Clarence Kenneth Larson was born August 19th, 1920, and enlisted in the Army Air Corps in November of 1939 at Fort Snelling, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was 19 years old and little did he know he wouldn’t see his home state or family for almost 6 years. He was shipped by train to Angel Island, Fort McDowell near San Francisco for 6 weeks. He was then assigned to Nichols Field on the island of Luzon in the Philippine Islands. After a three week journey by ship via Hawaii and Guam on the U.S.S. Grant, he arrived in February of 1940 for a two year assignment. He served as an MP and as a supply Sargent at Nichols. He was scheduled for rotation back to the states in January of 1942, but the attack at Pearl Harbor and the subsequent invasion of the Philippines delayed his rotation to the states by over 4 years. Shortly after the invasion commenced, Swede’s (as he was known in the military) 19th Air Base Squadron and most other units were shipped to Mariveles and the Bataan Peninsula. This became home for the next 3+ months. After dodging dive bombers, enemy tanks, being on half rations and less much of the time, the Bataan defenders, being weak, malnourished, under equipped, and vastly outnumbered, surrendered on April 9, 1942. Shortly, Swede and thousands of American and Filipino prisoners were forced to march north which became known as the infamous Bataan Death March. The prisoners arrived at Camp O’Donnell. Later, many were trucked to Cabanatuan Camp #1. Brutal physical labor and disease was endured by dad and hundreds of others during their incarceration. In July of 1944, Swede and many others were informed that they were to be shipped to Japan for further duty as slave laborers. Dad and 1600 other prisoners were crammed like sardines into the hold of the old steel hulled freighter, Nissyo Maru. After a long and dangerous voyage, they arrived at Moji, Japan on August 6, 1944. Dad was a dock worker, loading and unloading hundred pound bags of cement, bags of sugar, iron ore and coal, much of which ended up in the waters surrounding the docks, along with shovels and other tools. Anything to help the war effort.

What many of our citizens do not realize, is that thousands of Death March participants not only survived, but they were to be again brutally tortured and tormented in the foulest, filthiest conditions imaginable on the Hell Ships. Dad proclaimed many times that the Hell Ships ordeal was far worse, as far as he was concerned, when comparing the Death March and the Hell Ships.

Shortly after witnessing the mushroom cloud over Nagasaki,(the prisoners did not know what it was they were seeing) the Jap camp commander informed the prisoners that the Japanese Imperial Army had been defeated and there would be no more work. After numerous air drops of food and medicine, dad and 2 buddies made their way to Kagashima, an air base at the southeastern end of Kyushu Island. From there, dad was air lifted to Okinawa with a fly over at Hiroshima, witnessing the total destruction wrought by the bomb. A ship transported Swede and hundreds of other liberated Americans, back to San Francisco with a rest stop in Hawaii. It had been 5 years since he had last seen the Golden Gate Bridge and what a sight it was for him and the others. After hospitalization and R&R, he arrived back in Kenyon, MN with no fanfare as he had told his parents and friends he would be arriving at a later date. Can you imagine the emotions of his walking into his old farm house, unannounced, after so long and after what he had been through?

Butch, as he was now called, married Irene Lois Mork on October 12, 1946. They had 4 children between 1947 and 1959. Dad stayed in the Air Force, as it was now called, and retired as a Tech Sargeant in 1962 to begin a new career at Otter Tail Power Company. He retired for good after 23 years at the power company in 1986. Both mom and dad led vigorous and active retirement lives, volunteering time and money wherever needed, and still found time to ride their beloved motorcycles around the United States and Canada.

Irene passed away on July 31, 2001, and Clarence "Butch, Swede" Larson passed away on May 24, 2005.

Finally, Clarence K. Larson wrote and published a book about his experience in 1998. "A Long March Home" chronicles his time in the service through his retirement. These are the real history books.

Clarence and Irene Larson

Clarence in 2004

Clarence and Irene’s four Children

Front: Nancy Larson and Becky Anderson

Back: Tim Larson and Dan Larson

November 2004