Lieutenant Colonel Claude Thorp was executed by the Japanese in the "Old Chinese Cemetery" in the Manila, Philippines.
--------------------
He was the son of Thomas Jefferson Jackson Thorp (1871-?) and Flora Helen Splawn Thorp Bruton (1875-1946).
1900 United States Federal Census (01 June 1900): Seattle (Ward 2), King County, Washington (sheet 1B, family 18, 1005 Yester Way) – Claud Thorp (3, Jan 1897 Washington).
Claude A. Thorp, a resident of Thorp, Washington, enlisted as a Private (S/N 115449) in Company “F”, 2nd Washington Infantry on 21 June 1916 in Seattle, Washington. He reported for duty on 24 July 1917 at Ellensburg, Washington. According to his Veteran’s Compensation Fund record he was born in Eagle Harbor, Washington.
He was part of the Mexico Expedition.
Sergeant Claud A. Thorp is found aboard the United States Army Transport Service “Covington” departing 13 December 1917 from Hoboken, New Jersey (Passenger List, Sheet No. 1, Troop Class, Line 10). He was with First Company, 116 Train Headquarters & Military Police, 41st Division. He was a resident of Taneum Ranch, Thorp, Washington. His mother was Flora H Bruton. The “Covington” was carrying 3465 officers and enlisted men to France.
He had the rank of Private First Class and was with the 6th M.P. Company, 6th Division when he was discharged on 26 June 1919 at Camp Lewis. Claude was said to have excellent character.
1920 United States Federal Census (12 January 1920): West Kittitas, Kittitas County, Washington (sheet 2B, family 38) – Claud A. Thorp (21 Washington, Laborer, Home Farm).
In 1920-1921 he was a student at Oregon State University (Class of 1924) and a member of Psi Chi and Scabbard and Blade. “Election to this national honorary Military society is made upon a basis of qualities of leadership and military and scholastic attainments. In the Military Department – Cavalry Unit, Claude Armenius Thorp was Acting First-Lieutenant and Squadron Adjunct.
Claude was a student, living in Poling Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon in February of 1921 when he applied for the Veteran’s Compensation Fund and received $345 (File No. 42297).
He married Helen Irene Smith on 03 September 1922 in Thorp, Kittitas County, Washington. They had three daughters: Caroline Francis Thorp (1923-2020), Helen Claudia Thorp (1928-2013) and Kathryn A. Thorp (1932-?).
Claude Armenius Thorp reenlisted in the Army.
07 February 1927 – Army Orders
WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (By Universal Service) – The following army orders were posted today: Second Lt. Claude A. Thorp, Fort Des Moines, Iowa to Cavalry school, Fort Riley.
09 August 1928 – Army Orders – News from Fort Riley, Kansas
First Lt. Claude A. Thorp who has been on duty with the Cavalry Rifle Team left for his new station at Fort Clark, Texas, on Wednesday.
Claude A. Thorp (31 Washington) is found in the 1930 United States Federal Census (07 April 1930) for Fort Clark, Kinney County, Texas (sheet 4B, family 39) along with his wife, Helen I. Thorp (31 Minnesota) and two daughters, Carolyn F. Thorp (6 Iowa) and Claudia H. Thorp (1 Texas). Claude and Helen were both 24 when they married. He was an officer in the U.S. Army.
13 April 1933 – War Department and Navy Orders
WASHINGTON (AP) – Army orders issued today include: First Lt. Claude A. Thorp, (Cav), motor Transport School, Baltimore, to Fort Knox, Ky.
He married Celia Gregory Rogers on 20 February 1936 at Fort Knox. Kentucky. At the time, she was employed as a secretary in the Army Headquarters in Fort Knox. They had two daughters: Anita Rogers Thorp Dudley (1937-2000) and Arline Thorp.
07 October 1937 – War Department and Navy Orders
WASHINGTON (AP) – Army orders issued today include: Captain Claude A. Thorp, Cav., Fort Knox, Ky., to Philippine dept.
1940 Provost Marshall at Fort Stotsenberg.
The family lived in the Philippines in 1940 and Mrs. Thorp and the children returned to the US in April of 1941.
War with Japan broke out on 08 December 1941 and Col. Thorp and his staff evacuated Fort Stotsenberg on 24 December 1941. They moved first to Porac then to Hermos, Bataan then on 07 January 1942 to Bagac. Col. Thorp continued his work as Provost Marshall of the Northern Luzon Forces under General King.
He was shot in the left thigh while probing the front lines on January 17 and as a result missed a meeting scheduled with Gen. MacArthur where he was to share with MacArthur his plan for organizing guerrillas behind Japanese lines. Even so, MacArthur approved his plan.
--------------------
On January 27, 1942, with the approval of Gen. MacArthur, a group of 19 men and 2 women headed by Major Claude A. Thorp slipped through Japanese lines on Bataan to establish a guerrilla headquarters in the Zambales Mountains. It took them about 40 days to get to to their destination of Mt. Pinatubo.
