Purple Heart Walk – Robert Griffith – Nemaha County Historical Society

Robert Guy Griffith’s life began quietly on January 5, 1921, on a farm two miles southeast of Bern, Kansas. He was the fifth of eight children born to Guy and Mary Griffith. In 1929, the family left their farm near Bern for another farm five miles to the west, in rural Nemaha County. Robert completed eighth grade in a one-room country school before attending and graduating from Seneca High School in 1939.

From a young age, Robert displayed a natural mechanical talent. While still in high school, he built farm machinery—practical skills for a rural Kansas boy—but his ambitions reached beyond the fields of the Midwest. His passion was aviation, a relatively new and exciting field at the time.

A Path to the Air Corps

In October 1940, at the age of nineteen, Robert traveled to California to seek employment at Lockheed Aircraft, where his older brother Vernon worked. There, he met Ray Tade, another young man from Colorado with similar ambitions. When neither Robert nor Ray found immediate work, they enlisted together in the U.S. Army Air Corps in August 1940.

By November 1940, Robert was at Hamilton Field near San Francisco, and later that month, he boarded the S.S. Washington at San Pedro, California, bound for the Philippine Islands. He arrived in Manila on November 23, 1940, and was stationed at Nichols Field, part of the growing American air presence in the Pacific.

Life in the Philippines Before War

In December 1940, Robert sent an amateur radio message to his brother Vernon:

“Hello Vern. I arrived here (Nichols Field). Nice weather. I like it. Am going to have besides work, quite a bit of traveling. Bob.”

Just before Christmas, another message arrived:

“Wishing you all a very Merry Xmas and a happy new year. Warm here to some like xmas. Feeling fine. Love, Bob.”

By 1941, Robert was serving with the 20th Pursuit Squadron of the 24th Pursuit Group. He dreamed of becoming a pilot and had been accepted for flight training in the United States. But with tensions rising in the Pacific, those plans were canceled. In May 1941, he began aircraft and engine school, becoming a crew chief on the P-40 pursuit plane.

War Comes to the Philippines

On December 8, 1941 (December 7 in Hawaii), the Japanese attacked the Philippines within hours of striking Pearl Harbor. Clark Field and Nichols Field were heavily bombed, and most of the American planes were destroyed on the ground. With their aircraft gone, Air Corps personnel, including Robert, were reassigned to fight as infantry.

By January 26, 1942, Robert and his unit had been ordered to the Bataan Peninsula to join the ground defense. For three weeks, they held a line at Abucay, just 100 yards from Japanese positions, before retreating first to Pilar and then to Lamao.

The defenders of Bataan endured months of tropical heat, relentless enemy attacks, and severe shortages of food, medicine, and supplies. By early April, the situation was hopeless. On April 9, 1942, Major General Edward King surrendered the approximately 70,000 American and Filipino troops on Bataan to the Japanese.

The Bataan Death March

What followed became one of the most infamous atrocities of World War II—the Bataan Death March.

For the next four to six days, Robert and tens of thousands of other prisoners were forced to march roughly 65 miles from Mariveles to San Fernando, with no food, almost no water, and in the sweltering Philippine heat.

Prisoners who fell behind, collapsed from exhaustion, or attempted to help others were beaten, shot, or bayoneted. Eyewitness accounts tell of men being beheaded or run over by vehicles. The Japanese guards, rotating frequently, forced their weakened captives to march for hours while they themselves rested and drank water.

At San Fernando, the survivors were crammed into sweltering boxcars for a five-hour train ride to Capas. From there, they marched the final miles to Camp O’Donnell, an overcrowded former U.S. Army post converted by the Japanese into a prisoner-of-war camp.

Camp O’Donnell – “Camp O’Death”

Camp O’Donnell was ill-prepared for the influx of thousands of prisoners. There was only one working water spigot for the entire American section of the camp, and food consisted of a small ration of rice once a day. Medical facilities were nonexistent, and disease ran rampant.

Between April and June 1942, over 1,500 Americans and some 20,000 Filipinos died in the camp from disease, malnutrition, and neglect. The death rate for Americans averaged 20 per day.

Robert survived the brutal march but succumbed at Camp O’Donnell on June 6, 1942. Records indicate he died from dysentery, compounded by malaria, starvation, and lack of medical care. He was only 21 years old. He was the 1,241st American to die there, and the 26th member of the 20th Pursuit Squadron to perish.

Aftermath and Uncertainty at Home

Back in Nemaha County, Robert’s parents received no word from him after Christmas 1941. By April 1942, newspapers reported that he had likely been on Bataan. In August 1942, the War Department notified them that he was missing in action. It was not until May 8, 1944, that he was officially declared dead.

