Stephenson

Born: 26 October 1921 - Texas

Home: Harris County

Inducted:

- U.S. Army

- Camp Shelby - Mississippi

Units:

- 753rd Tank Battalion

- 192nd Tank Battalion

Training:

- Fort Knox, Kentucky

- Camp Polk, Louisiana

Overseas Duty: Philippine Islands

Engagements:

- Battle of Luzon

- Battle of Bataan

Prisoner of War:

- 9 April 1941

- Death March

           - Mariveles - POWs start march at southern tip of Bataan
            - POWs ran past Japanesee artillery firing at Corregidor
                - Americans on Corregidor returned fire
            - San Fernando - POWs put into small wooden boxcars
                - each boxcar could hold eight horses or forty men
                - 100 POWs packed into each car
                - POWs who died remained standing
            - Capas - dead fell to floor as living left boxcars
            - POWs walked last ten miles to Camp O'Donnell

POW Camps:

- Philippine Islands:

- Camp O'Donnell

           - unfinished Filipino training base
            - Japanese put camp into use as POW Camp
            - only one water spiget for entire camp
            - as many as 50 POWs died each day
            - Japanese opened new POW camp to lower death rate

- Cabanatuan

- Bilibid Prison

- Formosa:

- Toroku Camp

- Japan:

- Maribara #10-B - 15 May 1945

- Work: canal building

Hell Ships:

- Hokusan Maru

- Departed: Manila - 3 October 1944

- Arrived: Formosa - 11 November 1944

- Melbourne Maru

- Departed: Formosa - 14 January 1945

- Arrived: Japan - 23 January 1945

Liberated: September 1945

Died: 4 September 1949 - Louisiana

Buried: Beauregard Cemetery, DeRidder, Louisiana