World War II Honoree

William Dorius Pilling

Branch of Service

U.S. Army

Hometown

Carlsbad, New Mexico

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Corporal. Inducted into the United States Army March 18, 1941 at Santa Fe, New Mexico. Deployed to the Southwest Pacific Theater of Operations, Philippine Islands after the completion of his Combat Infantry and Artillery Training. Served with Echo Battery an element of the 200th Coastal Artillery Anti-Aircraft Regiment, the Harbor Defense of Manila and Subic Bays. While assigned to a Provisional Infantry Company, he participated in the Philippine Islands Campaign (Battle Dates: December 8, 1941-May 6, 1942), the conquest of the Philippine Islands by the Imperial Japanese Army and Naval Forces. The enemy captured him on Luzon, April 9, 1942 in the Battle of Bataan, while his unit was in retreat to the Bataan Peninsula. His captors subjected him to participate in the Bataan Death March and held in captivity at an unknown Prisoner of War Camp for 216 days. Reported as Missing in Action or Buried at sea Wednesday, November 11, 1942 and in remembrance of the Brave, his name appears in the Tablets of the Missing and memorialized at the Manila American Cemetery located at Fort Bonifacio in Manila. His family has placed a Memorial Marker in the Price City Cemetery located at Price, Utah. In memory and Honor, his name appears on one of the twelve granite columns at the Bataan Memorial Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico.