McDonald

M/Sgt. Osborne McDonald was the son of Mrs. Mary Anderson. He was born on April 15, 1905, in Hampton, Ontario, Canada. It is known that he had three brothers and five sisters. At some point, his family resided in Racine, Wisconsin.

After finishing his schooling, Osborne took a job at the local Chevrolet plant in Janesville where he worked as a machinist. He also joined the Wisconsin National Guard's 32nd Tank Company headquartered in an armory in Janesville. During his years with the tank company, he served as the chief mechanic for the company.

Osborne's mother passed away before he was called to federal service in the fall of 1940. His tank company was now A Company, 192nd Tank Battalion and assigned to duty at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

In January, 1941, Headquarter Company was formed with men from the four letter companies of the battalion. It was at this time that Osborne was transferred to HQ. With this transfer, he was put in charge of tank maintenance. It was his job to make sure that the tanks, trucks, jeeps and motorcycles ran.

The one thing that Osborne and the other members A Company who had been selected to join HQ Company were known for was their love of beer. On Saturday night, they would buy at least one case of beer and drink it. During these gatherings, Osborne would often tell stories. Many were stories from famous books. Members of the company stated that he never told the same story twice.

After taking part in maneuvers in Louisiana, in the late summer of 1941, Osborne learned with the other members of the 192nd that the tank battalion was being sent overseas. Being almost forty years old, Osborne was given the chance to resign from federal service, but he chose to go overseas with the 192nd.

Osborne was given leave home to take care of business and say goodbye to family and friends. He no sooner got home, then he received a telegram ordering him back to Camp Polk. He thought it was a joke.

From Angel Island in San Francisco Bay, the battalion sailed for the Philippine Islands. Arriving in the Philippines, Osborne with the rest of the battalion spent the next two weeks preparing their tanks for use.

On December 8, 1941, just ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Osborne lived through the Japanese attack on Clark Field. During the Battle of the Philippines, Osborne and the other members of HQ attempted to make sure that the letter companies received the necessary repairs to keep the tanks running that to fight the Japanese.

On April 9, 1942, Osborne became a Prisoner Of War when the Filipino and American defenders of Bataan were surrendered to the Japanese. He and the other soldiers of HQ Company stayed in their bivouac for two days before they received orders from the Japanese to move.

They made their way to the road that ran near their encampment, The Japanese had them kneel along the sides of the road. As they knelt, the Japanese troops passing them took what they wanted from the POWs. After this, they road trucks to Mariveles.

Outside of Mariveles, the POWs were directed to a field and told to sit. After several hours they were ordered to move. They moved to a field near a school and ordered to sit again. They sat until being told to move again. They did not know it, but with this order they had begun what became known as the death march. On the march he was with 1st. Lt. John Bushaw and Sgt. Alva Chapman. It would take the three men 14 days to complete the march.

Like the other prisoners, Osborne went without food or water for days. At San Fernando, he was boarded onto a box car to the barrio of Capas. Those prisoners who died in the box cars fell out when the living disembarked the cars.

Osborne and the surviving POWs walked the last few miles to Camp O'Donnell. The camp had been an unfinished Filipino Army training facility pressed into service by the Japanese as a POW camp.

When Cabanatuan opened, Osborne was sent there. Since he had experience working on cars and trucks, Osborne was assigned to a work detail at Mariveles at the southern tip of Bataan to repair trucks. It was while he was working on this detail that M/Sgt. Osborne McDonald suffered a heart attack on May 27, 1942.

According to information provided by the military during the war, after his death, M/Sgt. Osborne McDonald was buried in the Naval Section of the cemetery at Mariveles. After the war, M/Sgt. Osborne McDonald's remains were returned to Racine in October, 1949. He was buried at Graceland Cemetery on October 19, 1949 in the veteran's plot.