His remains, initially buried in the Camp O’Donnell POW cemetery, went unidentified for years. It was only in 1947, after an exhaustive process of comparing dental charts, examining remains, and interviewing liberated prisoners, that the American Graves Registration Service confirmed his identity. Robert was reburied at the U.S. Armed Forces Cemetery, Manila No. 2, and later moved to the Manila American Cemetery.

Honors and Legacy

For his service and sacrifice, Robert G. Griffith was awarded:

Bronze Star Medal for heroic achievement
Purple Heart for wounds received in armed conflict
Prisoner of War Medal for being taken prisoner under wartime conditions
Good Conduct Medal for exemplary conduct and fidelity
World War II Victory Medal for service in the Armed Forces
American Defense Service Medal (posthumously awarded in 2001)
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with Bronze Service Star (posthumously awarded in 2001)
Philippine Defense Medal from the Philippine government

Robert’s three brothers also served during World War II—Vernon with the Eighth Air Force in England, Rex as a B-17 flight engineer in Guam, and Max as a weather forecaster in the Aleutian Islands and Japan during the Korean War.

Remembering Robert

Today, Robert G. Griffith’s name stands among those of thousands of Americans who never returned from the Philippines. His story is one of courage, endurance, and ultimate sacrifice—an ordinary Kansas farm boy who found himself at the heart of one of the Pacific War’s most brutal campaigns and paid the highest price for freedom.

SOURCES

Robert Griffith

Find a Grave – screenshot

Bronze Star Medal

Purple Heart

Fold 3 Memorial

Army Air Forces

Rank: Technician

Service Number 19048329

Unit: 20 Pursuit Squadron 24th Pursuit roup

Death: June 6, 1942

Courier Tribune

14 Nov 1940

page 8

Mr. and Mrs. Guy Griffith received word from their son, Bob, last week that he had joined the Army Air corps and has been at Hamilton Field, near San Francisco until recently, when he sailed for the Philippines.

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Courier Tribune

29 Dec 1941

page 1

Christmas “All’s Well” From Son in Philippines

The finest Christmas greeting, received by Mr. and Mrs. Guy Griffith, north of Seneca, came by cable and telephone. It was a simple message, an “all’s well,” from Robert Griffith, son who is in the air corps in the Philippines. Robert is a graduate of Seneca high school. He has been stationed at Nichols and Clark fields. The cablegram was the first word from him since October 20. The parents are temporarily relieved but of course remain anxious about Robert’s continued safety while the Philippines battle rages.

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Courier tribune

13 April 1942

page 1

Bob Griffith Was On Bataan

North of Seneca, Attended School Here

The gallant forces defending Bataan peninsula in the Philippines crumbled under the incessant strain last week. Little has been given out to indicate the number of men cap- turned or casualty, nor number that reached Corregidor Island, where the fort still holds under repeated attack of the Jap bombers. Rob Griffith, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Guy Griffith, who live north of Seneca and west of Bern, is believed to have been on Bataan. His parents have had no word for some time to allay their anxiety. Bob was in the air corps. Most of the planes on Bataan were knocked out, and the air corps joined with the infantry in ground fighting. Bob is a graduate of the Seneca high school. He was 21 last January 5. He joined the air corps in August 1940, in Calıfornia. Capt. Arlie Higgins, son of Mrs. W. H. Higgins, Seneca, is somewhere in the Philippines but from earlier indication may not have been on Bataan.

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Courier Tribune

20 Aug 1942

page 1

Bob Griffith Listed Missing

He Was In Bataan Action

By Bern Correspondent

Mr. and Mrs. Guy Griffith Seneca route, who live west of Bern, have received official word that their son Robert, former Seneca student, is missing in action on Bataan peninsula. His name does not appear on the casualty list. However, a final check-up cannot be made for some time to come. Mr. and Mrs. Griffith had appealed to the Red Cross in getting some news from their son. The last letter they received from him was written in November. They received a cablegram of Christmas greetings. Bob was serving in the air corps according to last word.

______________

Courier Tribune

31 Dec 1942

page 1

From Seneca, Major Arlie Higgins, also Bob Griffith, from north of Seneca, have been unheard from since fall of the Philippines. Orville Edman, Centralia was reported missing in the Philippines.

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Courier Tribune

11 Sept 1944

page 2

Robert G. Griffith reported missing in action int he Philippines over a year ago, was declared officially dead May 8, 1944, leaving as his nearest kin, his parents, Mr. and MRs. Guy D. Griffith. Mr. Griffith was appointed administrator.

