World War II Honoree

James Alex Nowlin

Branch of Service

U.S. Marine Corps

Hometown

Red Oak, Oklahoma

Honored By

Orville L. Kline

Rank: Private 1st Class. On October 30, 1939, he entered the United States Marine Corps from Oklahoma, receiving his Combat Infantry Training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, California. Deployed to the Philippine Islands, Southwest Pacific Theater of Operations and served with Delta Company, 1st Battalion an element of the 4th Marine Regiment. His regiment participated in the Battle of the Philippine Islands (Battle Dates: December 8, 1941-May 6, 1942), the conquest of the Philippine Islands by the Imperial Japanese Army and Naval Forces. The Japanese captured him April 9, 1942 in the Battle of Bataan, Luzon Island (Battle Dates: January 7-April 9, 1942) while in retreat to the Bataan Peninsula. His captors subjected him to participate in the Bataan Death March, incarcerated for 30 months at the Prisoner of War Camp #3 Old Bilibid Prison Rizal in Manila, Philippine Islands. On October 11, 1944, he boarded a ‘Hell Ship’ an unmarked merchant vessel, the Japanese, Arisan Maru along with 1,781 other American prisoners destined for a Prisoner of War Camp in Japan. Reported Missing in Action, lost at sea Tuesday, October 24, 1944 when the transport came under attack, torpedoed and sunk by a United States Submarine. In remembrance of the Brave, his name is recorded in the Tablets of the Missing, memorialized at the American Cemetery located at Fort Bonifacio in Manila, Philippine Islands. His family placed a Memorial Marker at the Fanshawe Cemetery in Fanshawe, Oklahoma in his memory. This Marine, an American Patriot, awarded the Purple Heart posthumously, who so gallantly gave his life in the defense of his country.