Thomas

T/Sgt. Clarence H. Thomas was born in Hartline, Washington on March 18, 1918. As a child his family moved to Salinas, California, where he attended local schools. He was a 1937 graduate of Salinas High School. In 1936, while he was still in high school, he joined the California National Guard in Salinas.

On February 10, 1941, Clarence was called to federal service when the Salinas tank company became C Company, 194th Tank Battalion. After induction, the company was sent to Fort Lewis, Washington for training.

In September 1941, Clarence's battalion was sent to San Francisco. From there, they sailed for the Philippine Islands. Arriving in the Philippines, Clarence and his battalion prepared for maneuvers scheduled for December.

The morning of December 8th, Clarence and the other soldiers learned that the Japanese had attacked Pearl harbor just ten hours earlier. The soldiers were ordered to the perimeter of Clark Field to guard against Japanese paratroopers.

At 12:45 in the afternoon, the soldiers watched as planes approached the airfield from the north. At first, they believed the planes were American. It was only when bombs began exploding that the soldiers knew that they were Japanese.

For the next four months, Clarence spent the next four months fighting to slow the Japanese conquest of the Philippine Islands. On April 9, 1942, he became a Prisoner of War.

Clarence took part in the death march from Mariveles to San Fernando. There, he and the other POWs were packed into small wooden boxcars. One hundred men were packed into cars which could hold forty men. At Capas, those who survived the train trip climbed out of the cars. As they left the cars, the bodies of the dead fell from the cars. The POWs walked the last ten miles to Camp O'Donnell.

Camp O'Donnell had been pressed into service by the Japanese as a POW Camp. It was an unfinished Filipino training camp with only one water faucet for the entire camp. Men died waiting for a drink. Clarence remained in the camp until a new POW camp was opened at Cabanatuan, and he was sent there.

It is not known when Clarence was selected to leave Cabanatuan, but he was sent to Davao, Mindano. It should be noted that two ships transported POWS to Davao. The first, the Interisland Steamer left Manila for Davao on July 1, 1942. The ship arrived at Davao on July 9th with 200 POWs.

The second ship which Clarence may have been a POW on was the Erie Maru. The ship sailed for Davao on October 28, 1942. After stops at Iloilo and Cebu City, the ship arrived at Lasang, Mindanao on November 11th.

Clarence spent almost two years at Davao. The POWs built runways at an airfield and worked on a farm. During that time, American forces were making their way toward the Philippines. Bombings of Japanese installations became a daily occurrence. It was at this time that the Japanese decided to move the 750 POWs at Davao back to Manila.

The POWs were taken to Lasang and boarded onto the Yashu Maru. The ship sailed on June 12, 1944 for Cebu City. There, the ship waited for the arrival of the Teiryu Maru. After the second ship's arrival, the POWs were transferred to the ship. The ship sailed for Manila on June 21, 1944 and arrived on June 24th.

From Manila, the POWs were taken to Cabanatuan when the Japanese began to transfer large numbers of POWs to Japan, Clarence was returned to Cabanatuan. The POWs were later transferred back to Bilibid Prison and examined to determine which prisoners were too ill to be sent to Japan. Those POWs remained at Bilibid.

In early July 1944, Clarence and 1009 other POWs were taken to the Port Area of Manila and boarded onto the Canadian Inventor. On July 4th, the ship sailed for Takao, Formosa. The ship also made stops at Keelung, Formosa and Naha, Okanawa before arriving at Moji, Japan on September 1, 1944. Six POWs died during the trip.

In Japan, Clarence was first held at Nagoya #5 POW Camp. The POWs in this camp worked in a factory manufacturing Sulphuric Acid. Clarence remained in this camp until June 1945 when he was transferred to Toyama Camp. He arrived in this camp on June 6, 1945. At this second camp, Clarence and the other POWs worked at a scrap metal smelter. He remained in this camp until the POWs were liberated on September 5, 1945.

After the war, Clarence remained in the army. He attended school at Ft. Holabird and the Salinas Language School. He was stationed at various cities in the United States as a CIC Agent. He returned to Japan, did two tours of duty in Korea, and served on Okinawa. In December 1960, he retired from the army as a Chief Warrant Officer 2nd Class.

Clarence worked for the State of California and the U. S. Post Office. He married and became the father of two daughters. He was a resident of Turlock, California. In 1979, he received a Bachelors Degree from Stanislaus State University.

Clarence H. Thomas passed away on May 19, 1999, in Modesto, California. He was buried at San Joaquin National Cemetery.