Luzon Guerrilla Force (LGF). During the Battle of Bataan in January, 1942, Lt. Col. Claude Thorp, former Provost Marshall of Fort Stotsenberg, was authorized by General MacArthur to take a party of volunteers and infiltrate through enemy lines to establish a spy station in the Zambales Mountains above Clark Field. Thorp and his men observed Japanese activity on Clark Field and radioed reports of Japanese bombers taking off to attack Bataan and Corregidor. Thorp was also authorized to organize Filipino guerrillas to sabotage Japanese operations. After the American surrenders of Bataan and Corregidor, he formed the LGF, the original "USAFFE guerrilla" organization in the Philippines. Col. Thorp divided Luzon Island into four areas and appointed a commander over each, who was charged with recruiting guerrillas and forming an effective anti-Japanese guerrilla movement in his area of responsibility:
– North Luzon Military District: Captain Ralph Praeger until his capture in August 1943.
– East Central Luzon Guerrilla Area (ECLGA): Captain Joe Barker until the Japanese captured Colonel Colonel Thorp in October 1942, then Lieutenant Edwin Ramsey.
– Western Luzon Guerrilla Area: Captain Ralph McGuire until he was killed in April 1943, then Captain Gualberto Sia (aka Ernest Neuman).
– Southern Luzon: Captain Jack Spies. However Spies was killed on his way to South Luzon, and this part of the organization never materialized.
Source: http://www.bataandiary.com/Research.htm
The Japanese captured Colonel Thorp on 29 October 1942. They had been betrayed. Their location had been given to the Japanese by men they trusted. On 22 January 1943 Col. Thorp and a couple of Filipinos captured with him were brought to Manila.
"Rev. John Duffy joined Thorp's scattered forces around 14 October 1942. Filipinos who had escaped at the time of a Japanese raid on Thorp’s camp reported to John his capture. John said he was taken prisoner on or about 14 October 1942 and incarcerated in the Provost jail at Ft. Stotsenburg until January 1943. Thorp was reported to be in Santiago dungeons. In July, of 1943, Maj. Thorp and a number of other American soldiers were brought into Bilibid Prison and confined as special prisoners in the old death cell block. John stated that he saw Thorp for several months in this special cell block and was able to get tobacco and other extra supplies to him and his companions." Source: https://veterans.oregonstate.edu/gold-star-project-member/thorp-claude-armenius
“Late in the morning of Friday, *October 8, 1943, Bilibid prisoners who looked out one of the windows overlooking the prison’s stone-paved courtyard witnessed a gloomy sight. Most turned away, because to watch could attract retaliation from the guards. The few who did watch saw a line of twenty-six almost naked American and Filipino men, their wrists tied to a common length of chain, falter across the courtyard toward two trucks waiting at the main gate. The men had been undressed to the undershorts, or Japanese G-strings in some cases, and each man’s head was covered with a bayong, a native bag mad of woven palm leaves.
At noon on that cool, cloudy day at the La Loma Cemetery on the northeast outskirts of the city, one of the trucks unloaded its cargo. Japanese guards led fifteen hooded men, including, Colonels Martin Moses and Arthur “Maxie” Noble, inside the walls. They closed the cemetery gates. Passersby heard a series of shots.
The other truck unloaded its cargo at the nearby Chinese cemetery. Five Americans, including Colonels Claude A. Thorpe and Hugh Straughn, and four Filipinos, including Colonel Guillermo Nakar, were led inside. The guards stood them all in a line and removed the covers from their heads. Colonel Akira Nagahama, chief of the Kempeitai, read their death warrants to them. The guards then retired the covers over their heads, except Colonel Straughn’s as the old gentlemen refused to accept his. The nine men stood at the edge of an open common grave, about four feet deep…A firing squad composed of Japanese prison guards shot the men…Guards kicked the bodies into the grave…the bodies were then covered with dirt.
Source: From Bataan to Safety – The Rescue of 104 American Soldiers in the Philippines by Malcom Decker (McFarland & Company, Inc. 2008), pages 153-154.
*American Battle Monuments Commission have their date of death as 01 November 1943.
Distinguished Service Cross
Awarded for actions during the World War II
Action Date: May 1942 - November 1943
Service: Army
Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
Regiment: Philippine Guerilla Forces
Division: Luzon Guerilla Force
SYNOPSIS: Lieutenant Colonel Claude A. Thorp (ASN: 0-15101), United States Army, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (posthumously) for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving with the Philippine Guerrilla Forces, in action against enemy forces from May 1942 through November 1943, at Luzon, Philippine Islands. Lieutenant Colonel Thorp's intrepid actions, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Army.
General Orders: Headquarters, U.S. Forces-Pacific, General Orders No. 263 (1946)
-------------------------
His body was not recovered.
The American Legion Post in Angeles City, Province of Pampanga, Philippines (just outside of what was Fort Stotsenberg where he served as Provost Marshall, then Clark Air Base) was named in his honor – Claude A. Thorp Post No. 10.
