07/15/2025
U. S. Army Air Force Private First Class Norman R. Thomas, a World War II veteran from Chilton County, is returning home today. He died as a prisoner of war at Cabanatuan Prisoner of War Camp in the Philippines in 1942. Using DNA, his remains were recently identified.
His obituary at Martin Funeral Home has a lot of specifics:
https://www.martinfuneralhomeinc.com/obituaries/norman-thomas
PFC Thomas was initially buried in a mass grave called "Common Grave 312." (See green circle in POW cemetery photo below). This grave was disinterred for identificaton and they were reburied in the Manila American Cemetery (see photo below) where almost 17,000 Pacific Theatre war dead are currently buried. With advances in DNA, they began attempting more IDs in 2014 and PFC Thomas was identified in January of this year.
We might want to refresh our memory of a few details of these particular events in history:
The Philipines were the next attack after Pearl Harbor, just HOURS later on December 8. The U. S. had several military bases (Army, Navy, Army Air Force) there at the time. The U. S. and Philippine forces tried to delay the Japanese advance but only about 4 months later, in April/May, they had to surrender to the Imperial Japanese Army. The POWs were soon forced on the "Bataan Death March" for 65 miles, in tropical conditions and abysmal treatment, up the Bataan Peninsula to camps around Cabanatuan.
In addition to PFC Thomas, other Chilton Co. soldiers were POWs in the Philipines too. Navy Commander Jack J. Jones was taken as a POW at the same time and was also on the Death March and was in many of the same places as PFC Thomas. Commander Jones was stationed at the Cavite Naval Yard on Manila Bay which was heavily bombed in December. After the peninsula fell to the Japanese in April, he and others evacuated to Corregidor Island until it was also captured in early May.
It's interesting to realize that these men were in the U. S. military branches *BEFORE* the attack on Pearl Harbor (Dec 7, 1941) and before the U. S. was in WWII. They were on routine duty on military bases in the Philipines.
The POWs located in the Philippines were liberated in Feb 1945. However many POWs, including Mr. Jones, had been moved on to Japan in 1944. It should be remembered that several of these ships moving POWs to Japan were torpedoed by allied submarines, resulting in 1000s of POW deaths (the ships were not marked as carrying POWs in any way). Mr. Jones ended up working in the Hitiachi and Ashio copper mines in Japan before he was liberated. The war ended August 29, 1945 and on September 3, Mr. Jones saw a C47 fly over and drop supplies. He finally landed back in the U. S. on September 9.
It should be remembered that these survivors from the Philippines were POWs for practically the entire duration of the War, from April 1942 until August 1945!
Commander Jones kept extensive notes during his captivity, risking severe punishment or death. In 1973 he assembled them into book form. Last year the Chilton County Historical Society obtained permission to republish his book.
