White S. Goings was born on a farm 5 miles north and 2 miles east of Auburn, the son of White S. Goings and Ella Jane Randol. He attended the rural school and then went to the Training High School at Peru, where he completed his high school course in 1937. Upon finishing his high school work he entered PSTC college at Peru where he attended for two years. Source: Nemaha County Herald (Auburn, Nebraska), Thursday, 31 May 1945, page 1.
White S. (initial only) Goings (21, 29 August 1919, Auburn, Nebraska), a resident of 1342 East 76th Street, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, signed up for his World War II Draft Registration Card (Serial No. 4175, Order No. 3634) on 16 October 1940 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California. He was not working. White listed his father, White Spotswood Goings, as the person who would always know his address. He was described as 5' 9¾" in height, 157 lbs., with a light complexion, black hair and gray eyes.
On 05 March 1940 he enlisted as a Private (S/N 19050351) in the U.S. Army Air Corps at March Field, Riverside County, California. He was later transferred to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Private Goings was assigned to the 93rd Bomber Squadron, 19th Bomber Group, Heavy, V Bomber Command. The 19th Bombardment Group transferred to active duty in September 1941.
The men of the 93rd boarded a troop train the evening of 27 September 1941 at Albuquerque, New Mexico for the long trip to San Francisco. On 01 October 1941 the men were at Fort McDowell on Angel Island, California where they were being processed for over seas travel and military service, for a destination they knew not where. With tensions escalating between the United States and the Japanese Empire, he along with nearly 4000 other servicemen were shipped out of San Francisco on 04 October 1941 aboard three U S Army troopships (Liberty, Willard A. Holbrook and Tasker H. Bliss) for Pearl Harbor, Honolulu then Guam, and on to Manila (they were told their destination after leaving Hawaii). The 93rd was aboard the Tasker H. Bliss. The men had been aboard the Tasker H. Bliss 18 days when she docked at Manila in the Philippine Islands the evening of 22 October 1941. After disembarking at Manila the men were taken to their new station at Clark Field, Pampanga, north of Manila.
On 06 December, some of the 93rd planes were sent to Del Monte Field, a new field established on the souther island of Mindanao as a dispersal measure. "HAWAII BOMBED–WAR!" On 07 December 1941 Japan attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor. Ten hours later, 08 December 1941 (Manila time), Japan attacked the Philippines. The series of raids caught most US planes on the ground, destroying the 19th Bomb Group's B-17s at Clark Field and practically wiping out the P-35 and P-40 pursuit fighter squadrons based at Clark, Nichols, Del Carmen, and Iba Fields. In less than 24 hours, the first day of WWII in the Pacific, the US lost much of its fleet at Pearl Harbor and the heart of MacArthur's Air Force in the Philippines.
The Japanese started landing troops on Luzon on December 8–10 with a full scale assault on 22 December. On the morning of 22 December 1941, 43,110 men of the Japanese 48th Division and one regiment of the 16th Division, supported by artillery and approximately 90 tanks, landed along the east coast of Lingayen Gulf. On 24 December 1941, as the Japanese advanced, Clark Field was abandoned and the men retreated to the Bataan peninsula as part of the prewar plan WPO-3 (War Plan Orange 3). With no planes to man, the 93rd survivors were assigned infantry duty as part of the Bataan Defense force. "Their newly formed units were referred to as Provisional Infantry Regiments. These Provisional Infantry units were composed of air men, who in most cases had never had any infantry combat training. Most had to be taught how to put bullets into their rifles and how to use hand grenades, and how to dig a proper foxhole. It was akin to on-the-job training. Although clumsy, at times, comical, and, at times, very shaky, they performed valiantly. It was not pretty, but they did their job.
From the very beginning, Bataan men were cut to 1/2 rations, and very soon, to 1/4 rations. About four weeks later, they were living on 1/8 rations, that is, when food was available to them. Towards the end, it was changed to 1/16th of their rations...Quite often, they would go several days with no food, unless they could catch something in the jungle." Source: Federico Baldassarre letter
In the wake of starvation came diseases, such as malaria, dengue, scurvy, beriberi and amebic dysentery. The average American soldier lost 15-25 pounds and malaria was as high as 35 percent among front line units.
The Japanese started their final offensive of Bataan on Good Friday, 03 April 1942. By the evening of April 8, the situation was clearly hopeless. With ammunition, rations and supplies practically exhausted and most of his best units destroyed, Maj. Gen. Edward P. King, commander of the forces on Bataan, was convinced his troops could not physically resist any more and decided to surrender to prevent further loss of life. On 09 April 1942, Maj. Gen. King surrendered the Luzon Force to the Japanese. Numbering more than 75,000 Filipinos and Americans, it was the largest American army in history to surrender.
