Gerald Corbett Gaines
age 18
The Gaines Boys
l to r: Gerald, Marvin & Earl
ca 1941
Telegram reference the shipping of Gerald Gaines'
body to Electra, Texas for reburial in 1949
Gerald Corbett Gaines
Gaines Family Plot
Electra, Texas Cemetery (new side)
THE CABANATUAN ROSTER
By the time liberation came, more than a thousand members of the 31st Infantry
Regiment had perished. Among the dead were most of the regiment’s officers and senior
NCOs. While at Cabanatuan POW Camp, Lieutenant Colonel Jasper Brady and Major
Marshall Hurt covertly compiled a roster of those who had served with the regiment
during the war.
It covers the period December 8, 1941 through October 10, 1944 , when
Brady and Hurt were taken from Cabanatuan to be transported to Japan . It lists names,
ranks , service numbers, hometowns, combat wounds, decorations earned, next of kin, and
pending awards and disciplinary action. For those who died in combat or captivity before
Brady and Hurt were taken to their deaths aboard the Arisan Maru , the circumstance and
place of burial is annotated.
Given the conditions under which the roster was prepared, it
is remarkably legible and thorough. There are, however, some inevitable gaps, such as
the hometowns or next of kin of men who died before the roster was begun. Because the
roster was compiled from the memories of leaders incarcerated at Cabanatuan , some
spellings of names may also be inaccurate. The night before Brady and Hurt were to leave
Cabanatuan , they hid the roster
Antitank Company
(names of 62 who died in captivity)
CPT Robert A Barker
1LT Harold F Monson
SSG Cameron C Taylor
SGT Louis F Berendt
SGT Walter Kowalczyk
SGT James J Murphy
SGT Joseph R Vaughn
SGT Claude E Wilson
CPL Leo J Barlosky
CPL George L McCafferty
CPL Robert Spalek
CPL Paul F Welch
PFC Edward C Ambrose
PFC J S Anderson
PFC Thomas T Bailey
PFC Eugene E Bales
PFC David E Cross, Jr
PFC Clifford D Hendon
PFC Walter W Kean
PFC Jessie J Nelson
PFC Warren W Powless , Jr
PFC William W Utley
PFC Homer L Wood
PVT Don L Abernathy
PVT Cleveland Armond
PVT Cecil W Bradshaw
PVT C L Clark
PVT Charles B Clayton
PVT Patrick F Corcoran
PVT Elmo J Daigle
PVT Albert F D’Auria
PVT Bernard M Doxtator
PVT Paul L Foy
PVT Gerald C Gaines
PVT Siebelt R Goldenstein
PVT Gerald W Haman
PVT James E Hayward
PVT Frank S Heater
PVT Owen Hicks
PVT Albert C Kalen
PVT Raymond E Larson
PVT Fred A Luck
PVT Condia Lynch
PVT Joseph B Martineau
PVT Fiorino F Mazzucca
PVT Amos R McAfee
PVT Rovert L McIntyre
PVT James E Mines
PVT Orvel K Morris
PVT Floyd Moyer, Jr
PVT John D Nabb
PVT Glenwood D Porter
PVT Fred J Reed
PVT Gerald D Reeves
PVT Edmund F Sadler
PVT Ari Self
PVT Clarence Smith, Jr
PVT Marion R Thompson
PVT Gerald K Titman
PVT Clyde White, Jr
PVT Jerry D Williams
PVT Charles C Zenchenko
In July 2009 I (Lynn Wright) submitted a request. under the Freedom of Information Act, a request for a copy of the Individual Deceased Personnel File (IDPF) pertaining to Gerald Corbett Gaines, and below are abstracts of the information they provided.
After his death of Yellow Jaundice (Yellow Fever) on Jun 4, 1942, (there are different presumed death dates, but Jun 4, 1942 seems the most reasonable). He was buried in the POW Cemetery (Camp O'Donnell), Luzon, P.I., in Plot M, Row 3, Grave 4. He lay at rest in this grave until the war was over, and the men who died at Camp O'Donnell were disinterred for reburial in the USAF Cemetery Manila #2, Luzon, P.I., Plot 3, Row 8, Grave 980. His remains, which were reduced to bones, was placed in a shelter half, and reburied on Feb 8, 1946, and his grave was marked with a cross. His grave was between Wesley Bowman Ernest Duchscher.
He lay in this grave until Nov 27, 1948 when his remains were disinterred, and placed in a casket that would be used to ship his remains back to Electra, TX, for reburial in the Gaines family plot in the New Electra Cemetery. His body made a slow trip from the Philippines to Fort Worth, Texas and finally arrived in Electra , TX on Train #2-22, Mar 12, 1949 at 5:15pm, where his remains were removed from a railroad car by Totten Funeral Home. Gerald's parents and other close relatives (including me) were at the train station to meet Gerald, who was accompanied by a military escort, with his casket covered by an American Flag.
Louella Baggett Gaines, his mother, went to the funeral home where she insisted they open his casked so she could examine his bones to assure herself it was indeed her son. For many years the family thought this was a very strange thing for her to do, as she had read in newspapers that some of the bodies being returned to their families were misidentified and she wanted to make sure they had sent the right body.
In 2000, I interviewed a childhood friend of Gerald's, and when I mentioned the examination of his bones by his mother, he remarked that she would indeed be able to tell, as Gerald had suffered a broken leg during his teens and it healed crooked and one of his legs was bowed. According to the records received from the IDPF, they identified him by his dental records. His upper teeth were perfect, and his lower jaw was perfect except for one molar (#14) missing on the bottom left.