--------------------
He was the son of Thomas Jefferson Jackson Thorp (1871-?) and Flora Helen Splawn Thorp Bruton (1875-1946).
1900 United States Federal Census (01 June 1900): Seattle (Ward 2), King County, Washington (sheet 1B, family 18, 1005 Yester Way) – Claud Thorp (3, Jan 1897 Washington).
Claude A. Thorp, a resident of Thorp, Washington, enlisted as a Private (S/N 115449) in Company “F”, 2nd Washington Infantry on 21 June 1916 in Seattle, Washington. He reported for duty on 24 July 1917 at Ellensburg, Washington. According to his Veteran’s Compensation Fund record he was born in Eagle Harbor, Washington.
He was part of the Mexico Expedition.
Sergeant Claud A. Thorp is found aboard the United States Army Transport Service “Covington” departing 13 December 1917 from Hoboken, New Jersey (Passenger List, Sheet No. 1, Troop Class, Line 10). He was with First Company, 116 Train Headquarters & Military Police, 41st Division. He was a resident of Taneum Ranch, Thorp, Washington. His mother was Flora H Bruton. The “Covington” was carrying 3465 officers and enlisted men to France.
He had the rank of Private First Class and was with the 6th M.P. Company, 6th Division when he was discharged on 26 June 1919 at Camp Lewis. Claude was said to have excellent character.
1920 United States Federal Census (12 January 1920): West Kittitas, Kittitas County, Washington (sheet 2B, family 38) – Claud A. Thorp (21 Washington, Laborer, Home Farm).
In 1920-1921 he was a student at Oregon State University (Class of 1924) and a member of Psi Chi and Scabbard and Blade. “Election to this national honorary Military society is made upon a basis of qualities of leadership and military and scholastic attainments. In the Military Department – Cavalry Unit, Claude Armenius Thorp was Acting First-Lieutenant and Squadron Adjunct.
Claude was a student, living in Poling Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon in February of 1921 when he applied for the Veteran’s Compensation Fund and received $345 (File No. 42297).
He married Helen Irene Smith on 03 September 1922 in Thorp, Kittitas County, Washington. They had three daughters: Caroline Francis Thorp (1923-2020), Helen Claudia Thorp (1928-2013) and Kathryn A. Thorp (1932-?).
Claude Armenius Thorp reenlisted in the Army.
07 February 1927 – Army Orders
WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (By Universal Service) – The following army orders were posted today: Second Lt. Claude A. Thorp, Fort Des Moines, Iowa to Cavalry school, Fort Riley.
09 August 1928 – Army Orders – News from Fort Riley, Kansas
First Lt. Claude A. Thorp who has been on duty with the Cavalry Rifle Team left for his new station at Fort Clark, Texas, on Wednesday.
Claude A. Thorp (31 Washington) is found in the 1930 United States Federal Census (07 April 1930) for Fort Clark, Kinney County, Texas (sheet 4B, family 39) along with his wife, Helen I. Thorp (31 Minnesota) and two daughters, Carolyn F. Thorp (6 Iowa) and Claudia H. Thorp (1 Texas). Claude and Helen were both 24 when they married. He was an officer in the U.S. Army.
13 April 1933 – War Department and Navy Orders
WASHINGTON (AP) – Army orders issued today include: First Lt. Claude A. Thorp, (Cav), motor Transport School, Baltimore, to Fort Knox, Ky.
He married Celia Gregory Rogers on 20 February 1936 at Fort Knox. Kentucky. At the time, she was employed as a secretary in the Army Headquarters in Fort Knox. They had two daughters: Anita Rogers Thorp Dudley (1937-2000) and Arline Thorp.
07 October 1937 – War Department and Navy Orders
WASHINGTON (AP) – Army orders issued today include: Captain Claude A. Thorp, Cav., Fort Knox, Ky., to Philippine dept.
1940 Provost Marshall at Fort Stotsenberg.
The family lived in the Philippines in 1940 and Mrs. Thorp and the children returned to the US in April of 1941.
War with Japan broke out on 08 December 1941 and Col. Thorp and his staff evacuated Fort Stotsenberg on 24 December 1941. They moved first to Porac then to Hermos, Bataan then on 07 January 1942 to Bagac. Col. Thorp continued his work as Provost Marshall of the Northern Luzon Forces under General King.
He was shot in the left thigh while probing the front lines on January 17 and as a result missed a meeting scheduled with Gen. MacArthur where he was to share with MacArthur his plan for organizing guerrillas behind Japanese lines. Even so, MacArthur approved his plan.
--------------------
On January 27, 1942, with the approval of Gen. MacArthur, a group of 19 men and 2 women headed by Major Claude A. Thorp slipped through Japanese lines on Bataan to establish a guerrilla headquarters in the Zambales Mountains. It took them about 40 days to get to to their destination of Mt. Pinatubo.