"It was here that he (Sgt. Goings) with others of his gallant band, held off the Japs until the overwhelming odds of enemy numbers and equipment crushed them into submission and took them prisoners of war." Source: Nemaha County Herald (Auburn, Nebraska), Thursday, 31 May 1945, page 1.
Following the surrender, the weakened and diseased defenders of Bataan, including Sergeant White S. Goings, were subjected to infamous Bataan Death March by their Japanese captors. When the Fil-American soldiers began the Death March they were in terrible physical condition. For 6 to 9 days (depending on their starting point) they were forced to walk the roughly sixty-five miles to San Fernando, enduring abuse by Japanese guards and seeing the deaths of thousands of fellow soldiers. At San Fernando, the Japanese stuffed about 100 men into steel-sided boxcars for the twenty-five-mile trip to Capas. The scorching hot boxcars were packed so tight that the men could not even sit down. When the train arrived at Capas the POW's were offloaded and marched the final nine miles to the POW Camp O'Donnell (#4) in Capas, Tarlac Province, Central Luzon, Philippines.
Surviving the brutal treatment by the Japanese at Camp O'Donnell (about 1500 American and 22,000 Filipino prisoners of war died in just three months) Sergeant Goings was transferred to the Cabanatuan POW Camp No. 1, Nueva Province, Luzon, Philippines 15-121, approximately 8 kilometers west of the town by the same name.
In early June of 1942, prisoners from Camp O'Donnell began to stream into Camp No. 1, joining the men from Corregidor and increasing the number of prisoners to over 7,300 men. Because of the poor health of the men from O'Donnell, the death rate at Camp #1 soared.
Sergeant White S. Goings, Jr. (age 22), (S/N 19050351), 93rd Bomber Squadron, died at 10:00 am on 19 July 1942 of malaria, in Barracks 16, Hospital Area, a prisoner of the Japanese at POW Camp 1, Cabanatuan, Nueva Province, Luzon, Philippines 15-121. His death was recorded on a condensed milk can label. He was one of 43 men to die that day, the 996th prisoner to die in the Camp 1 since it opened in June 1942. In all 786 men died in Cabanatuan during the month of July, 1942. By the time the camp was liberated in early 1945, 2,764 Americans had died at Cabanatuan in 2½ years. 90% of the POW deaths in Cabanatuan were men from Bataan.
He was buried in a communal grave in the camp cemetery along with other deceased American POWs who died during the 24 hour period. After the war, all the remains in the Cabanatuan Prison cemetery that could be found were disinterred (between December 1945 - February 1946) and brought to 7747 USAF Cemetery, Manila #2, Philippine Islands. The deceased in Manila #2 (over 11,000 American soldiers) rested there until their removal to the American Graves Registration Service Manila Mausoleum in the summer of 1948 for positive identification. Unfortunately, no clothing, personal effects nor any other means of identification were found for him and his remains could not be associated with any remains recovered from Cabanatuan. He is most likely buried in the Manila American Cemetery as a "Known but to God". There are 953 men like Sergeant Goings who were not identified after the war, "unknowns", permanently interred in the Manila American Cemetery from Cabanatuan.
Sergeant White S. Goings is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing - United States Army and Army Air Forces at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
His family was notified in May 1945 of his death. Up until that time he was listed as missing in action.
Sgt. White Goings Victim Jap Camp
FATHER NOTIFIED OF SON'S DEATH LAST THURSDAY
Sgt. White S. Gorings, Jr., son of White Goings, Sr., of Auburn, was a victim of a Japanese war prison camp, according to a letter received Thursday, by Mr. Goings, under the signature of General Douglas MacArthur.
The letter confirmed the death of Sgt. Goings, who up until the present time had been listed by the government as missing in action somewhere in the Philippines. Source: Nemaha County Herald (Auburn, Nebraska), Thursday, 31 May 1945, page 1.
GEN. MACARTHUR REGRETS DEATH OF SGT. GOINGS
Confirming the death of Sgt. W. S. Goings jr., his father has received the following War Department telegram and letter:
"I am deeply distressed to inform you that a report just received states that your son, Sergeant White S. Goings, Jr., who was previously reported missing in action died July 1942 as the result of malaria and dysentery while a prisoner of the Japanese Government in the Philippine Islands. The Secretary of War asks that I express his deepest sympathy in your loss and his regret that unavoidable circumstances made necessary the unusual lapse of time in reporting your son's death to you. Confirming letter follows."
The subsequent letter reads:
"Dear Mr. Goings,
My deepest sympathy goes to you in the death of your son Sergeant White S. Goings, Jr., while a prisoner of war of the enemy.
You may have some consolation in memory that he, along with his comrades in arms who died on Bataan and Corregidor and in prison camps, gave his life for his country. It was largely their magnificent courage and sacrifices which stopped the enemy in the Philippines and gave us time to arm ourselves for our return to the Philippines and the final defeat of Japan. Their names will be enshrined in our country's glory forever.
In your son's death I have lost a gallant comrade and I mourn with you.
Very Faithfully
Douglas MacArthur"
Source: The Peru Pointer (Peru, Nebraska), Thursday, 07 June 1945, page 1.
White S. (initial only) Goings (21, 29 August 1919, Auburn, Nebraska), a resident of 1342 East 76th Street, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, signed up for his World War II Draft Registration Card (Serial No. 4175, Order No. 3634) on 16 October 1940 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California. He was not working. White listed his father, White Spotswood Goings, as the person who would always know his address. He was described as 5' 9¾" in height, 157 lbs., with a light complexion, black hair and gray eyes.
On 05 March 1940 he enlisted as a Private (S/N 19050351) in the U.S. Army Air Corps at March Field, Riverside County, California. He was later transferred to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Private Goings was assigned to the 93rd Bomber Squadron, 19th Bomber Group, Heavy, V Bomber Command. The 19th Bombardment Group transferred to active duty in September 1941.
The men of the 93rd boarded a troop train the evening of 27 September 1941 at Albuquerque, New Mexico for the long trip to San Francisco. On 01 October 1941 the men were at Fort McDowell on Angel Island, California where they were being processed for over seas travel and military service, for a destination they knew not where. With tensions escalating between the United States and the Japanese Empire, he along with nearly 4000 other servicemen were shipped out of San Francisco on 04 October 1941 aboard three U S Army troopships (Liberty, Willard A. Holbrook and Tasker H. Bliss) for Pearl Harbor, Honolulu then Guam, and on to Manila (they were told their destination after leaving Hawaii). The 93rd was aboard the Tasker H. Bliss. The men had been aboard the Tasker H. Bliss 18 days when she docked at Manila in the Philippine Islands the evening of 22 October 1941. After disembarking at Manila the men were taken to their new station at Clark Field, Pampanga, north of Manila.
On 06 December, some of the 93rd planes were sent to Del Monte Field, a new field established on the souther island of Mindanao as a dispersal measure. "HAWAII BOMBED–WAR!" On 07 December 1941 Japan attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor. Ten hours later, 08 December 1941 (Manila time), Japan attacked the Philippines. The series of raids caught most US planes on the ground, destroying the 19th Bomb Group's B-17s at Clark Field and practically wiping out the P-35 and P-40 pursuit fighter squadrons based at Clark, Nichols, Del Carmen, and Iba Fields. In less than 24 hours, the first day of WWII in the Pacific, the US lost much of its fleet at Pearl Harbor and the heart of MacArthur's Air Force in the Philippines.
The Japanese started landing troops on Luzon on December 8–10 with a full scale assault on 22 December. On the morning of 22 December 1941, 43,110 men of the Japanese 48th Division and one regiment of the 16th Division, supported by artillery and approximately 90 tanks, landed along the east coast of Lingayen Gulf. On 24 December 1941, as the Japanese advanced, Clark Field was abandoned and the men retreated to the Bataan peninsula as part of the prewar plan WPO-3 (War Plan Orange 3). With no planes to man, the 93rd survivors were assigned infantry duty as part of the Bataan Defense force. "Their newly formed units were referred to as Provisional Infantry Regiments. These Provisional Infantry units were composed of air men, who in most cases had never had any infantry combat training. Most had to be taught how to put bullets into their rifles and how to use hand grenades, and how to dig a proper foxhole. It was akin to on-the-job training. Although clumsy, at times, comical, and, at times, very shaky, they performed valiantly. It was not pretty, but they did their job.
From the very beginning, Bataan men were cut to 1/2 rations, and very soon, to 1/4 rations. About four weeks later, they were living on 1/8 rations, that is, when food was available to them. Towards the end, it was changed to 1/16th of their rations...Quite often, they would go several days with no food, unless they could catch something in the jungle." Source: Federico Baldassarre letter
In the wake of starvation came diseases, such as malaria, dengue, scurvy, beriberi and amebic dysentery. The average American soldier lost 15-25 pounds and malaria was as high as 35 percent among front line units.
The Japanese started their final offensive of Bataan on Good Friday, 03 April 1942. By the evening of April 8, the situation was clearly hopeless. With ammunition, rations and supplies practically exhausted and most of his best units destroyed, Maj. Gen. Edward P. King, commander of the forces on Bataan, was convinced his troops could not physically resist any more and decided to surrender to prevent further loss of life. On 09 April 1942, Maj. Gen. King surrendered the Luzon Force to the Japanese. Numbering more than 75,000 Filipinos and Americans, it was the largest American army in history to surrender.
"It was here that he (Sgt. Goings) with others of his gallant band, held off the Japs until the overwhelming odds of enemy numbers and equipment crushed them into submission and took them prisoners of war." Source: Nemaha County Herald (Auburn, Nebraska), Thursday, 31 May 1945, page 1.
