carried Parr "piggyback" style to keep him from dropping out.

Nick was first held as a prisoner at Camp O'Donnell until he was sent back to Bataan to work. He then was imprisoned at Cabanatuan and Camp McKinley near Manila. While at Camp McKinley, he was assigned the duty of driving a truck. Nick was next sent to the Manila Port Area to work as a stevedore loading and unloading ships. The POWs on this detail were known as "The 400 Thieves" because of the things they stole from the Japanese. Nick recalled that no matter where he was held, the POWs at the camps ate snake, lizard, monkey, mule and raw fish to survive.

On July 14, 1944, at Las Pinas, Nick was boarded onto the Japanese steam ship the Nissyo Maru. Three days later on the 17th, the ship sailed for Japan. The ship arrived at Takao, Formosa on July 27th. The next day, the ship sailed for Moji, Japan. On August 3rd, the ship arrived in Moji. From there, Nick was sent to Oeyama to work in the nickel mines at Osaka Camp #3-B. It was at this camp that Nick took a beating for the camp doctor. His reasoning for doing this was that he believed that the prisoners needed the doctor in good health if they were to survive to the end of the war.

While working at the mines, Nick witnessed the atomic bomb explode over Nagasaki. He remained a POW until he was liberated by American Occupational Forces on September 9, 1945. Before they were liberated, the former POWs made flags from parachutes representing the nationalities who had been held in the camp.

Nick returned to Illinois and was discharged, from the army, on May 4, 1946. He married, Ceil, and raised a family. Nick had met Ceil through his friend Frank Jendrysik. She had been Frank's fiancé. The couple would have two children a son and daughter. His son would die at the age of five. Nick never passed up an opportunity to talk to students about his experiences as a POW.

Nick Fryziuk passed away on April 1, 1993, from leukemia. His family believes that his leukemia was a result of his witnessing the atomic bomb's explosion.