Luzon Guerrilla Force (LGF). During the Battle of Bataan in January, 1942, Lt. Col. Claude Thorp, former Provost Marshall of Fort Stotsenberg, was authorized by General MacArthur to take a party of volunteers and infiltrate through enemy lines to establish a spy station in the Zambales Mountains above Clark Field. Thorp and his men observed Japanese activity on Clark Field and radioed reports of Japanese bombers taking off to attack Bataan and Corregidor. Thorp was also authorized to organize Filipino guerrillas to sabotage Japanese operations. After the American surrenders of Bataan and Corregidor, he formed the LGF, the original "USAFFE guerrilla" organization in the Philippines. Col. Thorp divided Luzon Island into four areas and appointed a commander over each, who was charged with recruiting guerrillas and forming an effective anti-Japanese guerrilla movement in his area of responsibility:
– North Luzon Military District: Captain Ralph Praeger until his capture in August 1943.
– East Central Luzon Guerrilla Area (ECLGA): Captain Joe Barker until the Japanese captured Colonel Colonel Thorp in October 1942, then Lieutenant Edwin Ramsey.
– Western Luzon Guerrilla Area: Captain Ralph McGuire until he was killed in April 1943, then Captain Gualberto Sia (aka Ernest Neuman).
– Southern Luzon: Captain Jack Spies. However Spies was killed on his way to South Luzon, and this part of the organization never materialized.
Source: http://www.bataandiary.com/Research.htm
The Japanese captured Colonel Thorp on 29 October 1942. They had been betrayed. Their location had been given to the Japanese by men they trusted. On 22 January 1943 Col. Thorp and a couple of Filipinos captured with him were brought to Manila.
"Rev. John Duffy joined Thorp's scattered forces around 14 October 1942. Filipinos who had escaped at the time of a Japanese raid on Thorp’s camp reported to John his capture. John said he was taken prisoner on or about 14 October 1942 and incarcerated in the Provost jail at Ft. Stotsenburg until January 1943. Thorp was reported to be in Santiago dungeons. In July, of 1943, Maj. Thorp and a number of other American soldiers were brought into Bilibid Prison and confined as special prisoners in the old death cell block. John stated that he saw Thorp for several months in this special cell block and was able to get tobacco and other extra supplies to him and his companions." Source: https://veterans.oregonstate.edu/gold-star-project-member/thorp-claude-armenius
“Late in the morning of Friday, *October 8, 1943, Bilibid prisoners who looked out one of the windows overlooking the prison’s stone-paved courtyard witnessed a gloomy sight. Most turned away, because to watch could attract retaliation from the guards. The few who did watch saw a line of twenty-six almost naked American and Filipino men, their wrists tied to a common length of chain, falter across the courtyard toward two trucks waiting at the main gate. The men had been undressed to the undershorts, or Japanese G-strings in some cases, and each man’s head was covered with a bayong, a native bag mad of woven palm leaves.
At noon on that cool, cloudy day at the La Loma Cemetery on the northeast outskirts of the city, one of the trucks unloaded its cargo. Japanese guards led fifteen hooded men, including, Colonels Martin Moses and Arthur “Maxie” Noble, inside the walls. They closed the cemetery gates. Passersby heard a series of shots.
The other truck unloaded its cargo at the nearby Chinese cemetery. Five Americans, including Colonels Claude A. Thorpe and Hugh Straughn, and four Filipinos, including Colonel Guillermo Nakar, were led inside. The guards stood them all in a line and removed the covers from their heads. Colonel Akira Nagahama, chief of the Kempeitai, read their death warrants to them. The guards then retired the covers over their heads, except Colonel Straughn’s as the old gentlemen refused to accept his. The nine men stood at the edge of an open common grave, about four feet deep…A firing squad composed of Japanese prison guards shot the men…Guards kicked the bodies into the grave…the bodies were then covered with dirt.
Source: From Bataan to Safety – The Rescue of 104 American Soldiers in the Philippines by Malcom Decker (McFarland & Company, Inc. 2008), pages 153-154.
*American Battle Monuments Commission have their date of death as 01 November 1943.
Distinguished Service Cross
Awarded for actions during the World War II
Action Date: May 1942 - November 1943
Service: Army
Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
Regiment: Philippine Guerilla Forces
Division: Luzon Guerilla Force
SYNOPSIS: Lieutenant Colonel Claude A. Thorp (ASN: 0-15101), United States Army, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (posthumously) for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving with the Philippine Guerrilla Forces, in action against enemy forces from May 1942 through November 1943, at Luzon, Philippine Islands. Lieutenant Colonel Thorp's intrepid actions, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Army.
General Orders: Headquarters, U.S. Forces-Pacific, General Orders No. 263 (1946)
-------------------------
His body was not recovered.
The American Legion Post in Angeles City, Province of Pampanga, Philippines (just outside of what was Fort Stotsenberg where he served as Provost Marshall, then Clark Air Base) was named in his honor – Claude A. Thorp Post No. 10.