Following the surrender, the weakened and diseased defenders of Bataan, including Sergeant White S. Goings, were subjected to infamous Bataan Death March by their Japanese captors. When the Fil-American soldiers began the Death March they were in terrible physical condition. For 6 to 9 days (depending on their starting point) they were forced to walk the roughly sixty-five miles to San Fernando, enduring abuse by Japanese guards and seeing the deaths of thousands of fellow soldiers. At San Fernando, the Japanese stuffed about 100 men into steel-sided boxcars for the twenty-five-mile trip to Capas. The scorching hot boxcars were packed so tight that the men could not even sit down. When the train arrived at Capas the POW's were offloaded and marched the final nine miles to the POW Camp O'Donnell (#4) in Capas, Tarlac Province, Central Luzon, Philippines.
Surviving the brutal treatment by the Japanese at Camp O'Donnell (about 1500 American and 22,000 Filipino prisoners of war died in just three months) Sergeant Goings was transferred to the Cabanatuan POW Camp No. 1, Nueva Province, Luzon, Philippines 15-121, approximately 8 kilometers west of the town by the same name.
In early June of 1942, prisoners from Camp O'Donnell began to stream into Camp No. 1, joining the men from Corregidor and increasing the number of prisoners to over 7,300 men. Because of the poor health of the men from O'Donnell, the death rate at Camp #1 soared.
Sergeant White S. Goings, Jr. (age 22), (S/N 19050351), 93rd Bomber Squadron, died at 10:00 am on 19 July 1942 of malaria, in Barracks 16, Hospital Area, a prisoner of the Japanese at POW Camp 1, Cabanatuan, Nueva Province, Luzon, Philippines 15-121. His death was recorded on a condensed milk can label. He was one of 43 men to die that day, the 996th prisoner to die in the Camp 1 since it opened in June 1942. In all 786 men died in Cabanatuan during the month of July, 1942. By the time the camp was liberated in early 1945, 2,764 Americans had died at Cabanatuan in 2½ years. 90% of the POW deaths in Cabanatuan were men from Bataan.
He was buried in a communal grave in the camp cemetery along with other deceased American POWs who died during the 24 hour period. After the war, all the remains in the Cabanatuan Prison cemetery that could be found were disinterred (between December 1945 - February 1946) and brought to 7747 USAF Cemetery, Manila #2, Philippine Islands. The deceased in Manila #2 (over 11,000 American soldiers) rested there until their removal to the American Graves Registration Service Manila Mausoleum in the summer of 1948 for positive identification. Unfortunately, no clothing, personal effects nor any other means of identification were found for him and his remains could not be associated with any remains recovered from Cabanatuan. He is most likely buried in the Manila American Cemetery as a "Known but to God". There are 953 men like Sergeant Goings who were not identified after the war, "unknowns", permanently interred in the Manila American Cemetery from Cabanatuan.
Sergeant White S. Goings is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing - United States Army and Army Air Forces at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
His family was notified in May 1945 of his death. Up until that time he was listed as missing in action.
Sgt. White Goings Victim Jap Camp
FATHER NOTIFIED OF SON'S DEATH LAST THURSDAY
Sgt. White S. Gorings, Jr., son of White Goings, Sr., of Auburn, was a victim of a Japanese war prison camp, according to a letter received Thursday, by Mr. Goings, under the signature of General Douglas MacArthur.
The letter confirmed the death of Sgt. Goings, who up until the present time had been listed by the government as missing in action somewhere in the Philippines. Source: Nemaha County Herald (Auburn, Nebraska), Thursday, 31 May 1945, page 1.
GEN. MACARTHUR REGRETS DEATH OF SGT. GOINGS
Confirming the death of Sgt. W. S. Goings jr., his father has received the following War Department telegram and letter:
"I am deeply distressed to inform you that a report just received states that your son, Sergeant White S. Goings, Jr., who was previously reported missing in action died July 1942 as the result of malaria and dysentery while a prisoner of the Japanese Government in the Philippine Islands. The Secretary of War asks that I express his deepest sympathy in your loss and his regret that unavoidable circumstances made necessary the unusual lapse of time in reporting your son's death to you. Confirming letter follows."
The subsequent letter reads:
"Dear Mr. Goings,
My deepest sympathy goes to you in the death of your son Sergeant White S. Goings, Jr., while a prisoner of war of the enemy.
You may have some consolation in memory that he, along with his comrades in arms who died on Bataan and Corregidor and in prison camps, gave his life for his country. It was largely their magnificent courage and sacrifices which stopped the enemy in the Philippines and gave us time to arm ourselves for our return to the Philippines and the final defeat of Japan. Their names will be enshrined in our country's glory forever.
In your son's death I have lost a gallant comrade and I mourn with you.
Very Faithfully
Douglas MacArthur"
Source: The Peru Pointer (Peru, Nebraska), Thursday, 07 June 1945, page 1.
