|
||||
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Thomas F. Burkhart
|
Thomas Frances Burkhart was born in Altoona , Pa. on May 6,1914 to James and Caroline Plunkett Burkhart. This being a good Catholic family, he was the youngest of their 12 children, nine of whom survived to adulthood. After graduating from Altoona High School in!934, he joined CMTC (Civilian Military Training Camp) for two summers at Ft. Meade, Md. There he was awarded three medals for being "the most proficient and best trained" according to the Altoona Mirror. Because work was hard to come by in the Depression, he and his brother Charles set out on a trek that took them to Florida, Texas and finally to California. There they joined the Army Air Corps at Hamilton Field. Switching to the Army, Tom was made an officer in early 1941 and was shipped to the Philippines in June aboard the USS President Pierce. It was on this voyage that his friendship with Norman A. Wides (45th Inf. PS) and Carroll R. Hines (57th Inf PS) was cemented. Tom and Norm were assigned to the 45th Infantry at Fort McKinley just outside Manila. Records indicate that in August, 1941 he was with the 1st Battalion, Co. "C", but by the time the war started, he was with Headquarters Co.
Lt. Tom Burkhart, Sept. 1941
There are several mentions of Toms whereabouts in the Bataan fighting contained in The Chunn Notebooks in the National Archives, College Park, Md. On January 24, 1942, according to his citation for the Silver Star, he ran out under artillery fire with a medical kit to help one of his sergeants who was mortally wounded. On April 9th, plagued by malaria, dysentery and malnutrition from months of half rations, he checked himself in to Hospital #1, only to find out that his part of the war had ended. The patients were trucked to Camp O'Donnell on April 28th and on June 1st, Tom was moved to Cabanatuan.
Tom outside his quarters, August, 1941
His trip to Japan started on November 5, 1942 when the troops were jammed into boxcars and taken by train to Manila. They were paraded through town to Pier 7 and the next morning herded aboard the Nagato Maru. His journal entry for Nov. 6, 1942: "It was so hot I got sick. 500 men in one hold (the bottom one). I went on the top deck and slept or tried to. It rained. I got wet as hell and stayed that way all night and the next day. We sailed about 1lam for Japan". Tom, Norm and Carroll looked after each other in these dire straits. The ship stopped at Takao, Formosa on the way to Moji, Japan, arriving on November 25, 1942, Thanksgiving eve. This was no holiday for these Americans, as they huddled in the train station before being taken to Tanagawa POW camp. Tom had been in poor health when the whole POW experience began, but the conditions at Tanagawa were abysmal. Added to his misery was the agony of dry beri-beri and little or no heat in the barracks. Malnutrition took its toll on his eyesight. At one point, he could only see vague shadows. When there was an opportunity to move to a better camp, Norm and Carroll were told that Tom was too weak, but they persisted and vowed to take care of him. So the trio went together to Zentsuji on the island of Shikkoku.
Carroll Hines and Norm Wides Taken at Zentsuji, Sept. 29,1943
Fortunately, Zentsuji was one of "propaganda" camps and for a while, conditions, food, and treatment were much better, enabling Tom to regain his eyesight and some strength. Crucial to the survival of the men were the Red Cross boxes that they received. All of this camp of rebellious officers refused to work, except at gardening, and therefore were given reduced rations. At one point in February, 1943,Toms weight was down to 109 pounds. In June of 1945, as the Japanese saw that the war was about to come to their mainland , the American officers were separated from the British, Dutch, and Australian officers and moved to Roku Roshi, a new camp high in the remote mountains of western Japan near Fukkui. Conditions reached a new low and food was ever more scarce. The Roku Roshi prisoners did not know the war had ended until August 22n . Food and medicine was dropped by the American B-29's on September 2nd and the men engaged in recreational cooking and eating. The "recovered personnel" units found them on September 8,1945 and they were trucked to Yokohama. Tom was put on the hospital ship, USS Trvon and taken to Manila and from there flown to Letterman General Hospital in California for recuperation. When Norm and Carroll finally made it back to the states, as Norm described the homecoming in an 1986 interview, "the little son of a gun was sitting on the dock waiting for us when we got to 'Frisco."
NARA photo#223945 After recuperation in Georgia, Tom married his high school sweetheart, DeRonda Weakland of Altoona. He continued his military career with the Quartermaster Corps in Alaska, Carlisle Barracks and Ft. Lee Virginia. He retired in 1957 with the rank of Lt. Colonel and moved to Silver Spring, Maryland. Tom passed away in March of 1972 of esophageal cancer and was buried with full honors at Arlington. DeRonda preceded him in death in 1966. His three children are Caroline Burkhart (Winters), Baltimore, Md., Marydee Donnan, Los Angeles, CA, and Thomas A. (Tab) Burkhart, Clinton Md. More pictures.....
1919. Wearing a WWI uniform. 1934 Ft. Meade, MD. CMTC Still wearing a WWI uniform.
1938 - Charles and Tom Burkhart Hamilton Field, California. His description of the B-18 behind them: "This a bomber-carries six men-one pilot, radio man, navigator, and three machine gunners. There are two gunners in front, the small windows are the gun mounts, and one in the bottom, back of the wings. The bottom window is the "meat can".
|
| Be
a part of the effort to build the Hellships Memorial! Your
tax-deductible
gift in any amount is appreciated and will be only used only in
the construction and maintenance of the Hellships Memorial. 
|