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Courier Tribune

26 June 1947

page 1

Announce Identification Of Soldier’s Remains

Robert G. Griffith, Technician 3rd grade, U. S army, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Guy Griffith, of north of Seneca, gave his life in the Philippines during the recent world war. While it has been long realized that he must have lost his life, his remains were among the unidentified dead until recently.

The following item is from the Kansas City Quartermaster department:

Recent announcement from Washington of the positive identification of the remains of 353 American soldiers, including six from Kansas, who died in the Philippine Islands during the Japanese occupation, is one of the many examples of the thoroughness and persistency being exhibited by the American Graves Registration Service and the Quartermaster Corps in establishing the identities of previously recorded unknown dead of World War II, Col. M. A. Quinn, Commanding Officer, Kansas City Quartermaster Depot, stated.

The identified Kansans, who were among a group of approximately 1,600 buried in Camp O’Donnell Prisoner of War Cemetery on Luzon and later reburied in the U. S. Armed Forces Cemetery Manila No. 2, include Technician 3rd grade Robert G. Griffith, Seneca, Kansas.

Next of kin of the deceased have been notified by The Quartermaster General of the Army, T. B. Larkin, according to Col. Quinn.

“Identities of the unknown were established by the Office of The Quartermaster General following more than a year of research and study and interrogation of liberated prisoners of war, including officers who survived the period of imprisonment,” Colonel Quinn ex-plained. “Certification of the correctness of the identification in each case was made by an Army Board of Review which examined all the facts gathered by American Graves Registration Service personnel and Quartermaster Corps identification experts.

“Those facts included among other things dental charts, on which a number of months were spent in comparisons finally authenticated by a Dental Corps officer. Each of the remains was examined and the clues in each case collected and studied/until overwhelming evidence regarding identity could be presented to the Review Board.”

Present plans call for a continued study of all other remains that are still in an unidentified status in temporary military cemeteries over the globe in an effort to obtain further additional identifying media, Colonel Quinn advised

Robert Guy Griffith

Courier Tribune

14 Nov 1940

page 8

Bern

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Courier Tribune

29 Dec 1941

page 1

Christmas “All’s Well”

from Son in Philippines

The finest Christmas greeting received by Mr. and Mrs. Guy Griffith, north of Seneca, came by cable and telephone. It was a simple message; an “all’s well,” from Robert Griffith, son who is in the air corps in the Philippines. Robert is a graduate of Seneca high school. He has been stationed at Nichol and Clark fields. The cablegram was the first word from him since October 20 The parents arr temporarily relieved but of course remain anxious about Robert’s continued safety while the Philippines battle rages.

Courier Tribune

20 Aug 1942

page 1

Bob Griffith Listed Missing

He Was in Bataan Action

By Bern Correspondent

Mr. and Mrs. Guy Griffith Seneca route, who live west of Bern, have received official work that their son Robert, former Seneca student, is missing in action on Bataan peninsula.

His name does not appear on the casualty list. However, a final check-up cannot be made for some time to come.

Mr. and Mrs. Griffith had appealed to the Red Cross in getting some news from their son. The last letter they received from him was written in November. They received a cablegram of Christmas greetings. Bob was serving in the air corps according to last word.

________________

Courier Tribune

11 Sep 1944

page 2

Robert G. Griffith, reported missing in action in the Philippines over a year ago, was declared officially dead May 8, 1944, leaving as his nearest kin, his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Guy D. Griffith. Mr. Griffith was appointed administrator.

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Courier Tribune

26 Jun 1947

page 1

Announce Identification

of Soldier’s Remains

The following item is from the Kansas City Quartermaster department:

Recent announcement from Washington of the positive identification of the remains of 353 American solders, including six from Kansas, who died in the Philoppine Islands during the Japanese occupation, is one of the many examples of the thoroughness-and persistency being exhibited by the American Graves Registration Service and the Quartermaster Corps in establishing the identities of previously recorded unknown dead of World War II, Col. M. A. Quinn, Commanding officer, Kansas City Quartermaster Depot, stated.

Next of kin of the deceased have been notified by The Quartermaster General of the Army, T. B. Larkin, according to Col. Quinn.

“Identities of the unknown were established by the Office of The Quartermaster General following more than a year of research and study and interrogation of liberated prisoners of war, including officers who survived the period of imprisonment,” Colonel Quinn explained. “Certification of the correctness of the identification in each case was made by an Army Board of Review which examined all the facts gathered-by-American Graves Registration Service personnel and Quartermastex Corps identification experts.