White S. Goings was born on a farm 5 miles north and 2 miles east of Auburn, the son of White S. Goings and Ella Jane Randol. He attended the rural school and then went to the Training High School at Peru, where he completed his high school course in 1937. Upon finishing his high school work he entered PSTC college at Peru where he attended for two years. Source: Nemaha County Herald (Auburn, Nebraska), Thursday, 31 May 1945, page 1.
White S. (initial only) Goings (21, 29 August 1919, Auburn, Nebraska), a resident of 1342 East 76th Street, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, signed up for his World War II Draft Registration Card (Serial No. 4175, Order No. 3634) on 16 October 1940 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California. He was not working. White listed his father, White Spotswood Goings, as the person who would always know his address. He was described as 5' 9¾" in height, 157 lbs., with a light complexion, black hair and gray eyes.
On 05 March 1940 he enlisted as a Private (S/N 19050351) in the U.S. Army Air Corps at March Field, Riverside County, California. He was later transferred to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Private Goings was assigned to the 93rd Bomber Squadron, 19th Bomber Group, Heavy, V Bomber Command. The 19th Bombardment Group transferred to active duty in September 1941.
The men of the 93rd boarded a troop train the evening of 27 September 1941 at Albuquerque, New Mexico for the long trip to San Francisco. On 01 October 1941 the men were at Fort McDowell on Angel Island, California where they were being processed for over seas travel and military service, for a destination they knew not where. With tensions escalating between the United States and the Japanese Empire, he along with nearly 4000 other servicemen were shipped out of San Francisco on 04 October 1941 aboard three U S Army troopships (Liberty, Willard A. Holbrook and Tasker H. Bliss) for Pearl Harbor, Honolulu then Guam, and on to Manila (they were told their destination after leaving Hawaii). The 93rd was aboard the Tasker H. Bliss. The men had been aboard the Tasker H. Bliss 18 days when she docked at Manila in the Philippine Islands the evening of 22 October 1941. After disembarking at Manila the men were taken to their new station at Clark Field, Pampanga, north of Manila.
On 06 December, some of the 93rd planes were sent to Del Monte Field, a new field established on the souther island of Mindanao as a dispersal measure. "HAWAII BOMBED–WAR!" On 07 December 1941 Japan attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor. Ten hours later, 08 December 1941 (Manila time), Japan attacked the Philippines. The series of raids caught most US planes on the ground, destroying the 19th Bomb Group's B-17s at Clark Field and practically wiping out the P-35 and P-40 pursuit fighter squadrons based at Clark, Nichols, Del Carmen, and Iba Fields. In less than 24 hours, the first day of WWII in the Pacific, the US lost much of its fleet at Pearl Harbor and the heart of MacArthur's Air Force in the Philippines.
The Japanese started landing troops on Luzon on December 8–10 with a full scale assault on 22 December. On the morning of 22 December 1941, 43,110 men of the Japanese 48th Division and one regiment of the 16th Division, supported by artillery and approximately 90 tanks, landed along the east coast of Lingayen Gulf. On 24 December 1941, as the Japanese advanced, Clark Field was abandoned and the men retreated to the Bataan peninsula as part of the prewar plan WPO-3 (War Plan Orange 3). With no planes to man, the 93rd survivors were assigned infantry duty as part of the Bataan Defense force. "Their newly formed units were referred to as Provisional Infantry Regiments. These Provisional Infantry units were composed of air men, who in most cases had never had any infantry combat training. Most had to be taught how to put bullets into their rifles and how to use hand grenades, and how to dig a proper foxhole. It was akin to on-the-job training. Although clumsy, at times, comical, and, at times, very shaky, they performed valiantly. It was not pretty, but they did their job.
From the very beginning, Bataan men were cut to 1/2 rations, and very soon, to 1/4 rations. About four weeks later, they were living on 1/8 rations, that is, when food was available to them. Towards the end, it was changed to 1/16th of their rations...Quite often, they would go several days with no food, unless they could catch something in the jungle." Source: Federico Baldassarre letter
In the wake of starvation came diseases, such as malaria, dengue, scurvy, beriberi and amebic dysentery. The average American soldier lost 15-25 pounds and malaria was as high as 35 percent among front line units.
The Japanese started their final offensive of Bataan on Good Friday, 03 April 1942. By the evening of April 8, the situation was clearly hopeless. With ammunition, rations and supplies practically exhausted and most of his best units destroyed, Maj. Gen. Edward P. King, commander of the forces on Bataan, was convinced his troops could not physically resist any more and decided to surrender to prevent further loss of life. On 09 April 1942, Maj. Gen. King surrendered the Luzon Force to the Japanese. Numbering more than 75,000 Filipinos and Americans, it was the largest American army in history to surrender.
"It was here that he (Sgt. Goings) with others of his gallant band, held off the Japs until the overwhelming odds of enemy numbers and equipment crushed them into submission and took them prisoners of war." Source: Nemaha County Herald (Auburn, Nebraska), Thursday, 31 May 1945, page 1.
Following the surrender, the weakened and diseased defenders of Bataan, including Sergeant White S. Goings, were subjected to infamous Bataan Death March by their Japanese captors. When the Fil-American soldiers began the Death March they were in terrible physical condition. For 6 to 9 days (depending on their starting point) they were forced to walk the roughly sixty-five miles to San Fernando, enduring abuse by Japanese guards and seeing the deaths of thousands of fellow soldiers. At San Fernando, the Japanese stuffed about 100 men into steel-sided boxcars for the twenty-five-mile trip to Capas. The scorching hot boxcars were packed so tight that the men could not even sit down. When the train arrived at Capas the POW's were offloaded and marched the final nine miles to the POW Camp O'Donnell (#4) in Capas, Tarlac Province, Central Luzon, Philippines.
Surviving the brutal treatment by the Japanese at Camp O'Donnell (about 1500 American and 22,000 Filipino prisoners of war died in just three months) Sergeant Goings was transferred to the Cabanatuan POW Camp No. 1, Nueva Province, Luzon, Philippines 15-121, approximately 8 kilometers west of the town by the same name.
In early June of 1942, prisoners from Camp O'Donnell began to stream into Camp No. 1, joining the men from Corregidor and increasing the number of prisoners to over 7,300 men. Because of the poor health of the men from O'Donnell, the death rate at Camp #1 soared.
Sergeant White S. Goings, Jr. (age 22), (S/N 19050351), 93rd Bomber Squadron, died at 10:00 am on 19 July 1942 of malaria, in Barracks 16, Hospital Area, a prisoner of the Japanese at POW Camp 1, Cabanatuan, Nueva Province, Luzon, Philippines 15-121. His death was recorded on a condensed milk can label. He was one of 43 men to die that day, the 996th prisoner to die in the Camp 1 since it opened in June 1942. In all 786 men died in Cabanatuan during the month of July, 1942. By the time the camp was liberated in early 1945, 2,764 Americans had died at Cabanatuan in 2½ years. 90% of the POW deaths in Cabanatuan were men from Bataan.
He was buried in a communal grave in the camp cemetery along with other deceased American POWs who died during the 24 hour period. After the war, all the remains in the Cabanatuan Prison cemetery that could be found were disinterred (between December 1945 - February 1946) and brought to 7747 USAF Cemetery, Manila #2, Philippine Islands. The deceased in Manila #2 (over 11,000 American soldiers) rested there until their removal to the American Graves Registration Service Manila Mausoleum in the summer of 1948 for positive identification. Unfortunately, no clothing, personal effects nor any other means of identification were found for him and his remains could not be associated with any remains recovered from Cabanatuan. He is most likely buried in the Manila American Cemetery as a "Known but to God". There are 953 men like Sergeant Goings who were not identified after the war, "unknowns", permanently interred in the Manila American Cemetery from Cabanatuan.
Sergeant White S. Goings is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing - United States Army and Army Air Forces at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
His family was notified in May 1945 of his death. Up until that time he was listed as missing in action.
Sgt. White Goings Victim Jap Camp
FATHER NOTIFIED OF SON'S DEATH LAST THURSDAY
Sgt. White S. Gorings, Jr., son of White Goings, Sr., of Auburn, was a victim of a Japanese war prison camp, according to a letter received Thursday, by Mr. Goings, under the signature of General Douglas MacArthur.
The letter confirmed the death of Sgt. Goings, who up until the present time had been listed by the government as missing in action somewhere in the Philippines. Source: Nemaha County Herald (Auburn, Nebraska), Thursday, 31 May 1945, page 1.
GEN. MACARTHUR REGRETS DEATH OF SGT. GOINGS
Confirming the death of Sgt. W. S. Goings jr., his father has received the following War Department telegram and letter:
"I am deeply distressed to inform you that a report just received states that your son, Sergeant White S. Goings, Jr., who was previously reported missing in action died July 1942 as the result of malaria and dysentery while a prisoner of the Japanese Government in the Philippine Islands. The Secretary of War asks that I express his deepest sympathy in your loss and his regret that unavoidable circumstances made necessary the unusual lapse of time in reporting your son's death to you. Confirming letter follows."
The subsequent letter reads:
"Dear Mr. Goings,
My deepest sympathy goes to you in the death of your son Sergeant White S. Goings, Jr., while a prisoner of war of the enemy.
You may have some consolation in memory that he, along with his comrades in arms who died on Bataan and Corregidor and in prison camps, gave his life for his country. It was largely their magnificent courage and sacrifices which stopped the enemy in the Philippines and gave us time to arm ourselves for our return to the Philippines and the final defeat of Japan. Their names will be enshrined in our country's glory forever.
