Hide Article Text (OCR)
urvivorsTheir lives have been entwined for nearly a half-century, brought together initially in 1940 as members of a National Guard unit in JanesvilleLater they courageously fought overwhelming odds in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater against World War II aggressor Japan They surrendered only after a bloody 90-day battle In the hills of Bataan Peninsula, which Juts into Manila Bay from the southwestern coast of Luzon, the largest of the Philippine Islands.The death and wounded toll of Americans and their fighting Filipino companions from the battle was enormous. Others perished in the infamous Bataan Death March. Prisoner camps claimed some. Still more died when “Hell Ships” packed with prisoners were sunk en route to forced labor camps in Japan, China or elsewhere in the PhilippinesPrisoners spent more than three years in such camps, where they helped bury more of their buddies who fell ill to malaria, beriberi, malnutrition, or were bayoneted or subjected to other mistreatment by their captors. Atrocities were the order of the day in prisoner-of-war campsThe POWs were virtually skeletons when released by American forces as J apan surrendered in August 1945. Even in the darkest days that pUed one upon the other, they all spoke of never abandoning the hope of somehow, some way, someday breathing free air again in America, 10,000 mUes away.Their ranks are thin now, 43 years after that war’s end. Of the original 99 Janesville members of the 192nd Tank Battalion, only 35 came back. About 15 are living today. They are in their 60s and 70s. Whatever impact the brutal imprisonment may have had on them physicaUy, mentaUy or psycho-logicaUy, they appear keen today. Their enthusiasm is genuine, their zest for life never flickering.There’s Lew Wallisch, 66, of 514 Glen; Carl Nick-ols, 73, of 561 N. Walnut; Herb Dumer, 71, of 303 N.Walnut, and Bob Stewart, 69, of 2021 Bond Place. Their names are famUiar to older generations of JanesviUe residents, for the Bataan Death March became one of the most infamous stories to emerge from World War II.At a newsman’s request, the four of them sat down Monday afternoon in the cozy Wallisch kitchen to talk about a forthcoming annual national reunion of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor in Louisville, Ky. They vividly recalled times, dates and places of their service years—such things are indelibly imprinted in their minds. After aU, one would not or could not forget the worst horrors of the war.On liberation day Nickolf weighed an illness-ravaged, decimated 97 pounds, a shadow of the husky man he once had been.This weekly column of commentary and opinion will cover the waterfront in people, places and things. Reader comments and contributions are welcome.Of his POW ordeal, the feisty Dumer remarked, “I said I was going to live despite the bastards ’’ That seemed to capture the spirit of the quartet.Nickols, who gets about now with the aid of crutches, was in extremely poor shape and suffering from severe eye problems when freed from the enemy’s grasp at Bilibid camp in Manila. “But I’m still alive,” he said.Nickols carried 226 pounds on his 5-10 frame when he went overseas. On liberation day Nickols weighed an illness-ravaged, decimated 97 pounds, a shadow of the husky man he once had been. Months in several U.S. veterans hospitals awaited him before he was fit for discharge. The former sergeant is retired from The Parker Peri Co.Stewart also is a sizable man, who weighed in about the same as Nickols and was about an inch taller at 5-11. At liberation he was down to 115 pounds, perhaps avoiding greater weight loss by working stints in the POW camp’s kitchen along with Wallisch. Stewart is retired from his U.S. Postal Service career as a rural carrier.Wallisch, a former staff sergeant, apprenticed as a carpenter after his discharge in October 1945 and worked at that craft until 1954 when he went to work as an assembler at General Motors, retiring 30 years later. He survived 3*6 years as a prisonerBataan survivors gathered to reminisce recently. From the left, they are Bob Stewart, Herb Durner, Carl Nickols and Lew Wallisch.but said he emerged “in pretty good shape” despite a battle with malaria.He and his wife Phyllis are attending the Bataan-Corregidor survivors convention in Louisville through Wednesday. So are Bob and Dorothy Stewart. Then they’ll go to Northern Kentucky University at Highland Heights where a special program the night of May —the 47th anniversary of the fall of Corregidor—will honor the 192nd Tank Battalion and its survivors.The highlight of the program, at which the school will commission ROTC graduates, will be the unveiling of a bronze plaque honoring the 192nd and its members. That will be displayed permanently at the university.The unit was made up of soldiers from fourstates: Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky and Wisconsin. Another of the Wisconsin attendees will be Stan Sommers of Marshfield, who was national commander of American Ex-Prisoners of War in 1981.Dr Alvin Poweleit of Lakeside Park, Ky., who was the 192nd Battalion surgeon, is working with Northern Kentucky’s curator/archivist James C. Claypool in honoring the 192nd at the May 6 ceremonies. Plans also call for an independent television production company to make a documentaryincorporating interviews with survivors and chrom cling the battalion’s history.Northern Kentucky University’s tribute is a fitting way to help assure that the glory and story of the 192nd Tank Battalion lives on.Mitch Bliss is editor of The Janesville Gazette.
Newspaper Details
Janesville Sunday Gazette
Janesville, Wisconsin, US
Sun, May 01, 1988
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 08 Jun 2022
Other Publications Near Janesville, Wisconsin
Janesville Badger State
Janesville Alliance Messenger
Janesville Morning Gazette
Janesville Daily Gazette
Weekly Gazette and Free Press
