in memory of ronald boston
1917 - 1944
taken prisoner by the japanese at the fall of bataan
survived the bataan death march
died in the sinking of a japanese prisoner-transport ship
Ronald Boston, Photo 8082, shared by Rich Boston
|
Photo 8081, shared by Richard Boston.
|
January 13, 1942
Lorna, Robert, and Lois, who died just last year. Sharla Sitzman, February 2017
75 years ago today, Ronald Boston of the Table Rock Class of 1934 was a 1st Sgt. And he was one of a desperate military force defending the Phillipines from the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philipine island of Luzon. The battle began with the Japanese invastion in December 1941 and would end in April with the surrender of the defenders.
So if you are having a bad day today or a contemplative day, consider Ronald Boston's days 75 years ago.
75 years ago today, Ronald Boston of the Table Rock Class of 1934 was a 1st Sgt. And he was one of a desperate military force defending the Phillipines from the Bataan Peninsula on the main Philipine island of Luzon. The battle began with the Japanese invastion in December 1941 and would end in April with the surrender of the defenders.
So if you are having a bad day today or a contemplative day, consider Ronald Boston's days 75 years ago.
|
Ronald Boston was the son of James and Pearl Boston, and in the middle of a large family of children born between 1910 and 1929, including Genevieve, Delmar, Darrell, Merna, Mona, Lorna, Robert, and Lois, who died just last year.
Ronald was born in 1917. He was the descendant of post-Civil War homesteaders. His great grandparents, George & Christina Boston, and grandparents, James & Caroline Boston settled near Dubois. James was a Civil War veteran. "James was shot through by a musket ball and was gravely wounded after some time a in a field hospital near the battle field he was sent to Benton Barracks General Hospital, St Louis Mo. His wife Caroline left the family in Illinois and went to St. Louis and became a nurse there, tending James and hundreds of other wounded and sick soldiers." They came after the war. Christina died in 1882 and George in 1890 and are buried in Prairie Star Cemetery, a mile north of James & Caroline's home. James & Caroline moved to Smith County, Kansas in 1894. As I said, Ronald Boston graduated from Table Rock in 1934. In 1939, he joined the Army Air Force. When the Japanese hit Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, he was in the Philippines, serving as a 1st Sgt. With the 20th Air Base Group, 27th Materiel Squadron. On December 26, 1941, he wrote to his parents, who by then lived in Blue Springs. That was a few days after the Japanese invaded the Philippines on December 21, 1941. Defense had crumpled and the troops had retreated to the Bataan Peninsula of the Phillipine island of Luzon, with MacArthur commanding from the island of Corregidor to which he had moved his command after the Japanese attack. Bataan was lost, the defenders surrendering in April 1941. The American and Philippine troops became prisoners of war. The Japanese moved them to a camp 65 miles away in a brutal march that became known as the Bataan Death March; it was later designated a war crime. Over 1,000 American and 10,000 Philippine soldiers died. Among the Americans who survived the march was Ronald Boston, Table Rock Class of 1934. And among the Americans who survived the rest of 1942, the year 1943, and into 1944 was Ronald Boston. Ronald Boston’s parents knew nothing more about what had happened to him after his December 1941 letter to them until January 1944, when the War Dept. reported that he was a prisoner of war in the Philippines. That was reported in a World Herald Article on January 13, 1944. Months later, the Japanese began shipping prisoners of war to the Japanese main island, on what later were referred to as death ships. They were unmarked to designate POWs were transported, as required by the rules of war, and were being attacked and destroyed. On September 7, 1944, Ronald Boston, having survived the Bataan Death March and years of life as a POW, as on one of the death ships that were destroyed. He had been on the Japanese ship "Shinyo Maru," which was loaded with 750 U.S. POW's in the cargo holds. The U.S.S. Paddle (SS-263), not knowing that American POW's were on board, fired torpedoes at the ship off the coast of Mindanao and sank it. Some Japanese guards shot prisoners as they struggled from the holds after the attack or were in the water. 668 POW's died when the ship sank, leaving only 82 survivors. 47 of 52 Japanese guards also died. His remains were not recovered. |
ronald boston's roots
Rich Boston has shared a couple of family pictures:
Photo7729, the James & Caroline Boston homestead near Dubois. It was one mile south of Prairie Star Cemetery, where James' parents are buried.
Photo 7730, Caroline & James Boston.