U.S. Army Service No. (ASN): #14047056
Awards: Bronze Star, Purple Heart
James L. Aaron is listed as Died Non-Battle in the 1946 Army and Army Air Forces Personnel Casualty List for Knox County, Tennessee.
***I would like to thank Tamara Parkison Find A Grave ID 47185768 for linking his parents to this memorial***
Information found on Find-A-Grave Memorial ID 56780796:
Son of James V and Maggie May Platt Aaron, both born in Kentucky; After his birth, he spent much of his youth in District 11, Knox, Tennessee. He completed grammar school and was single, without dependents.
He enlisted on 13 Feb 1941 at Fort McPherson, Georgia into the US Army, and became a member of the 31st Infantry Regiment, being assigned to the Philippine Islands.
The 31st Infantry Regiment was formed at Fort William McKinley, Philippine Islands on 13 August 1916 from cadre from the 8th, 13th, 15th, and 27th Infantry Regiments. The 1st Battalion was formed at Regan Barracks, the 2d at Camp McGrath, and the 3d at Fort William McKinley. It bears the distinction of being the first organization created under expansion of the US Army under the National Defense Act of 1916.
On 8 December 1941, Japanese planes attacked U.S. military installations in the Philippines. After landing in northern and southern Luzon, the Japanese pushed rapidly toward Manila, routing hastily formed Philippine Army units that had little training and few heavy weapons. The 31st Infantry covered the withdrawal of American and Philippine forces to the Bataan Peninsula. Unfortunately, the peninsula had not been provisioned with food and medicine and no help could come in from the outside after much of the Pacific fleet was destroyed at Pearl Harbor and mid-ocean bases at Guam and Wake Island were lost.
Despite starvation, disease, no supplies, obsolete weapons, and often inoperative ammunition, the peninsula's defenders fought the Japanese to a standstill for 4 months, upsetting Japan's timetable for Asia's conquest. When MG King announced he would surrender the Bataan Defense Force on 9 April 1942, the 31st Infantry buried its colors and the cherished Shanghai Bowl to keep them out of enemy hands. Some of the 31st's survivors escaped to continue resisting, but most underwent brutal torture and humiliation on the Bataan Death March and nearly four years of captivity.
Twenty-nine of the regiment's members earned the Distinguished Service Cross and one was recommended for the Medal of Honor, but the entire chain of command died in captivity before the medal recommendation could be formally submitted. Roughly half of the 1600 members of the 31st Infantry who surrendered at Bataan perished while prisoners of the Japanese.
*******************************************************
The Cabanatuan Memorial is located 85 miles north of Manila, within the city of Cabanatuan, Luzon, and Republic of the Philippines. It marks the site of the Japanese Cabanatuan Prisoner of War Camp where approximately 75,000 American and Philippine servicemen and civilians were held captive from 1942 to 1945, after the fall of the Philippine Island during World War II.
The memorial consists of a 90-foot concrete base in the center of which rests a marble altar. It is surrounded on three sides by a fence of steel rods and on the fourth by a
Wall of Honor upon which are inscribed the names of the approximately 3,000 Americans who lost their lives while being held captive. Co-located on the site are the West Point Monument, which pays homage to the 170 American and 6 Filipino graduates of the U.S. Military Academy who lost their lives during the defense of the Philippines or while prisoner of war at Cabanatuan and the Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor (a Filipino veterans organization) memorial which salutes their American fallen comrades.
Awards: Bronze Star, Purple Heart
James L. Aaron is listed as Died Non-Battle in the 1946 Army and Army Air Forces Personnel Casualty List for Knox County, Tennessee.
***I would like to thank Tamara Parkison Find A Grave ID 47185768 for linking his parents to this memorial***
Information found on Find-A-Grave Memorial ID 56780796:
Son of James V and Maggie May Platt Aaron, both born in Kentucky; After his birth, he spent much of his youth in District 11, Knox, Tennessee. He completed grammar school and was single, without dependents.
He enlisted on 13 Feb 1941 at Fort McPherson, Georgia into the US Army, and became a member of the 31st Infantry Regiment, being assigned to the Philippine Islands.
The 31st Infantry Regiment was formed at Fort William McKinley, Philippine Islands on 13 August 1916 from cadre from the 8th, 13th, 15th, and 27th Infantry Regiments. The 1st Battalion was formed at Regan Barracks, the 2d at Camp McGrath, and the 3d at Fort William McKinley. It bears the distinction of being the first organization created under expansion of the US Army under the National Defense Act of 1916.
