Class of 1903 to the Class of 1941.
The West Point Class of 1938 lost 16 graduates who died as prisoners of war in the hands of the Japanese during World War II. The fates of these officers highlight the diverse and brutal conditions faced by Allied captives in the Pacific Theater:
Hell Ship Casualties: The majority of the 1938 graduates perished aboard or as a result of journeys on Japanese "hell ships."
Five officers from this class—Major Collin B. Whitehurst Jr., and Captains George Kappes, Frederick A. Miller, Frederick J. Gerlich, and James R. Holmes—died when the Arisan Maru was sunk.
Major William A. Gay died in connection with the sinking of the Oryoku Maru.
Several men survived the brutal hell ship transports only to die shortly after reaching their destinations. Major Samuel L. Barbour Jr., along with Captains Edgar S. Rosenstock, Lawrence C. Baldwin, Earle M. Shiley, Louis N. Dosh, and Robert A. Barker, all died either aboard the Brazil Maru or in Japanese military hospitals and POW camps (such as Kokura and Fukuoka) after arriving.
Captain Edgar H. Dale survived the Cabanatuan POW camp and a voyage on the Nagato Maru, but died later at the Osaka POW camp in Japan.
Guerrilla Leaders and Executions: At least two members of the class—Major Ralph B. Praeger and Captain Joseph R. Barker II—fought back against the occupation by organizing and leading guerrilla resistance forces on Luzon. Both men were eventually betrayed, captured, and executed by the Japanese. Barker was executed alongside others at the Chinese Cemetery in Manila.
Prison Camp Casualties: Captain Coral M. Talbott succumbed to the horrific conditions of the camps, dying at the Cabanatuan POW camp in July 1942.
To honor their sacrifice, 15 of the 16 men are listed on a specific marker dedicated to the Class of 1938 located in Orange County, New York, the home of the United States Military Academy. The only graduate not listed on this specific memorial is Captain Lawrence C. Baldwin.Some of the most notable stories among these 158 men include:
Colonel Paul D. Bunker (Class of 1903): The oldest West Point graduate to die in Japanese captivity. A classmate of General Douglas MacArthur and a former two-time All-American football player for the Army, Bunker suffered through the siege of Corregidor and later died of starvation and disease at the Karenko POW Camp on Formosa in 1943.
Lieutenants Robert Patterson Pierpont and Hector John Polla (Class of 1941): The youngest graduates to die in captivity. Both men had graduated just six months before the outbreak of the Pacific War and found themselves quickly thrust into brutal combat. Pierpont survived the Bataan Death March and prison camps only to be killed when the hell ship Arisan Maru was torpedoed by an American submarine. Polla survived the sinking of Oryoku Maru but was killed when American aircraft bombed the Enoura Maru in Takao Harbor.
Lt. Colonel Howard E. C. Breitung (Class of 1923): After successfully escaping from the Cabanatuan POW camp, Breitung was tragically recaptured. When interrogated and severely beaten, he defiantly told the Japanese he had escaped to join a guerrilla group to come back and kill them. In response, the Japanese decapitated him in the prison yard as a warning to the other POWs.
Lt. Colonel Hal C. Granberry (Class of 1923): A highly decorated officer from Meridian, Mississippi, who commanded a battalion of Philippine Scouts on Bataan. After surviving the Bataan Death March and years in POW camps, he was loaded onto the hell ship Oryoku Maru. He survived its sinking, but was severely wounded when Enoura Maru was bombed, and ultimately died of his untreated wounds aboard a third hell ship, Brazil Maru, on January 27, 1945.
Guerrilla Leaders: At least four of the listed West Point officers—such as Lt. Col. Martin Moses and Captain Joseph R. Barker II—refused to surrender or escaped to organize and lead Filipino guerrilla resistance bands against the Japanese occupation. They were eventually betrayed, captured, severely tortured, and executed by the Japanese.
The youngest West Point graduates to die in Japanese captivity were Lieutenants Robert Patterson Pierpont and Hector John Polla. Both men belonged to the Class of 1941, having graduated just six months before the outbreak of the Pacific War.
Lt. Robert Patterson Pierpont served with the 14th Engineers and survived the Bataan Death March and subsequent imprisonment at Cabanatuan and Bilibid. He was killed in October 1944 when the hell ship Arisan Maru was torpedoed by an American submarine, the USS Shark.
Lt. Hector John Polla was awarded a Silver Star for his combat actions during the Bataan campaign. He survived the Bataan Death March and the sinking of the hell ship Oryoku Maru, but was ultimately killed when American aircraft bombed his subsequent transport, the Enoura Maru, in Takao Harbor on January 9, 1945.