“Those facts included among other things dental charts, on which a number of months were spent in comparisons finally authenticated by a Dental Corps officer. Each of the remains was examined and the clues in each case collected and studied until overwhelming evidence regarding identity could be presented to the Review Board.”。

________________

The Sabetha Herald

25 May 2011

Page 29

Robert Griffith died in Japanese prisoner of war camp during World War II
Bern man survived Bataan Death March in Philippines, then succumbed in primitive prison conditions

By Patty Locher
Staff Writer

Private First Class Robert C. Griffith of rural Bern served as a crew chief of a P-40 pursuit aircraft in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II.
He died in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in the Philippines on June 6, 1942, one-and-a-half months after surviving the infamous Bataan Death March. He was just over 21 years old.

Robert was born on a farm two miles southeast of Bern on Jan. 5, 1921, the fifth of eight children born to Guy and Mary Griffith. He attended Bern School until 1929, when the family moved to a farm five miles west of Bern. He finished eighth grade in a one-room country school, then attended Seneca High School and graduated in 1939.

Mechanically inclined, he built farm machinery in high school. Through he worked on the family farm after high school, it wasn’t his first choice for a career.

Robert’s main interest was in the fledgling aviation field. In October 1940, he went to California to seek employment at Lockheed Air Craft, where his older brother Vernon worked. Vernon’s roommate’s brother, Ray Tade, had come to California from Colorado, also seeking work at Lockheed.

Neither Robert nor Ray was employed right away, so they both joined their fathers in enlisting in an Army Air Corps recruiter and soon were members of the Army Air Corps.

Vernon remembered they reported to San Pedro Port of Los Angeles on Oct. 31, 1940, to sail on the S.S. Washington and head for the Philippines. They arrived in Manila in the Philippine Islands on Nov. 23, 1940.
From Manila, Robert took the following message to his brother Vernon via an Aerial Record: “Hello Vern. I arrived here (Nichols Field). Nice weather. I like it. Am going to have besides work, quite a bit of traveling. Bob.”
On Dec. 18, in a nonstop message, he said “Wishing you all a very Merry Xmas and a happy new year. Warm here to some like xmas. Feeling fine. Love, Bob.”
(These messages went via amateur radio transmissions including no capital letters or punctuation.)

In early 1941, several new pursuit squadrons were formed under the leadership of the 24th Pursuit Group.

Robert had always wanted to be a pilot, and he wrote folks back home that he had been accepted to return to the States to begin flight training.

With the build-up of U.S. forces, and war expected at starting time, however, he was denied an opportunity to fulfill his long-time dream of flying.

In May 1941, Robert wrote to his sister Irene that he was going to aircraft and engine school for a new airplane. After he completed school, he became a crew chief on a P-40.

On Dec. 7, 1941 (Dec. 8 in the Philippines, due to the dateline change), the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. Following an attack on Clark Field in the Philippines, bombs and bullets caused severe damage. Robert’s P-40 pursuit plane moved two miles from Clark and they built above ground, manned by a bivouac there.

When they were ordered to evacuate, they drove trucks laden with all portable items to Nichols Field. That night, they were attacked in long drives.

On Jan. 26, 1942, the troops were ordered to Bataan Peninsula, to serve as infantry and support the ground forces.

They dug in at Abucay, 100 yards from the Japanese, for three weeks.

When the Japanese broke through the line, the U.S. troops retreated to Pilar, then to Lamao.

By April, the men were worn out from months of combat in the tropical climate, with little food and no relief.

On April 9, 1942, the surrender of Bataan was announced, and the remaining 70,000 men of both American and Filipino forces began a four- to six-day march, with no food or water, in the hot sun, to San Fernando.

Along the way, if soldiers were unable to keep up, fell, or tried to help a fellow soldier, they were shot or bayoneted. If they tried to help a fellow soldier, they were brutally killed or shot.

While the captives walked for six in the morning until eight or nine at night, the guards only walked for about three miles before changing with fresh troops.

Upon arrival at San Fernando, the prisoners were marched to the local railroad station, where they were packed tightly into train cars for a five-hour ride to Capas, the town near the POW camp.

They arrived at O’Donnell prison camp on April 21, 1942. There was only one faucet, and these men who had marched for days without water had to stand in line for hours to fill their canteens. Soon after, they got a mess kit of rice, the first food in six days.

After a week at O’Donnell, the death rate was about 20 per day. It was there that Robert endured one-and-a-half months before succumbing to the escape of death. Records say he died of dysentery. He also had malaria, was starving and had no medical attention.