On 8 December 1941, Japanese planes attacked U.S. military installations in the Philippines. After landing in northern and southern Luzon, the Japanese pushed rapidly toward Manila, routing hastily formed Philippine Army units that had little training and few heavy weapons. The 31st Infantry covered the withdrawal of American and Philippine forces to the Bataan Peninsula. Unfortunately, the peninsula had not been provisioned with food and medicine and no help could come in from the outside after much of the Pacific fleet was destroyed at Pearl Harbor and mid-ocean bases at Guam and Wake Island were lost.
Despite starvation, disease, no supplies, obsolete weapons, and often inoperative ammunition, the peninsula's defenders fought the Japanese to a standstill for 4 months, upsetting Japan's timetable for Asia's conquest. When MG King announced he would surrender the Bataan Defense Force on 9 April 1942, the 31st Infantry buried its colors and the cherished Shanghai Bowl to keep them out of enemy hands. Some of the 31st's survivors escaped to continue resisting, but most underwent brutal torture and humiliation on the Bataan Death March and nearly four years of captivity.
Twenty-nine of the regiment's members earned the Distinguished Service Cross and one was recommended for the Medal of Honor, but the entire chain of command died in captivity before the medal recommendation could be formally submitted. Roughly half of the 1600 members of the 31st Infantry who surrendered at Bataan perished while prisoners of the Japanese.
*******************************************************
The Cabanatuan Memorial is located 85 miles north of Manila, within the city of Cabanatuan, Luzon, and Republic of the Philippines. It marks the site of the Japanese Cabanatuan Prisoner of War Camp where approximately 75,000 American and Philippine servicemen and civilians were held captive from 1942 to 1945, after the fall of the Philippine Island during World War II.
The memorial consists of a 90-foot concrete base in the center of which rests a marble altar. It is surrounded on three sides by a fence of steel rods and on the fourth by a
Wall of Honor upon which are inscribed the names of the approximately 3,000 Americans who lost their lives while being held captive. Co-located on the site are the West Point Monument, which pays homage to the 170 American and 6 Filipino graduates of the U.S. Military Academy who lost their lives during the defense of the Philippines or while prisoner of war at Cabanatuan and the Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor (a Filipino veterans organization) memorial which salutes their American fallen comrades.
U.S. Army Service No. (ASN): #14047056
Awards: Bronze Star, Purple Heart
James L. Aaron is listed as Died Non-Battle in the 1946 Army and Army Air Forces Personnel Casualty List for Knox County, Tennessee.
***I would like to thank Tamara Parkison Find A Grave ID 47185768 for linking his parents to this memorial***
Information found on Find-A-Grave Memorial ID 56780796:
Son of James V and Maggie May Platt Aaron, both born in Kentucky; After his birth, he spent much of his youth in District 11, Knox, Tennessee. He completed grammar school and was single, without dependents.
He enlisted on 13 Feb 1941 at Fort McPherson, Georgia into the US Army, and became a member of the 31st Infantry Regiment, being assigned to the Philippine Islands.
The 31st Infantry Regiment was formed at Fort William McKinley, Philippine Islands on 13 August 1916 from cadre from the 8th, 13th, 15th, and 27th Infantry Regiments. The 1st Battalion was formed at Regan Barracks, the 2d at Camp McGrath, and the 3d at Fort William McKinley. It bears the distinction of being the first organization created under expansion of the US Army under the National Defense Act of 1916.
On 8 December 1941, Japanese planes attacked U.S. military installations in the Philippines. After landing in northern and southern Luzon, the Japanese pushed rapidly toward Manila, routing hastily formed Philippine Army units that had little training and few heavy weapons. The 31st Infantry covered the withdrawal of American and Philippine forces to the Bataan Peninsula. Unfortunately, the peninsula had not been provisioned with food and medicine and no help could come in from the outside after much of the Pacific fleet was destroyed at Pearl Harbor and mid-ocean bases at Guam and Wake Island were lost.
Despite starvation, disease, no supplies, obsolete weapons, and often inoperative ammunition, the peninsula's defenders fought the Japanese to a standstill for 4 months, upsetting Japan's timetable for Asia's conquest. When MG King announced he would surrender the Bataan Defense Force on 9 April 1942, the 31st Infantry buried its colors and the cherished Shanghai Bowl to keep them out of enemy hands. Some of the 31st's survivors escaped to continue resisting, but most underwent brutal torture and humiliation on the Bataan Death March and nearly four years of captivity.