Lieutenant Colonel Claude Thorp was executed by the Japanese in the "Old Chinese Cemetery" in the Manila, Philippines.
--------------------
He was the son of Thomas Jefferson Jackson Thorp (1871-?) and Flora Helen Splawn Thorp Bruton (1875-1946).
1900 United States Federal Census (01 June 1900): Seattle (Ward 2), King County, Washington (sheet 1B, family 18, 1005 Yester Way) – Claud Thorp (3, Jan 1897 Washington).
Claude A. Thorp, a resident of Thorp, Washington, enlisted as a Private (S/N 115449) in Company “F”, 2nd Washington Infantry on 21 June 1916 in Seattle, Washington. He reported for duty on 24 July 1917 at Ellensburg, Washington. According to his Veteran’s Compensation Fund record he was born in Eagle Harbor, Washington.
He was part of the Mexico Expedition.
Sergeant Claud A. Thorp is found aboard the United States Army Transport Service “Covington” departing 13 December 1917 from Hoboken, New Jersey (Passenger List, Sheet No. 1, Troop Class, Line 10). He was with First Company, 116 Train Headquarters & Military Police, 41st Division. He was a resident of Taneum Ranch, Thorp, Washington. His mother was Flora H Bruton. The “Covington” was carrying 3465 officers and enlisted men to France.
He had the rank of Private First Class and was with the 6th M.P. Company, 6th Division when he was discharged on 26 June 1919 at Camp Lewis. Claude was said to have excellent character.
1920 United States Federal Census (12 January 1920): West Kittitas, Kittitas County, Washington (sheet 2B, family 38) – Claud A. Thorp (21 Washington, Laborer, Home Farm).
In 1920-1921 he was a student at Oregon State University (Class of 1924) and a member of Psi Chi and Scabbard and Blade. “Election to this national honorary Military society is made upon a basis of qualities of leadership and military and scholastic attainments. In the Military Department – Cavalry Unit, Claude Armenius Thorp was Acting First-Lieutenant and Squadron Adjunct.
Claude was a student, living in Poling Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon in February of 1921 when he applied for the Veteran’s Compensation Fund and received $345 (File No. 42297).
He married Helen Irene Smith on 03 September 1922 in Thorp, Kittitas County, Washington. They had three daughters: Caroline Francis Thorp (1923-2020), Helen Claudia Thorp (1928-2013) and Kathryn A. Thorp (1932-?).
Claude Armenius Thorp reenlisted in the Army.
07 February 1927 – Army Orders
WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (By Universal Service) – The following army orders were posted today: Second Lt. Claude A. Thorp, Fort Des Moines, Iowa to Cavalry school, Fort Riley.
09 August 1928 – Army Orders – News from Fort Riley, Kansas
First Lt. Claude A. Thorp who has been on duty with the Cavalry Rifle Team left for his new station at Fort Clark, Texas, on Wednesday.
Claude A. Thorp (31 Washington) is found in the 1930 United States Federal Census (07 April 1930) for Fort Clark, Kinney County, Texas (sheet 4B, family 39) along with his wife, Helen I. Thorp (31 Minnesota) and two daughters, Carolyn F. Thorp (6 Iowa) and Claudia H. Thorp (1 Texas). Claude and Helen were both 24 when they married. He was an officer in the U.S. Army.
13 April 1933 – War Department and Navy Orders
WASHINGTON (AP) – Army orders issued today include: First Lt. Claude A. Thorp, (Cav), motor Transport School, Baltimore, to Fort Knox, Ky.
He married Celia Gregory Rogers on 20 February 1936 at Fort Knox. Kentucky. At the time, she was employed as a secretary in the Army Headquarters in Fort Knox. They had two daughters: Anita Rogers Thorp Dudley (1937-2000) and Arline Thorp.
07 October 1937 – War Department and Navy Orders
WASHINGTON (AP) – Army orders issued today include: Captain Claude A. Thorp, Cav., Fort Knox, Ky., to Philippine dept.
1940 Provost Marshall at Fort Stotsenberg.
The family lived in the Philippines in 1940 and Mrs. Thorp and the children returned to the US in April of 1941.
War with Japan broke out on 08 December 1941 and Col. Thorp and his staff evacuated Fort Stotsenberg on 24 December 1941. They moved first to Porac then to Hermos, Bataan then on 07 January 1942 to Bagac. Col. Thorp continued his work as Provost Marshall of the Northern Luzon Forces under General King.
He was shot in the left thigh while probing the front lines on January 17 and as a result missed a meeting scheduled with Gen. MacArthur where he was to share with MacArthur his plan for organizing guerrillas behind Japanese lines. Even so, MacArthur approved his plan.
--------------------
On January 27, 1942, with the approval of Gen. MacArthur, a group of 19 men and 2 women headed by Major Claude A. Thorp slipped through Japanese lines on Bataan to establish a guerrilla headquarters in the Zambales Mountains. It took them about 40 days to get to to their destination of Mt. Pinatubo.