He was the 1,241st to die at O’Donnell and the 26th of the 20th Pursuit Squadron to die. He was buried at the O’Donnell Cemetery. His friend Ray Tade died on Oct. 17, 1942, at Cabanatuan prison camp.

We do not know what wounds he suffered in the last two months of his life, but from the stories of the men who survived the brutalities of the Japanese captors, it is almost unthinkable that his life was anything but unbearable.

By these survivors’ accounts, the Japanese captors were very adept and creative in their demands and quick to physically and inhumanely punish or kill their charges, whether guilty of a crime or not.

After World War II ended, Robert’s remains were interred in the Manila American Cemetery.

After the war, he was presented the Bronze Star for Robert’s heroic achievement, the Purple Heart for being wounded in an armed conflict, the Prisoner of War Medal for being taken prisoner, the Good Conduct Medal for exemplary conduct and fidelity, and the World War II Victory Medal for service in the U.S. Armed Forces from 1941 until his death.

In 2001, his brother Max wrote the Department of Army Records, and the following additional medals from the Army were authorized posthumously for Robert: The American Defense Service Medal for service from 1940 to 1941, and the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with Bronze Service Star for service from 1941 to 1942.

From the Philippine Government, he received the Philippine Defense Medal for defense of the Philippines between Dec. 8, 1941 and June 6, 1942.

Three of Robert’s brothers also served in the military. Brother Vernon with Eighth Air Force in England, Rex as a flight engineer on a B-17 bomber stationed on Guam, and Max as a weather forecaster in the Aleutian Islands and later in Japan during the Korean conflict.

Robert’s brother Rex and wife still live in the rural Bern area.

Sources: A report written by Robert’s brother, Rex Griffith; military records from the Department of Defense; and Wikipedia.

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Perplexity

The Bataan Death March was a forced transfer of approximately 76,000 Filipino and American prisoners of war by the Imperial Japanese Army in April 1942, covering about 65 miles (105 km) under brutal and inhumane conditions after the surrender of Bataan during World War II.britannica+2

The march began on April 9, 1942, after the three-month Battle of Bataan in the Philippines, when U.S. and Filipino troops, already weakened from hunger and disease, were captured and compelled to walk from Mariveles and Bagac on the Bataan Peninsula to San Fernando, then packed into overcrowded boxcars, and forced to walk another 7–9 miles to Camp O’Donnell.wikipedia+1

Key details:

Number of prisoners: Roughly 66,000 Filipinos and 10,000 Americans.britannica
Conditions: Prisoners suffered from starvation, dehydration, exposure, physical abuse, and disease. Many were beaten, shot, bayoneted, and, in some instances, beheaded by their captors if they failed to keep up or attempted to stop.nationalmuseum.af+2
Deaths: Casualty estimates vary, but about 2,500 Filipinos and 500 Americans died during the march, and thousands more perished afterward at Camp O’Donnell due to the camp’s harsh conditions and disease.nationalww2museum+2
Legacy: The Bataan Death March is recognized as a war crime and remains a symbol of Japanese brutality in the Pacific War. Annual memorial events honor the suffering endured by those who survived and those who perished.defense

The ordeal is remembered as one of the most horrific war crimes of the Second World War, demonstrating the extreme suffering inflicted on Allied POWs and the significant loss of life among Filipino troops compared to Americans.wikipedia+2

Camp O’Donnell in the Philippines was a former U.S. military reservation that became a notorious Japanese prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during World War II. After the surrender at Bataan in April 1942, approximately 70,000 Filipino and American soldiers were forced to march about 65 miles in the Bataan Death March, ending at Camp O’Donnell. The camp was not prepared to handle such a large influx of POWs, lacking adequate barracks, hospital, water, sewer, and dining facilities.

Key facts about Camp O’Donnell during WWII:

It housed roughly 60,000 Filipino and 9,000 American POWs.
The conditions were brutal; prisoners suffered from disease, starvation, neglect, and physical abuse.
Approximately 20,000 Filipino and 1,500 American prisoners died there within a few months due to the harsh conditions.
The camp was divided into separate areas for Filipino and American prisoners.
By June 1942, most American POWs were transferred to other camps or work details; Filipino POWs were paroled between September 1942 and January 1943 after signing oaths not to become guerrillas.
The Japanese closed the camp as a POW facility in January 1943.
The camp was recaptured by Allied forces in January 1945.

Camp O’Donnell’s severe conditions and high death toll earned it the grim nickname “Camp O’Death” among prisoners.wikipedia+3