In your son's death I have lost a gallant comrade and I mourn with you.
Very Faithfully
Douglas MacArthur"
Source: The Peru Pointer (Peru, Nebraska), Thursday, 07 June 1945, page 1.
White S. (initial only) Goings (21, 29 August 1919, Auburn, Nebraska), a resident of 1342 East 76th Street, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, signed up for his World War II Draft Registration Card (Serial No. 4175, Order No. 3634) on 16 October 1940 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California. He was not working. White listed his father, White Spotswood Goings, as the person who would always know his address. He was described as 5' 9¾" in height, 157 lbs., with a light complexion, black hair and gray eyes.
On 05 March 1940 he enlisted as a Private (S/N 19050351) in the U.S. Army Air Corps at March Field, Riverside County, California. He was later transferred to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Private Goings was assigned to the 93rd Bomber Squadron, 19th Bomber Group, Heavy, V Bomber Command. The 19th Bombardment Group transferred to active duty in September 1941.
The men of the 93rd boarded a troop train the evening of 27 September 1941 at Albuquerque, New Mexico for the long trip to San Francisco. On 01 October 1941 the men were at Fort McDowell on Angel Island, California where they were being processed for over seas travel and military service, for a destination they knew not where. With tensions escalating between the United States and the Japanese Empire, he along with nearly 4000 other servicemen were shipped out of San Francisco on 04 October 1941 aboard three U S Army troopships (Liberty, Willard A. Holbrook and Tasker H. Bliss) for Pearl Harbor, Honolulu then Guam, and on to Manila (they were told their destination after leaving Hawaii). The 93rd was aboard the Tasker H. Bliss. The men had been aboard the Tasker H. Bliss 18 days when she docked at Manila in the Philippine Islands the evening of 22 October 1941. After disembarking at Manila the men were taken to their new station at Clark Field, Pampanga, north of Manila.
On 06 December, some of the 93rd planes were sent to Del Monte Field, a new field established on the souther island of Mindanao as a dispersal measure. "HAWAII BOMBED–WAR!" On 07 December 1941 Japan attacked the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor. Ten hours later, 08 December 1941 (Manila time), Japan attacked the Philippines. The series of raids caught most US planes on the ground, destroying the 19th Bomb Group's B-17s at Clark Field and practically wiping out the P-35 and P-40 pursuit fighter squadrons based at Clark, Nichols, Del Carmen, and Iba Fields. In less than 24 hours, the first day of WWII in the Pacific, the US lost much of its fleet at Pearl Harbor and the heart of MacArthur's Air Force in the Philippines.
The Japanese started landing troops on Luzon on December 8–10 with a full scale assault on 22 December. On the morning of 22 December 1941, 43,110 men of the Japanese 48th Division and one regiment of the 16th Division, supported by artillery and approximately 90 tanks, landed along the east coast of Lingayen Gulf. On 24 December 1941, as the Japanese advanced, Clark Field was abandoned and the men retreated to the Bataan peninsula as part of the prewar plan WPO-3 (War Plan Orange 3). With no planes to man, the 93rd survivors were assigned infantry duty as part of the Bataan Defense force. "Their newly formed units were referred to as Provisional Infantry Regiments. These Provisional Infantry units were composed of air men, who in most cases had never had any infantry combat training. Most had to be taught how to put bullets into their rifles and how to use hand grenades, and how to dig a proper foxhole. It was akin to on-the-job training. Although clumsy, at times, comical, and, at times, very shaky, they performed valiantly. It was not pretty, but they did their job.
From the very beginning, Bataan men were cut to 1/2 rations, and very soon, to 1/4 rations. About four weeks later, they were living on 1/8 rations, that is, when food was available to them. Towards the end, it was changed to 1/16th of their rations...Quite often, they would go several days with no food, unless they could catch something in the jungle." Source: Federico Baldassarre letter
In the wake of starvation came diseases, such as malaria, dengue, scurvy, beriberi and amebic dysentery. The average American soldier lost 15-25 pounds and malaria was as high as 35 percent among front line units.
The Japanese started their final offensive of Bataan on Good Friday, 03 April 1942. By the evening of April 8, the situation was clearly hopeless. With ammunition, rations and supplies practically exhausted and most of his best units destroyed, Maj. Gen. Edward P. King, commander of the forces on Bataan, was convinced his troops could not physically resist any more and decided to surrender to prevent further loss of life. On 09 April 1942, Maj. Gen. King surrendered the Luzon Force to the Japanese. Numbering more than 75,000 Filipinos and Americans, it was the largest American army in history to surrender.
"It was here that he (Sgt. Goings) with others of his gallant band, held off the Japs until the overwhelming odds of enemy numbers and equipment crushed them into submission and took them prisoners of war." Source: Nemaha County Herald (Auburn, Nebraska), Thursday, 31 May 1945, page 1.
