Post by friscohare on Jul 1, 2012 10:26:49 GMT -5
RIP, sir.
J.C. Pardue, former technical sergeant, Air Corps, Army of the United States, receives the Purple Heart for wounds received in action on March 22, 1942 in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater during World War II. Congressman Rodney Alexander presented the medal to Pardue at his congressional office in Monroe on Monday. Pardue is also a survivor of the Bataan Death March.
One of the 'greatest' now gone[/u][/url][/size]
(The News-Star, 06/29/12)
Another member of "The Greatest Generation" is gone.
World War II veteran and Purple Heart recipient J.C. Pardue, 94, was laid to rest Friday afternoon at Mulhearn Memorial Park Cemetery.
Pardue died Monday.
Pardue was a retired accountant and survivor of the infamous Bataan Death March. He was a Japanese prisoner of war for three years.
He joined the Army Air Corp. in 1939 and served stateside until the bombing of Pearl Harbor. A member of the 17th Squadron of the 27th Bombardment Group, he was sent to the Philippines to defend the Bataan Peninsula. When Bataan fell in 1942, Pardue was one of thousands of Americans and Filipino soldiers captured and forced to march the 55-mile highway to the northern part of Luzon, the largest of the islands.
Approximately 16,000 American and Filipino soldiers died or were executed along the way. At the end of the Bataan Death March, Pardue spent three years in POW camps. When the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, he was a slave laborer in the mills in Kyushu, Japan.
Pardue's daughter, Janis Hill, said he never had a negative thing to say about anyone, even the Japanese soldiers who tortured him.
"His greatest trait was his humility. He was a humble man. He shied away from praise, and he never spoke an ill word of his capturers. I never heard him say anything negative about them. He shared willingly his stories, too," Hill said.
Pardue wrote about his experiences in great detail, and Hill plans to compile those writings to create a book about her father. She hopes to complete that within a year.
"I plan to put that together because I want it to be his legacy. It's the same story that all of those men have to tell. Many of them have written books, but when you're related to someone like that and you know him as a daddy, you just want to do something to honor him," Hill said, fighting back tears Friday following her father's funeral.
For decades Pardue carried in his pocket a reminder of his struggles along the Bataan Death March — a purple rabbit's foot attached to a piece of shrapnel that pierced his neck in 1942.
He carried that rabbit's foot with him on the death march to have something to smile about.
In a 2003 interview with The News-Star, when he received the Purple Heart from U.S. Rep. Rodney Alexander, Pardue said he would show the shrapnel-laced rabbit's foot to other American prisoners to brighten their day during the march.
"He was proud to have served and just a good, Godly, kind man," Hill said. "He was a good man, a good daddy and one of 'The Greatest Generation,'" Hill said.
Tommy Sims, northeastern Louisiana regional manager of the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs, knew Pardue well.
He said to the best of his knowledge, Pardue was the last remaining local survivor of the Bataan Death March.
Pardue often visited with Sims and other Veterans Affairs officials at the West Monroe office.
Sometimes Pardue would share his stories, and he even gave Sims original drawings from fellow Japanese prisoners of war.
"He always said if they got caught with these drawings they would be shot," Sims said.
The drawings typically were of the Japanese soldiers who tortured the Allied soldiers.
"I know this sounds cliché, but he definitely was a patriot and a great American," Sims said.
"He suffered a whole lot under the hands of the Japanese government. It was pretty awful. Even going through all that — tortured, beaten and starved and treated as bad as a human could be treated — he always had a positive attitude. He was an inspiration. I am very sorry we lost a great American."
Sims said Pardue definitely was a great example "The Greatest Generation."
He hopes people will pay tribute to World War II veterans because they won't be around much longer.
"We're losing them quickly, and it won't be too much longer until they're all gone," Sims said.
J.C. Pardue, former technical sergeant, Air Corps, Army of the United States, receives the Purple Heart for wounds received in action on March 22, 1942 in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater during World War II. Congressman Rodney Alexander presented the medal to Pardue at his congressional office in Monroe on Monday. Pardue is also a survivor of the Bataan Death March.
One of the 'greatest' now gone[/u][/url][/size]
(The News-Star, 06/29/12)
Another member of "The Greatest Generation" is gone.
World War II veteran and Purple Heart recipient J.C. Pardue, 94, was laid to rest Friday afternoon at Mulhearn Memorial Park Cemetery.
Pardue died Monday.
Pardue was a retired accountant and survivor of the infamous Bataan Death March. He was a Japanese prisoner of war for three years.
He joined the Army Air Corp. in 1939 and served stateside until the bombing of Pearl Harbor. A member of the 17th Squadron of the 27th Bombardment Group, he was sent to the Philippines to defend the Bataan Peninsula. When Bataan fell in 1942, Pardue was one of thousands of Americans and Filipino soldiers captured and forced to march the 55-mile highway to the northern part of Luzon, the largest of the islands.
Approximately 16,000 American and Filipino soldiers died or were executed along the way. At the end of the Bataan Death March, Pardue spent three years in POW camps. When the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, he was a slave laborer in the mills in Kyushu, Japan.
Pardue's daughter, Janis Hill, said he never had a negative thing to say about anyone, even the Japanese soldiers who tortured him.
"His greatest trait was his humility. He was a humble man. He shied away from praise, and he never spoke an ill word of his capturers. I never heard him say anything negative about them. He shared willingly his stories, too," Hill said.
Pardue wrote about his experiences in great detail, and Hill plans to compile those writings to create a book about her father. She hopes to complete that within a year.
"I plan to put that together because I want it to be his legacy. It's the same story that all of those men have to tell. Many of them have written books, but when you're related to someone like that and you know him as a daddy, you just want to do something to honor him," Hill said, fighting back tears Friday following her father's funeral.
For decades Pardue carried in his pocket a reminder of his struggles along the Bataan Death March — a purple rabbit's foot attached to a piece of shrapnel that pierced his neck in 1942.
He carried that rabbit's foot with him on the death march to have something to smile about.
In a 2003 interview with The News-Star, when he received the Purple Heart from U.S. Rep. Rodney Alexander, Pardue said he would show the shrapnel-laced rabbit's foot to other American prisoners to brighten their day during the march.
"He was proud to have served and just a good, Godly, kind man," Hill said. "He was a good man, a good daddy and one of 'The Greatest Generation,'" Hill said.
Tommy Sims, northeastern Louisiana regional manager of the Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs, knew Pardue well.
He said to the best of his knowledge, Pardue was the last remaining local survivor of the Bataan Death March.
Pardue often visited with Sims and other Veterans Affairs officials at the West Monroe office.
Sometimes Pardue would share his stories, and he even gave Sims original drawings from fellow Japanese prisoners of war.
"He always said if they got caught with these drawings they would be shot," Sims said.
The drawings typically were of the Japanese soldiers who tortured the Allied soldiers.
"I know this sounds cliché, but he definitely was a patriot and a great American," Sims said.
"He suffered a whole lot under the hands of the Japanese government. It was pretty awful. Even going through all that — tortured, beaten and starved and treated as bad as a human could be treated — he always had a positive attitude. He was an inspiration. I am very sorry we lost a great American."
Sims said Pardue definitely was a great example "The Greatest Generation."
He hopes people will pay tribute to World War II veterans because they won't be around much longer.
"We're losing them quickly, and it won't be too much longer until they're all gone," Sims said.