East Liberty to honor Bataan Death March survivor
An East Liberty native son who survived the Bataan Death March and imprisonment in a Japanese POW camp only to die aboard a troop carrier en route to Japan as a prisoner of war will be recognized Monday.
Wood-Rosebrook American Legion Post 745 will honor 1st Lt. William Reames Wood, who died Nov. 7, 1942, during Memorial Day ceremonies that begin at 10 a.m. in the East Liberty Cemetery.
Half of the namesake of the village’s legion post will be recognized as a Hometown Hero.
The veteran, a son of Mr. and Mrs. Roy Wood, was a graduate of The Ohio State University with a degree in business administration. He was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant where he completed ROTC artillery.
“He was a very, very, very nice guy,” said his nephew, Robert Wood of Columbus, who will attend Monday’s ceremony.
Self-described as the family archivist, Mr. Wood said his uncle was “very considerate of his mother and everyone he knew.”
Mr. Wood has “most of the letters he wrote home to his mother from the Philippines and prior to that, (from) North Carolina training.”
The veteran volunteered for foreign service and was sent to the Philippines in July 1941 and was stationed Aug. 24, 1941, at Ft. Stotsenburg. He wrote home from the Peninsula of Bataan on March 6, 1942.
Read complete story in Saturday’s Examiner.
CLICK HERE to subscribe today!
WEB EDITION STARTING AT $9.50 FOR 5 WEEKS!