Luzon Guerrilla Force (LGF). During the Battle of Bataan in January, 1942, Lt. Col. Claude Thorp, former Provost Marshall of Fort Stotsenberg, was authorized by General MacArthur to take a party of volunteers and infiltrate through enemy lines to establish a spy station in the Zambales Mountains above Clark Field. Thorp and his men observed Japanese activity on Clark Field and radioed reports of Japanese bombers taking off to attack Bataan and Corregidor. Thorp was also authorized to organize Filipino guerrillas to sabotage Japanese operations. After the American surrenders of Bataan and Corregidor, he formed the LGF, the original "USAFFE guerrilla" organization in the Philippines. Col. Thorp divided Luzon Island into four areas and appointed a commander over each, who was charged with recruiting guerrillas and forming an effective anti-Japanese guerrilla movement in his area of responsibility:
– North Luzon Military District: Captain Ralph Praeger until his capture in August 1943.
– East Central Luzon Guerrilla Area (ECLGA): Captain Joe Barker until the Japanese captured Colonel Colonel Thorp in October 1942, then Lieutenant Edwin Ramsey.
– Western Luzon Guerrilla Area: Captain Ralph McGuire until he was killed in April 1943, then Captain Gualberto Sia (aka Ernest Neuman).
– Southern Luzon: Captain Jack Spies. However Spies was killed on his way to South Luzon, and this part of the organization never materialized.
Source: http://www.bataandiary.com/Research.htm
The Japanese captured Colonel Thorp on 29 October 1942. They had been betrayed. Their location had been given to the Japanese by men they trusted. On 22 January 1943 Col. Thorp and a couple of Filipinos captured with him were brought to Manila.
"Rev. John Duffy joined Thorp's scattered forces around 14 October 1942. Filipinos who had escaped at the time of a Japanese raid on Thorp’s camp reported to John his capture. John said he was taken prisoner on or about 14 October 1942 and incarcerated in the Provost jail at Ft. Stotsenburg until January 1943. Thorp was reported to be in Santiago dungeons. In July, of 1943, Maj. Thorp and a number of other American soldiers were brought into Bilibid Prison and confined as special prisoners in the old death cell block. John stated that he saw Thorp for several months in this special cell block and was able to get tobacco and other extra supplies to him and his companions." Source: https://veterans.oregonstate.edu/gold-star-project-member/thorp-claude-armenius
“Late in the morning of Friday, *October 8, 1943, Bilibid prisoners who looked out one of the windows overlooking the prison’s stone-paved courtyard witnessed a gloomy sight. Most turned away, because to watch could attract retaliation from the guards. The few who did watch saw a line of twenty-six almost naked American and Filipino men, their wrists tied to a common length of chain, falter across the courtyard toward two trucks waiting at the main gate. The men had been undressed to the undershorts, or Japanese G-strings in some cases, and each man’s head was covered with a bayong, a native bag mad of woven palm leaves.
At noon on that cool, cloudy day at the La Loma Cemetery on the northeast outskirts of the city, one of the trucks unloaded its cargo. Japanese guards led fifteen hooded men, including, Colonels Martin Moses and Arthur “Maxie” Noble, inside the walls. They closed the cemetery gates. Passersby heard a series of shots.
The other truck unloaded its cargo at the nearby Chinese cemetery. Five Americans, including Colonels Claude A. Thorpe and Hugh Straughn, and four Filipinos, including Colonel Guillermo Nakar, were led inside. The guards stood them all in a line and removed the covers from their heads. Colonel Akira Nagahama, chief of the Kempeitai, read their death warrants to them. The guards then retired the covers over their heads, except Colonel Straughn’s as the old gentlemen refused to accept his. The nine men stood at the edge of an open common grave, about four feet deep…A firing squad composed of Japanese prison guards shot the men…Guards kicked the bodies into the grave…the bodies were then covered with dirt.
Source: From Bataan to Safety – The Rescue of 104 American Soldiers in the Philippines by Malcom Decker (McFarland & Company, Inc. 2008), pages 153-154.
*American Battle Monuments Commission have their date of death as 01 November 1943.
Distinguished Service Cross
Awarded for actions during the World War II
Action Date: May 1942 - November 1943
Service: Army
Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
Regiment: Philippine Guerilla Forces
Division: Luzon Guerilla Force
SYNOPSIS: Lieutenant Colonel Claude A. Thorp (ASN: 0-15101), United States Army, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (posthumously) for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving with the Philippine Guerrilla Forces, in action against enemy forces from May 1942 through November 1943, at Luzon, Philippine Islands. Lieutenant Colonel Thorp's intrepid actions, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Army.
General Orders: Headquarters, U.S. Forces-Pacific, General Orders No. 263 (1946)
-------------------------
His body was not recovered.
The American Legion Post in Angeles City, Province of Pampanga, Philippines (just outside of what was Fort Stotsenberg where he served as Provost Marshall, then Clark Air Base) was named in his honor – Claude A. Thorp Post No. 10.