Following the surrender, the weakened and diseased defenders of Bataan, including Sergeant White S. Goings, were subjected to infamous Bataan Death March by their Japanese captors. When the Fil-American soldiers began the Death March they were in terrible physical condition. For 6 to 9 days (depending on their starting point) they were forced to walk the roughly sixty-five miles to San Fernando, enduring abuse by Japanese guards and seeing the deaths of thousands of fellow soldiers. At San Fernando, the Japanese stuffed about 100 men into steel-sided boxcars for the twenty-five-mile trip to Capas. The scorching hot boxcars were packed so tight that the men could not even sit down. When the train arrived at Capas the POW's were offloaded and marched the final nine miles to the POW Camp O'Donnell (#4) in Capas, Tarlac Province, Central Luzon, Philippines.
Surviving the brutal treatment by the Japanese at Camp O'Donnell (about 1500 American and 22,000 Filipino prisoners of war died in just three months) Sergeant Goings was transferred to the Cabanatuan POW Camp No. 1, Nueva Province, Luzon, Philippines 15-121, approximately 8 kilometers west of the town by the same name.
In early June of 1942, prisoners from Camp O'Donnell began to stream into Camp No. 1, joining the men from Corregidor and increasing the number of prisoners to over 7,300 men. Because of the poor health of the men from O'Donnell, the death rate at Camp #1 soared.
Sergeant White S. Goings, Jr. (age 22), (S/N 19050351), 93rd Bomber Squadron, died at 10:00 am on 19 July 1942 of malaria, in Barracks 16, Hospital Area, a prisoner of the Japanese at POW Camp 1, Cabanatuan, Nueva Province, Luzon, Philippines 15-121. His death was recorded on a condensed milk can label. He was one of 43 men to die that day, the 996th prisoner to die in the Camp 1 since it opened in June 1942. In all 786 men died in Cabanatuan during the month of July, 1942. By the time the camp was liberated in early 1945, 2,764 Americans had died at Cabanatuan in 2½ years. 90% of the POW deaths in Cabanatuan were men from Bataan.
He was buried in a communal grave in the camp cemetery along with other deceased American POWs who died during the 24 hour period. After the war, all the remains in the Cabanatuan Prison cemetery that could be found were disinterred (between December 1945 - February 1946) and brought to 7747 USAF Cemetery, Manila #2, Philippine Islands. The deceased in Manila #2 (over 11,000 American soldiers) rested there until their removal to the American Graves Registration Service Manila Mausoleum in the summer of 1948 for positive identification. Unfortunately, no clothing, personal effects nor any other means of identification were found for him and his remains could not be associated with any remains recovered from Cabanatuan. He is most likely buried in the Manila American Cemetery as a "Known but to God". There are 953 men like Sergeant Goings who were not identified after the war, "unknowns", permanently interred in the Manila American Cemetery from Cabanatuan.
Sergeant White S. Goings is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing - United States Army and Army Air Forces at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines.
His family was notified in May 1945 of his death. Up until that time he was listed as missing in action.
Sgt. White Goings Victim Jap Camp
FATHER NOTIFIED OF SON'S DEATH LAST THURSDAY
Sgt. White S. Gorings, Jr., son of White Goings, Sr., of Auburn, was a victim of a Japanese war prison camp, according to a letter received Thursday, by Mr. Goings, under the signature of General Douglas MacArthur.
The letter confirmed the death of Sgt. Goings, who up until the present time had been listed by the government as missing in action somewhere in the Philippines. Source: Nemaha County Herald (Auburn, Nebraska), Thursday, 31 May 1945, page 1.
GEN. MACARTHUR REGRETS DEATH OF SGT. GOINGS
Confirming the death of Sgt. W. S. Goings jr., his father has received the following War Department telegram and letter:
"I am deeply distressed to inform you that a report just received states that your son, Sergeant White S. Goings, Jr., who was previously reported missing in action died July 1942 as the result of malaria and dysentery while a prisoner of the Japanese Government in the Philippine Islands. The Secretary of War asks that I express his deepest sympathy in your loss and his regret that unavoidable circumstances made necessary the unusual lapse of time in reporting your son's death to you. Confirming letter follows."
The subsequent letter reads:
"Dear Mr. Goings,
My deepest sympathy goes to you in the death of your son Sergeant White S. Goings, Jr., while a prisoner of war of the enemy.
You may have some consolation in memory that he, along with his comrades in arms who died on Bataan and Corregidor and in prison camps, gave his life for his country. It was largely their magnificent courage and sacrifices which stopped the enemy in the Philippines and gave us time to arm ourselves for our return to the Philippines and the final defeat of Japan. Their names will be enshrined in our country's glory forever.
In your son's death I have lost a gallant comrade and I mourn with you.
Very Faithfully
Douglas MacArthur"
Source: The Peru Pointer (Peru, Nebraska), Thursday, 07 June 1945, page 1.
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