Twenty-nine of the regiment's members earned the Distinguished Service Cross and one was recommended for the Medal of Honor, but the entire chain of command died in captivity before the medal recommendation could be formally submitted. Roughly half of the 1600 members of the 31st Infantry who surrendered at Bataan perished while prisoners of the Japanese.
*******************************************************
The Cabanatuan Memorial is located 85 miles north of Manila, within the city of Cabanatuan, Luzon, and Republic of the Philippines. It marks the site of the Japanese Cabanatuan Prisoner of War Camp where approximately 75,000 American and Philippine servicemen and civilians were held captive from 1942 to 1945, after the fall of the Philippine Island during World War II.
The memorial consists of a 90-foot concrete base in the center of which rests a marble altar. It is surrounded on three sides by a fence of steel rods and on the fourth by a
Wall of Honor upon which are inscribed the names of the approximately 3,000 Americans who lost their lives while being held captive. Co-located on the site are the West Point Monument, which pays homage to the 170 American and 6 Filipino graduates of the U.S. Military Academy who lost their lives during the defense of the Philippines or while prisoner of war at Cabanatuan and the Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor (a Filipino veterans organization) memorial which salutes their American fallen comrades.
Awards: Bronze Star, Purple Heart
James L. Aaron is listed as Died Non-Battle in the 1946 Army and Army Air Forces Personnel Casualty List for Knox County, Tennessee.
***I would like to thank Tamara Parkison Find A Grave ID 47185768 for linking his parents to this memorial***
Information found on Find-A-Grave Memorial ID 56780796:
Son of James V and Maggie May Platt Aaron, both born in Kentucky; After his birth, he spent much of his youth in District 11, Knox, Tennessee. He completed grammar school and was single, without dependents.
He enlisted on 13 Feb 1941 at Fort McPherson, Georgia into the US Army, and became a member of the 31st Infantry Regiment, being assigned to the Philippine Islands.
The 31st Infantry Regiment was formed at Fort William McKinley, Philippine Islands on 13 August 1916 from cadre from the 8th, 13th, 15th, and 27th Infantry Regiments. The 1st Battalion was formed at Regan Barracks, the 2d at Camp McGrath, and the 3d at Fort William McKinley. It bears the distinction of being the first organization created under expansion of the US Army under the National Defense Act of 1916.
On 8 December 1941, Japanese planes attacked U.S. military installations in the Philippines. After landing in northern and southern Luzon, the Japanese pushed rapidly toward Manila, routing hastily formed Philippine Army units that had little training and few heavy weapons. The 31st Infantry covered the withdrawal of American and Philippine forces to the Bataan Peninsula. Unfortunately, the peninsula had not been provisioned with food and medicine and no help could come in from the outside after much of the Pacific fleet was destroyed at Pearl Harbor and mid-ocean bases at Guam and Wake Island were lost.
Despite starvation, disease, no supplies, obsolete weapons, and often inoperative ammunition, the peninsula's defenders fought the Japanese to a standstill for 4 months, upsetting Japan's timetable for Asia's conquest. When MG King announced he would surrender the Bataan Defense Force on 9 April 1942, the 31st Infantry buried its colors and the cherished Shanghai Bowl to keep them out of enemy hands. Some of the 31st's survivors escaped to continue resisting, but most underwent brutal torture and humiliation on the Bataan Death March and nearly four years of captivity.
Twenty-nine of the regiment's members earned the Distinguished Service Cross and one was recommended for the Medal of Honor, but the entire chain of command died in captivity before the medal recommendation could be formally submitted. Roughly half of the 1600 members of the 31st Infantry who surrendered at Bataan perished while prisoners of the Japanese.
*******************************************************
The Cabanatuan Memorial is located 85 miles north of Manila, within the city of Cabanatuan, Luzon, and Republic of the Philippines. It marks the site of the Japanese Cabanatuan Prisoner of War Camp where approximately 75,000 American and Philippine servicemen and civilians were held captive from 1942 to 1945, after the fall of the Philippine Island during World War II.
The memorial consists of a 90-foot concrete base in the center of which rests a marble altar. It is surrounded on three sides by a fence of steel rods and on the fourth by a
Wall of Honor upon which are inscribed the names of the approximately 3,000 Americans who lost their lives while being held captive. Co-located on the site are the West Point Monument, which pays homage to the 170 American and 6 Filipino graduates of the U.S. Military Academy who lost their lives during the defense of the Philippines or while prisoner of war at Cabanatuan and the Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor (a Filipino veterans organization) memorial which salutes their American fallen comrades.
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AARON JAMES L PVT
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