--------------------
He was the son of Thomas Jefferson Jackson Thorp (1871-?) and Flora Helen Splawn Thorp Bruton (1875-1946).
1900 United States Federal Census (01 June 1900): Seattle (Ward 2), King County, Washington (sheet 1B, family 18, 1005 Yester Way) – Claud Thorp (3, Jan 1897 Washington).
Claude A. Thorp, a resident of Thorp, Washington, enlisted as a Private (S/N 115449) in Company “F”, 2nd Washington Infantry on 21 June 1916 in Seattle, Washington. He reported for duty on 24 July 1917 at Ellensburg, Washington. According to his Veteran’s Compensation Fund record he was born in Eagle Harbor, Washington.
He was part of the Mexico Expedition.
Sergeant Claud A. Thorp is found aboard the United States Army Transport Service “Covington” departing 13 December 1917 from Hoboken, New Jersey (Passenger List, Sheet No. 1, Troop Class, Line 10). He was with First Company, 116 Train Headquarters & Military Police, 41st Division. He was a resident of Taneum Ranch, Thorp, Washington. His mother was Flora H Bruton. The “Covington” was carrying 3465 officers and enlisted men to France.
He had the rank of Private First Class and was with the 6th M.P. Company, 6th Division when he was discharged on 26 June 1919 at Camp Lewis. Claude was said to have excellent character.
1920 United States Federal Census (12 January 1920): West Kittitas, Kittitas County, Washington (sheet 2B, family 38) – Claud A. Thorp (21 Washington, Laborer, Home Farm).
In 1920-1921 he was a student at Oregon State University (Class of 1924) and a member of Psi Chi and Scabbard and Blade. “Election to this national honorary Military society is made upon a basis of qualities of leadership and military and scholastic attainments. In the Military Department – Cavalry Unit, Claude Armenius Thorp was Acting First-Lieutenant and Squadron Adjunct.
Claude was a student, living in Poling Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon in February of 1921 when he applied for the Veteran’s Compensation Fund and received $345 (File No. 42297).
He married Helen Irene Smith on 03 September 1922 in Thorp, Kittitas County, Washington. They had three daughters: Caroline Francis Thorp (1923-2020), Helen Claudia Thorp (1928-2013) and Kathryn A. Thorp (1932-?).
Claude Armenius Thorp reenlisted in the Army.
07 February 1927 – Army Orders
WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (By Universal Service) – The following army orders were posted today: Second Lt. Claude A. Thorp, Fort Des Moines, Iowa to Cavalry school, Fort Riley.
09 August 1928 – Army Orders – News from Fort Riley, Kansas
First Lt. Claude A. Thorp who has been on duty with the Cavalry Rifle Team left for his new station at Fort Clark, Texas, on Wednesday.
Claude A. Thorp (31 Washington) is found in the 1930 United States Federal Census (07 April 1930) for Fort Clark, Kinney County, Texas (sheet 4B, family 39) along with his wife, Helen I. Thorp (31 Minnesota) and two daughters, Carolyn F. Thorp (6 Iowa) and Claudia H. Thorp (1 Texas). Claude and Helen were both 24 when they married. He was an officer in the U.S. Army.
13 April 1933 – War Department and Navy Orders
WASHINGTON (AP) – Army orders issued today include: First Lt. Claude A. Thorp, (Cav), motor Transport School, Baltimore, to Fort Knox, Ky.
He married Celia Gregory Rogers on 20 February 1936 at Fort Knox. Kentucky. At the time, she was employed as a secretary in the Army Headquarters in Fort Knox. They had two daughters: Anita Rogers Thorp Dudley (1937-2000) and Arline Thorp.
07 October 1937 – War Department and Navy Orders
WASHINGTON (AP) – Army orders issued today include: Captain Claude A. Thorp, Cav., Fort Knox, Ky., to Philippine dept.
1940 Provost Marshall at Fort Stotsenberg.
The family lived in the Philippines in 1940 and Mrs. Thorp and the children returned to the US in April of 1941.
War with Japan broke out on 08 December 1941 and Col. Thorp and his staff evacuated Fort Stotsenberg on 24 December 1941. They moved first to Porac then to Hermos, Bataan then on 07 January 1942 to Bagac. Col. Thorp continued his work as Provost Marshall of the Northern Luzon Forces under General King.
He was shot in the left thigh while probing the front lines on January 17 and as a result missed a meeting scheduled with Gen. MacArthur where he was to share with MacArthur his plan for organizing guerrillas behind Japanese lines. Even so, MacArthur approved his plan.
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On January 27, 1942, with the approval of Gen. MacArthur, a group of 19 men and 2 women headed by Major Claude A. Thorp slipped through Japanese lines on Bataan to establish a guerrilla headquarters in the Zambales Mountains. It took them about 40 days to get to to their destination of Mt. Pinatubo.
