Herschel J. Stevens
Herschel J. Stevens was born 18-Jul 1918 in Maryville, Illinois. His father was James Henry Stevens (1895–1922) and his mother was Edna Gulin (1899–1980). Hershel had one sister: Virginia. In 1930 according to the Federal Census, Hershel and the family lived in Maryville, Madison County Illinois. By 1940, Hershel was living in Windsor Missouri with his grandfather. He was now 21. According to records, St Louis County Missouri was his home and enlistment state.
Hershel J. Stevens enlisted in the United States Army on 4-Dec 1940 at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis. Stevens had the rank of Private First Class. Service number assignment was 17015783, attached to 31st Infantry Regiment. He was last heard from while stationed in Manila 10 days after Pearl Harbor was attacked.
Following service in China, the 31st returned to Manila performing garrison duty. With the threat of war looming in the Pacific, General Douglas MacArthur, who was the military adviser to the Philippine government, began instituting a program for national defense and augmentation of the Philippine armed forces. Focusing on the defense of Luzon in the event of a Japanese invasion, the Philippine Division was the nucleus of a largely Filipino defense force.
After the Japanese struck the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 7-Dec 1941, Japanese planes struck American aircraft at Clark and Iba Fields on the morning of 8 December, destroying most of MacArthur’s airpower. The Philippine Division was held in reserve around Manila and the Bataan Peninsula to support the beach defense forces if needed and prepare defenses on Bataan and Corregidor Island. Japanese landings on 10 December encountered little resistance from the lightly armed Filipino reservists. The arrival of the Japanese Fourteenth Army at Lingayen Gulf on 22 December and Lamon Bay the following day forced MacArthur to order a hasty withdrawal to Bataan and Corregidor. The 31st Infantry was assigned to cover the withdrawal of units onto the peninsula. As a result of the rapid retreat, many units were forced to abandon crucial supplies and heavy weapons.
In order to allow the defensive lines time to stabilize, MacArthur ordered five thousand men, including the 31st, to fight a delaying action against elements of the Japanese a few miles south of the destroyed-Layac bridge on 6-Jan 1942. The 31st incurred heavy casualties by the time it rejoined the main defensive line at Abucay on 9 January. Despite dwindling supplies and mounting losses, the 31st and other units defending Bataan managed to halt the Japanese advance and forced them to withdraw and await reinforcements from China over the next several weeks before renewing their offensive.
Disease such as malaria and dysentery became rampant on both sides, particularly the Americans and Filipinos when medical supplies were exhausted. Army records report that Herschel was admitted to the hospital with dysentery. Fifty percent of the 31st Infantry and the rest of the defenders were sick and malnourished by the time the Japanese renewed their offensive in early April. As American and Filipino forces on Bataan surrendered to the Japanese on 9 April, remnants of the 31st escaped to Corregidor aboard the gunboat USS Mindanao, with the regimental colors and the prized Shanghai Bowl. Two captains from the 31st, Earl R. Short and George A. Sansep, buried the Shanghai Bowl and cups in a waterproof box on Malinta Hill and burned the colors before Corregidor fell on 6 May. Several men of the 31st who did not surrender managed to link up with other American soldiers and Filipino guerrillas and continued the fight.
Herschel Stevens died as a prisoner of war on 28-Aug 1942 at Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija Province, Central Luzon, Philippines.
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