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Taylor A. Le Sueur Jr. - Bataan POW


tdogchristy90
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tdogchristy90

Taylor A. Le Sueur Jr. was born on May 10, 1922 in Okmulgee, Oklahoma to his parents Taylor and Lula Le Sueur. Le Sueur was born and raised in Okmulgee, graduating from high school and then joining the United States Army in 1940.

 

Following his 18th birthday he enlisted in the Army out of Tulsa, Oklahoma on November 5, 1940. He was made part of Company D, 31st Infantry regiment, of the Philippine Division.

 

When war broke out between the United States and the Empire of Japan on December 7th, 1941, the 31st Infantry Regiment was garrisoned in Manila, Philippines, its home base, as part of the Philippine Division. The Philippine Division was made up of the 31st Infantry Regiment, Philippine Scouts, and Artillery.

Because of Japanese aggression in the Pacific, General Douglas McArthur, as Military Advisor to the Philippine Government, had been preparing a defense of the Philippines centered around the 31st Infantry Regiment.

 

When the Japanese began their attack on the Philippines on December 8, 1941, the Philippine Division was placed in a supporting role of the defense of the islands. While the initial landing on December 10 faced little resistance, It was not until December 22 that the Japanese 14th Army forced General McArthur to retreat to the Bataan Peninsula.

 

The 31st Infantry Regiment covered the withdrawal of McArthurs forces on to the Bataan Peninsula. To give his troops time to setup a defense following their retreat to Bataan, McArthur ordered some of his units, including the 31st Infantry Regiment, to fight a delaying action against the Japanese on Jan 6, 1942. When the regiment rejoined the defensive line three days later it had suffered heavy casualties from their engagement with the Japanese. The 31st Infantry Regiment and other units on Bataan were able to hold out for four months until, on April 9, 1942, they surrendered resulting in the fall of Bataan.

 

When Bataan fell, the defenders of Bataan and the 31st Infantry Regiment including Taylor Le Sueur were made prisoners of war and sent on the Bataan Death March. They were forced to march roughly 60 miles from Bataan, Luzon, to the San Fernando railroad. During their march the prisoners went without food and water and endured beatings, stabbings, sweltering sun exposure, and intentionally being run over by trucks if they faltered. Once at the San Fernando railroad, the prisoners were loaded into stuffy and cramped box cars and shipped to Capas. They were offloaded and forced to walk the final 9 miles to Camp O'Donnell at Tarlac, Luzon, in the Philippines, an Army Camp that was converted to a prisoner of war camp.

 

After becoming a prisoner of war of the Japanese, Taylor Le Sueur was sent to Camp #3-Old Bilibid, a prisoner of war camp located in Manila, Philippines. It is from here that on December 13, 1944, two years after the Japanese invaded the Philippines, that Le Sueur was placed on the Oryoku Maru, a cargo ship headed for Japan. When it was attacked, resulting in the deaths of 200 allied POWs, the remaining prisoners were placed on another hellship called the Enoura Maru.

 

Surviving the attack on the Oryoku Maru, Le Sueur was placed on the Enoura Maru which set sail for Japan on December 27, 1944. The prisoners suffered horribly from cramped confines, lack of nutrition, and filthy conditions. On December 31 the Oryoku Maru reached Takao, Formosa. The Oryoku Maru sat in the harbor with its prisoner cargo for nine days until on January 9, 1945, aircraft from the USS Hornet attacked the ship sitting at anchor.

 

One of the bombs dropped on the Enoura Maru managed to kill 250 prisoners and wounded hundreds more. Despite the damage to the ship and its cargo, the POWs were not removed from the ship until January 12, 1945. More than 300 prisoners died and were buried on shore.

 

Taylor Alexander Le Sueur was one of the men to die when the Enoura Maru was attacked in the Takao Harbor on January 9, 1945. He was 22 years old and is remembered on the Walls of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery, Philippines.

 

post-13708-0-73821900-1584017776.jpeg

 

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Old Crow 1986

Tragic story...that needs to be redocumented and retold so that Taylor A. Le Sueur Jr. is not lost to history. Thanks for retelling his story here.

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Thank you for sharing his story.

 

The is only the 2nd impressed engraved Purple Heart I have seen to a POW hellship casualty. Most are small machine engraved. Nice to see another,

 

Kurt

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Garandomatic

Excellent post to a very distant cousin, i figure. Reading Ghost Soldiers about some of his fellow 31st men at the moment.

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tdogchristy90

Ive been in contact with a Historian for the 31st Regiment. He had this to say about Company D...

 

post-13708-0-01130700-1584396131_thumb.jpeg

 

If you take the 95 that they know died and the suspected survival of 40 members at the end of the war, that gives you 135 members. So if we take the 95 that died and divide that by the 135 members, that would give you a death rate of 70%.

 

So roughly 70% of Le Sueurs Company perished.

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  • 5 months later...
On 3/12/2020 at 8:41 PM, Garandomatic said:

Excellent post to a very distant cousin, i figure. Reading Ghost Soldiers about some of his fellow 31st men at the moment.

 

 

That's a really good book. I am presently reading Bataan Uncensored by Col E B Miller. So sad what happened to our men and the Filipino allies 

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  • 7 months later...
tdogchristy90

I saw this article the other day in the Washington Post about DPAA focusing in on and trying to identify these boys.

 

6567252F-D6F9-4682-8BE5-66C47CADB758.jpeg

0D47899E-19CC-4AB4-B539-FEF6827572E8.png

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  • 1 year later...
16 hours ago, Roger said:

That is my Uncle. I have his pictures of the USO show with Carole Landis. Each picture has a Censor stamp on the back.

I don't think the Hell Ships had USO Shows! Unless it is a different Taylor A. Le Sueur Jr.!

 

Bill

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2 hours ago, USMCR79 said:

I don't think the Hell Ships had USO Shows! Unless it is a different Taylor A. Le Sueur Jr.!

 

Bill

 Hell Ships most definitely did not have USO shows.

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You're right. It was my Uncle Denver F Hammons who also died. He was a tail gunner in the 400 squadron, 90th Heavy Bombardment Group. He is the one who sent USO pics home. My Uncle Taylor Alexander LeSueur, Jr. was in D company of the 31st infantry and was captured at the fall of Bataan. Two years later he was transported to Japan via Hell Ship and was bombed by American bombers in port in Formosa. That is where Uncle Taylor died. My Uncle Denver's plane was shot down and crashed off the coast of Borneo. Sorry about the confusion. Sometimes I get confused because both uncles are from mother and father and they both died in the Pacific theater.

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