Luzon Guerrilla Force (LGF). During the Battle of Bataan in January, 1942, Lt. Col. Claude Thorp, former Provost Marshall of Fort Stotsenberg, was authorized by General MacArthur to take a party of volunteers and infiltrate through enemy lines to establish a spy station in the Zambales Mountains above Clark Field. Thorp and his men observed Japanese activity on Clark Field and radioed reports of Japanese bombers taking off to attack Bataan and Corregidor. Thorp was also authorized to organize Filipino guerrillas to sabotage Japanese operations. After the American surrenders of Bataan and Corregidor, he formed the LGF, the original "USAFFE guerrilla" organization in the Philippines. Col. Thorp divided Luzon Island into four areas and appointed a commander over each, who was charged with recruiting guerrillas and forming an effective anti-Japanese guerrilla movement in his area of responsibility:
– North Luzon Military District: Captain Ralph Praeger until his capture in August 1943.
– East Central Luzon Guerrilla Area (ECLGA): Captain Joe Barker until the Japanese captured Colonel Colonel Thorp in October 1942, then Lieutenant Edwin Ramsey.
– Western Luzon Guerrilla Area: Captain Ralph McGuire until he was killed in April 1943, then Captain Gualberto Sia (aka Ernest Neuman).
– Southern Luzon: Captain Jack Spies. However Spies was killed on his way to South Luzon, and this part of the organization never materialized.
Source: http://www.bataandiary.com/Research.htm
The Japanese captured Colonel Thorp on 29 October 1942. They had been betrayed. Their location had been given to the Japanese by men they trusted. On 22 January 1943 Col. Thorp and a couple of Filipinos captured with him were brought to Manila.
"Rev. John Duffy joined Thorp's scattered forces around 14 October 1942. Filipinos who had escaped at the time of a Japanese raid on Thorp’s camp reported to John his capture. John said he was taken prisoner on or about 14 October 1942 and incarcerated in the Provost jail at Ft. Stotsenburg until January 1943. Thorp was reported to be in Santiago dungeons. In July, of 1943, Maj. Thorp and a number of other American soldiers were brought into Bilibid Prison and confined as special prisoners in the old death cell block. John stated that he saw Thorp for several months in this special cell block and was able to get tobacco and other extra supplies to him and his companions." Source: https://veterans.oregonstate.edu/gold-star-project-member/thorp-claude-armenius
“Late in the morning of Friday, *October 8, 1943, Bilibid prisoners who looked out one of the windows overlooking the prison’s stone-paved courtyard witnessed a gloomy sight. Most turned away, because to watch could attract retaliation from the guards. The few who did watch saw a line of twenty-six almost naked American and Filipino men, their wrists tied to a common length of chain, falter across the courtyard toward two trucks waiting at the main gate. The men had been undressed to the undershorts, or Japanese G-strings in some cases, and each man’s head was covered with a bayong, a native bag mad of woven palm leaves.
At noon on that cool, cloudy day at the La Loma Cemetery on the northeast outskirts of the city, one of the trucks unloaded its cargo. Japanese guards led fifteen hooded men, including, Colonels Martin Moses and Arthur “Maxie” Noble, inside the walls. They closed the cemetery gates. Passersby heard a series of shots.
The other truck unloaded its cargo at the nearby Chinese cemetery. Five Americans, including Colonels Claude A. Thorpe and Hugh Straughn, and four Filipinos, including Colonel Guillermo Nakar, were led inside. The guards stood them all in a line and removed the covers from their heads. Colonel Akira Nagahama, chief of the Kempeitai, read their death warrants to them. The guards then retired the covers over their heads, except Colonel Straughn’s as the old gentlemen refused to accept his. The nine men stood at the edge of an open common grave, about four feet deep…A firing squad composed of Japanese prison guards shot the men…Guards kicked the bodies into the grave…the bodies were then covered with dirt.
Source: From Bataan to Safety – The Rescue of 104 American Soldiers in the Philippines by Malcom Decker (McFarland & Company, Inc. 2008), pages 153-154.
*American Battle Monuments Commission have their date of death as 01 November 1943.
Distinguished Service Cross
Awarded for actions during the World War II
Action Date: May 1942 - November 1943
Service: Army
Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
Regiment: Philippine Guerilla Forces
Division: Luzon Guerilla Force
SYNOPSIS: Lieutenant Colonel Claude A. Thorp (ASN: 0-15101), United States Army, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (posthumously) for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving with the Philippine Guerrilla Forces, in action against enemy forces from May 1942 through November 1943, at Luzon, Philippine Islands. Lieutenant Colonel Thorp's intrepid actions, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Army.
General Orders: Headquarters, U.S. Forces-Pacific, General Orders No. 263 (1946)
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His body was not recovered.
The American Legion Post in Angeles City, Province of Pampanga, Philippines (just outside of what was Fort Stotsenberg where he served as Provost Marshall, then Clark Air Base) was named in his honor – Claude A. Thorp Post No. 10.
Gravesite Details
Entered the service from Washington.
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