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LTC.
Arden R. Boellner was born in Leon, Kansas on February 27, 1898.
He
moved to Roswell, New Mexico with his family in 1907. He graduated
from New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell in 1919 as a Second Lieutenant,
US Army Reserve Corps. He was promoted to First Lieutenant in 1923,
to Captain in 1926, to Major in 1933.
He was called to active duty on July 22, 1941. He
arrived at Fort McKinley, Philippine Islands, on November 20, 1941,
where he was assigned to the Visayan-Mindanao Force, Cebu City,
Philippine Islands, and was en route there on December 7, 1941.
LTC Boellner was at Del Monte airfield on Mindanao when General MacArthur
arrived safely after his escape from Corregidor. He was Executive Officer
under General William F. Sharp's command ordered to the defense of Cagayan
Province on Mindanao. These 94th Infantry Units were intact
and holding firm in Magnima Canyon when all American forces in the Philippines
were ordered to surrender on May 10, 1942.
LTC Boellner was imprisoned at Malaybalay until August 1942 when he was
transported to Davao Penal Colony. He remained there until June 1944 when
the Japanese prison camp was closed and the POWS were sent north to
Cabanatuan and later to Bilibid prison in Manila. On December
13, 1944, LTC Boellner along with 1, 619 fellow prisoners were
marched to Pier 7 to board the hellship ORYOKU MARU for Japan.
At dawn on December 14, 1944, United States Navy planes from the carrier
HORNET, unaware that Allied POWS were imprisoned in the hold of the
unmarked ORYOKU MARU, attacked the Japanese hellship in Subic Bay. A
second group of Navy planes returned on December 15, 1944, further
destroying the hellship and unknowingly killing 150 American officers and men
in the aft hold.
LTC. ARDEN R. BOELLNER was among them.
He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star with 2 Oak Leaf
Clusters, Combat Infantryman Badge, Philippine Presidential Unit Citation
Badge, Purple Heart, Prisoner of War Medal. He was inducted
into the New Mexico Military Institute Hall of Fame in October 1990.
While a prisoner of war, LTC Boellner made use of his skills as a
watchmaker, often bartering with the Japanese for extra rations for his fellow
POWS. His skills as an outdoorsman, his ready wit and humor, his
military discipline enabled him to survive the inconceivable horrors of prison
camp life. He fully expected to return home to his wife,
Hazel, and two young daughters, Jeannie and Betty Arden.
He made the ultimate sacrifice for the American he loved. He was a
good soldier.
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This
TRIBUTE was prepared by Arden R Boellner's daughter -
Betty
Arden Boellner Jones
bettyardenjones@aol.com
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