One Family's Walk Through the
Years of the Bataan Death March
Introduction
By the summer of 1941 Frederick Wildish was nearing sixty years old. Gone were the happy days of being a newlywed just out of WWI with a young son. His Merick and Wildish engineering firm had crumbled with the Great Depression and times were still tough. Of his family, only his sister Laura, adopted daughter Winifred and his son Myron remained. His father had died during his high school years, and by 1941 he had also buried his mother, brother, and another sister as well as his young wife and Myron's mother, Gertrude .
There was, however, one thing helping him and Myron pull through. In 1931, Fred had remarried widow and family friend Connie Jenkins. Much like Fred, Connie had been left with two young sons, Don and David, to raise alone after the death of her young husband. This new union between Fred and Connie perhaps wasn’t a marriage made of great romance but mutual affection, respect and the idea of teaming up together to raise their three young boys. Connie was able to provide a good meal every night for dinner and make sure that the teenage Myron had his first pair of long pants, as knickers were no longer appropriate for the long legged 14 year old.
There was, however, one thing helping him and Myron pull through. In 1931, Fred had remarried widow and family friend Connie Jenkins. Much like Fred, Connie had been left with two young sons, Don and David, to raise alone after the death of her young husband. This new union between Fred and Connie perhaps wasn’t a marriage made of great romance but mutual affection, respect and the idea of teaming up together to raise their three young boys. Connie was able to provide a good meal every night for dinner and make sure that the teenage Myron had his first pair of long pants, as knickers were no longer appropriate for the long legged 14 year old.
Myron was growing up to be Fred’s pride and joy. He had become a Eagle Scout and had absorbed the lessons taught by his father of hard work and love of country. He would go on to graduate from high school and then, with great sacrifice from Fred and hard work from Myron, Purdue University in 1940. It was the last summer all three of Fred and Connie’s boys were home together.
After graduation Myron moved from his hometown of Downers Grove, Illinois to Terre Haute, Indiana to work for a year at Columbian Enameling and began a serious relationship with fellow employee Janet Swearingen. At age twenty-three, he was well on his way to building a successful life as a chemical engineer. But the world, and with it Fred and Myron’s lives, were soon to change. By the summer of 1941 the war in Europe was building and certainly many could see that American troops might soon be involved. Fred had been active in ROTC at Purdue and letters kept coming from the army encouraging him to enlist, especially to go overseas. Thinking that would be his eventual fate, he agrees to go to active duty. Within one week of enlisting a telegram comes that orders him to report immediately to an Army intake center in Ohio. Myron says to his father in Illinois on June 24, 1941. |
"The Last Summer All the Boys Were Home"
Donald Jenkins, Fred Wildish, Myron Wildish, David Jenkins
July 9, 1941 - Telegram to Janet from Ohio
From Ohio Myron sends Janet, working and living where they met in Terre Haute, Indiana a telegram saying he will be leaving Ohio by air on July 10th and sailing from San Francisco on the 14th. Assignment: Fort Stotsenburg, adjoining Clark Air Force Base, in the Philippines. By letter he tells his father in Downers Grove, Illinois to let Janet know if “anything should happen to me.”
Myron in the Philippines Fort Stotsenburg
Myron's Words: "A Fast Change"
“It had been the fastest change in lifestyle I’ve ever made: from (a 23 year old) civilian in the USA to second Lieutenant in the Philippines Scouts. It was August now of 1941, I arrived in this beautiful country. I was really impressed…
It was a wonderful life. I was in my mid-20’s. There was cavalry stationed there, but the horses didn’t have enough to do. We had the weekends off, so the soldiers in that unit asked some of my friends and me to take the horses out now and then, which we did. We’d also go out on motorcycles. The rides helping familiarize us with the area.
The guy who was running our battery was a West Point captain who had been there about five years. There were three other lieutenants who came over when I did. The captain told us “You guys better get real smart, real fast because there’s a war coming here. You’re useless to me now, because you don’t know the personnel in the battery, you don’t know anything about the terrain, you’ve never fired anything before in your life. If you want to live for a long time, then you have to be real smart; otherwise, you’re going to get bad assignments.” He was very frank about it.”
It was a wonderful life. I was in my mid-20’s. There was cavalry stationed there, but the horses didn’t have enough to do. We had the weekends off, so the soldiers in that unit asked some of my friends and me to take the horses out now and then, which we did. We’d also go out on motorcycles. The rides helping familiarize us with the area.
The guy who was running our battery was a West Point captain who had been there about five years. There were three other lieutenants who came over when I did. The captain told us “You guys better get real smart, real fast because there’s a war coming here. You’re useless to me now, because you don’t know the personnel in the battery, you don’t know anything about the terrain, you’ve never fired anything before in your life. If you want to live for a long time, then you have to be real smart; otherwise, you’re going to get bad assignments.” He was very frank about it.”
December 7, 1941
Life for Myron changes in an instant as Pearl Harbor is bombed by the Japanese on December 7th – news Fred at home in Illinois, and Janet in Indiana, would have heard via radio or perhaps from a neighbor that Sunday afternoon.
A few hours later at Fort Stotsenburg, where Myron is stationed, the B-17s on the ground for refueling are taken out by Japanese bombers and the American defense of the Philippines from the Japanese begins. A couple of weeks later on January 1, 1942, father Fred begins his notebook as he waits for news of what has happened to his only child.
A few hours later at Fort Stotsenburg, where Myron is stationed, the B-17s on the ground for refueling are taken out by Japanese bombers and the American defense of the Philippines from the Japanese begins. A couple of weeks later on January 1, 1942, father Fred begins his notebook as he waits for news of what has happened to his only child.
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