World War II Honoree

Donald L. Olloff

Branch of Service

U.S. Army

Hometown

Lansing, Iowa

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Staff Sergeant. Inducted into the United States Army September 7, 1939 at Fort Des Moines, Iowa 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 #4 O’Donnell on Luzon Philippine Islands for Thirty-Eight days. On Sunday, May 17, 1942, he died of unknown causes and buried in a Japanese Prisoner of War Cemetery on Luzon. After the cessation of hostilities with Japan, the remains of this Soldier were returned to his family, with interment in the New Albin Cemetery in New Albin, Iowa. He was an American Patriot, who so gallantly gave his life for his country.