The Ida Rupp Public Library offers the Bataan Memorial collection, which honors the contributions of the men of Company C, 192nd Tank Battalion. Company C was a unit whose core was comprised of men from the Port Clinton area, and participated in the Bataan Death March.

     

     Inducted into federal service on November 25, 1940, forty-two men from the Port Clinton area departed four days later for training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, where more men were added to the unit. After training and maneuvers at Fort Knox and Fort Polk, Louisiana, the unit left San Francisco on October 24, 1941 for Fort Stotsenburg, Philippine Islands. Arriving November 20, 1941, Company C was just settling in when the Japanese bombed Clark Field on December 8.    

 

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     The unit first saw ground combat December 22, 1941 as the enemy landed in force at Lingayen Gulf against outnumbered Filipino-American defenders. Company C supported the allied retreat into Bataan Peninsula while continually facing larger enemy forces and suffering the effects of tropical disease, lack of food, ammunition and communications. After moving into Bataan, the unit was cited for its participation during the coastal defense and front line direct support phases, the critical “Battle of the Points” and their decisive role in the “Battle of the Pockets.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Row (front) Edward E. Grogg, Silas B. LeGrow*, John L. Short*, Virgil C. Janes*, Harold R. Beggs*, Wade Chio*, Chester S. DeCant, John J. Morine, John Miklo, Edsel E. Kirk, George H. Smith.

Second Row Elmer N. Smith, George S. Carr, Andrew Migala, Raymond H. Conley, Robert S. Sorensen, Joseph M. Braddock, Harold W. Collins, Arthur V. Burholt, Carl H. Meighan, Virgil M. Gordon, John R. Andrews.

Third Row Olen C. Elwell, Joseph J. Wierzchon, Henry M. Wierzba, Steve M. Eliyas, Joseph J. Hrupcho*, Joseph W. Beard, Alton M. Dodway, Kenneth E. Thompson*, Howard M. Wodrich.

Fourth Row (back) Joseph Zam, John Kovach, John D. Minier*, Jacob A. Schmidt, Rollie C. Harger, James W. O’Brien, Russell D. Simon, John G. Kolesar, Charles R. Boeshart*, Charles P. Chaffin*, John F. Reed.

* Survived the Bataan Death March and 3½ years as a Prisoner of War.

 

     Thirty-two of the forty-two men who left Port Clinton in November 1940 were with the unit on the Bataan Peninsula. On April 9, 1942 they were captured. Only 10 of the 32 local men survived the Bataan Death March and three and a half years as prisoners of war.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back Row (left to right) John Short, Kenneth Thompson, Charles Chaffin

Front Row (left to right) John Minier, Harold Beggs, Wade Chio, Virgil Janes 

(Not included: Silas LeGrow and Charles Boeshart)

     

     The Library’s Bataan Memorial collection consists of books, videos and DVDs, scrapbooks, and photographs relating to the men who fought the war in the Pacific (particularly in the Philippines), their training, the Bataan Death March, and Japanese Prison Camps. Most of these materials can be checked out.

 

The Bataan Memorial collection also includes personal photograph collections of three men:

• John Minier Collection

A member of Company C, John Minier was a Port Clinton resident, and Death March survivor. His photographs were taken during the training at Fort Knox and in Louisiana.

• LaVern Weir Collection

Though not from the area, LaVern Weir was assigned to Company C, and many of his photographs include Port Clinton men. Weir was from Cortland, Ohio and died as a POW. The photographs in this collection were taken during the training at Fort Knox and in Louisiana.

• William (Bill) Lewis Collection

While not a member of Company C, Bill Lewis was a member of the United States Navy Seabees. He served in the Pacific, and was in the Philippines when they were liberated from the Japanese. His photographs cover a wide variety of locations in the Pacific.