Additionally, another young officer from the Class of 1941, Lt. Ira Boswell Cheaney, was killed shortly after the war began. However, unlike Pierpont and Polla, Cheaney did not die in captivity; he was killed in action by a Japanese sniper on Bataan in January 1942.
Many West Point graduates lost their class rings during the war because Japanese soldiers and officers frequently robbed prisoners of war of their personal property, including rings, watches, and fountain pens. To address this, the West Point Ring Recovery Program was established specifically to find and return these stolen or lost USMA class rings.
Two notable recoveries involved rings that ended up in the possession of Eugene Smith, a civilian contractor who was captured on Wake Island and later died while imprisoned at Camp Fukuoka in Japan. Following Smith's death, the two class rings were passed down to his nephew. The nephew happened to be friends with a 1967 West Point graduate, who subsequently contacted the Ring Recovery Program.
Through the program's efforts, the two rings were successfully identified and returned to the officers' families:
One ring belonged to Lt. Colonel Edward C. Mack (Class of 1925), who died at Camp Fukuoka in April 1945. It was successfully returned to his son, John H. Mack, a 1961 West Point graduate.
The second ring belonged to Major Howard M. Batson, Jr. (Class of 1934), who died at the same camp in January 1945. His ring was returned to his nephew, Lt. Colonel (Ret.) Hugh J. Hall, Jr., a 1953 West Point graduate.
Major Ralph B. Praeger, a 1938 graduate of West Point, served as an officer in the 26th Cavalry (Philippine Scouts). Following the Japanese invasion and the collapse of American-Philippine regular forces, Praeger declined to surrender. Instead, he became one of several American officers who organized and led guerrilla resistance bands to fight back against the Japanese occupation in the Philippines.
As the strength and presence of these guerrilla movements grew, the Japanese military launched strong reprisals and offered large rewards for the capture of their leaders, specifically targeting American officers. Tragically, Major Praeger was eventually betrayed and captured by the enemy. The Japanese subjected captured guerrilla leaders to severe beatings and torture before forcing them to dig their own graves and executing them.
Praeger was executed by the Japanese on December 31, 1944. Today, he is memorialized at the Manila American Cemetery. The tragic fates of these 158 men—many of whom are buried in unmarked mass graves, listed on the Tablets of the Missing, or lost at sea—serve as a stark testament to the unimaginable brutality faced by Allied prisoners in the Pacific Theater.
Based on the provided sources, there is no specific group identified as "15 executed West Point graduates." It appears this might be a conflation of two separate historical groups of "15" that were mentioned in the records:
1. The 15 Executed Prisoners from Oryoku Maru Following the sinking of the hell ship Oryoku Maru, the surviving prisoners were held at an open tennis court in Olongapo before being moved to San Fernando. During this transfer, Japanese guards separated 15 weak and severely wounded prisoners, telling them they were being sent to Bilibid Prison for medical treatment. Instead, these 15 men were taken to a nearby cemetery, systematically beheaded, and dumped into a mass grave. The sources do not identify these 15 specific men as West Point graduates.
2. The 15 Memorialized Graduates from the Class of 1938. The sources note that the West Point Class of 1938 lost a total of 16 graduates who died as prisoners of war. Of those 16 men, exactly 15 are listed on a specific memorial marker dedicated to the class in Orange County, New York. While two of these men (Capt. Joseph R. Barker II and Maj. Ralph B. Praeger) were executed for leading guerrilla forces, the others died from starvation, disease, or in hell ship sinkings, rather than by execution.
West Point Graduates Who Were Executed.
While there isn't a specific group of 15, the sources do document several individual West Point graduates who were executed or murdered by their Japanese captors:
Lt. Col. Howard E. C. Breitung (Class of 1923): After escaping Cabanatuan and being recaptured, he defiantly told his interrogators he wanted to join a guerrilla group to kill Japanese soldiers. He was decapitated in the prison yard as a warning to other POWs.
Brig. Gen. Vincente Lim (Class of 1914): A Philippine Army officer who was beheaded by the Japanese at Bilibid Prison.
Guerrilla Leaders: Several officers who refused to surrender or escaped to lead Filipino guerrilla bands were eventually betrayed, severely tortured, and executed. This includes Maj. Ralph B. Praeger (Class of 1938), Capt. Joseph R. Barker II (Class of 1938), Lt. Col. Martin Moses (Class of 1927), and Capt. Vincente E. Gepte (Class of 1940).
Col. Fidel V. Segundo (Class of 1917) and Maj. Alejandro Garcia (Class of 1923): Both were captured and executed by the Japanese.
Lt. Col. Eustaquio Baclig (Class of 1918): Massacred by the Japanese at Fort Santiago Prison alongside other prisoners.