World War II Honoree

Chester Monroe 'Chet' Cauvel

Branch of Service

U.S. Army

Hometown

Bakersfield, California

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Staff Sergeant. Inducted into the United States Army October 28, 1940 at Fort MacArthur in San Pedro, California and deployed to the Philippine Islands after the completion of his Combat Infantry Training and Communication Schooling. Served with the Seventeenth Signal Platoon an element of the U.S. Army Signal Corps stationed on the Island of Mindanao. He participated in the Philippine Campaign (Battle Dates: December 8, 1941-May 6, 1942), the conquest of the Philippine Islands by the Japanese Imperial forces. Thursday, April 9, 1942 the invaders on the Island of Luzon captured him during the Battle of Bataan, while his unit was in retreat to the Bataan Peninsula. As a Japanese Prisoner of War, his captors forced him to participate in the Bataan Death March and held captive at the Prisoner of War Camp #2 Davao located at Mindanao for Thirty months. On October 11, 1944, he boarded a ‘Hell Ship’ an unmarked merchant vessel, the Japanese, Arisan Maru along with hundreds of other prisoners, whose destination was a Prisoner of War Camp in Japan. Reported as Missing in Action, Lost at Sea Tuesday, October 24, 1944 when a United States Submarine attacked and sunk the transport and he is memorialized in the Tablets of the Missing at the American Cemetery and Memorial, located at Fort Bonifacio in Manila Philippine Islands. At the Union Cemetery in Bakersfield, California, his family has placed a memorial headstone in his memory. Decorations and Citations: Bronze Star, Purple Heart, American Campaign Medal, Prisoner of War Medal and the WWII Victory Medal. The Bronze Star, awarded posthumously for Bravery, Act of Merit and Meritorious Service in Combat. This Soldier, an American Patriot awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, who so gallantly gave his life for his country.