Sims' Son was in Death March
Lois Sims was a familiar face at First State Bank for 29 years. She began her career in 1943 when J. G. Nisbett was president.
In an article from The Moore County News-Press in 1972, Lois described the bank as it was in the early 1940's, "It was small then compared to the number of employees now. It started to grow as the Cactus plant brought people into the community."
Her job was working with ration stamps and government saving bonds. Later, she was responsible for microfilming and taking care of safety deposit boxes.
A native of Bolton, Kansas, she was a 1916 graduate of Montgomery County High School in Independence. She attended Teacher's College in Pittsburgh, Kansas.
She taught two years in Harrisonville, Kansas, in a little one-room school house for grades one through eight.
She and her husband, George, were married in Independence in 1919. A few years later they moved to Camden, Arkansas. Then, to Moore County when George went to work at Shamrock Oil and Gas.
They were parents of two boys, Leland, Carbon and a daughter, Evelyn.
Leland graduated from Smackover High School in Arkansas in 1939. The following fall, enlisted in the Army Air Corp., training at Barksdale Field in Louisiana. Following training, he was stationed at Nielsen Field, a small one, just outside Manilla, arriving on November 20, 1940.
According to an article written in November of 1945, his first introduction to Japanese warfare was a bomb, fortunately a "dud", that dropped within 30 feet of him as the Japanese struck Nielsen the day after their attack on Pearl Harbor.
The article tells, "After the bombings on Pearl Harbor, Manilla, Hickam and Nielsen fields, Sims followed MacArthur to Bataan. He became one of the provisional infantrymen whose delaying action against the invasion by Japanese became a saga in defense warfare."
"In the struggles that followed, he was wounded twice, in his stomach and hip, once by a fragmentary bomb and once by a demolition one." Bataan was surrendered on April 9, 1942 and Corregidor fell on May 6."
The story goes on: "On July 23, 1943, Sims with 500 other prisoners, was crowded into the hold of a Jap cargo ship and transferred to the Jap mainland. Here he was put to work at hard rock coal mining. First the shifts were four hours and as war demands for coal stepped up, it was 8 and finally 12 hours per day. One worked ten days and had a day off from the damp, dark mines.
Then, Sims was part of the infamous death march from Marvelles Field to San Fernando on Luzon, 125 miles of it. The march was 'three days of horror and two nights of hell; with water at long intervals, cold water that men gulped in to die from sudden cramps -- Sims and other high school kids that folks at home called soft, no straggling men that meant death, for the Japs were carrying no one."
"That was followed with a truck ride of three hours, then boxcars with fifty men piled in a car... no air, no lying down, no room, food hurled in at intervals by friendly Filipinos."
"Sims was transferred to O'Donnel on June 5, 1942, and placed in the prison camp hospital which was little better than a barracks. American officers were working without drugs or medicine trying to help the sick, wounded and dying men."
"Finally, after 3 1/2 years as a prisoner, news came from recently captured Americans that the end of the war was near. On August 15, 1945, the prisoners were given Red Cross boxes and a three-day holiday. Then, on the 19th they lined up the camp garrison and read the news of surrender and the camp was turned over to American forces. He was moved to a U.S. Hospital ship, Haven, and finally a plane to Manilla and a transport home."
He spent seven years of treatment before the last traces of malnutrition and wound effects were gone. He continued to serve in the military until 1960, then retired from civil service in 1980.
Sims had been awarded three Presidential citations -- the Purple Heart, Good Conduct Medal, American Theater Asiatic Defense, Philippine Defense and Victory Award.
He did not like to talk about his war experiences, but in later life, he wrote a book, published in 2009. He died January 10, 2010, at age 89. He is buried at Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetery.
In an article from The Moore County News-Press in 1972, Lois described the bank as it was in the early 1940's, "It was small then compared to the number of employees now. It started to grow as the Cactus plant brought people into the community."
Her job was working with ration stamps and government saving bonds. Later, she was responsible for microfilming and taking care of safety deposit boxes.
A native of Bolton, Kansas, she was a 1916 graduate of Montgomery County High School in Independence. She attended Teacher's College in Pittsburgh, Kansas.
She taught two years in Harrisonville, Kansas, in a little one-room school house for grades one through eight.
She and her husband, George, were married in Independence in 1919. A few years later they moved to Camden, Arkansas. Then, to Moore County when George went to work at Shamrock Oil and Gas.
They were parents of two boys, Leland, Carbon and a daughter, Evelyn.
Leland graduated from Smackover High School in Arkansas in 1939. The following fall, enlisted in the Army Air Corp., training at Barksdale Field in Louisiana. Following training, he was stationed at Nielsen Field, a small one, just outside Manilla, arriving on November 20, 1940.
According to an article written in November of 1945, his first introduction to Japanese warfare was a bomb, fortunately a "dud", that dropped within 30 feet of him as the Japanese struck Nielsen the day after their attack on Pearl Harbor.
The article tells, "After the bombings on Pearl Harbor, Manilla, Hickam and Nielsen fields, Sims followed MacArthur to Bataan. He became one of the provisional infantrymen whose delaying action against the invasion by Japanese became a saga in defense warfare."
"In the struggles that followed, he was wounded twice, in his stomach and hip, once by a fragmentary bomb and once by a demolition one." Bataan was surrendered on April 9, 1942 and Corregidor fell on May 6."
The story goes on: "On July 23, 1943, Sims with 500 other prisoners, was crowded into the hold of a Jap cargo ship and transferred to the Jap mainland. Here he was put to work at hard rock coal mining. First the shifts were four hours and as war demands for coal stepped up, it was 8 and finally 12 hours per day. One worked ten days and had a day off from the damp, dark mines.
Then, Sims was part of the infamous death march from Marvelles Field to San Fernando on Luzon, 125 miles of it. The march was 'three days of horror and two nights of hell; with water at long intervals, cold water that men gulped in to die from sudden cramps -- Sims and other high school kids that folks at home called soft, no straggling men that meant death, for the Japs were carrying no one."
"That was followed with a truck ride of three hours, then boxcars with fifty men piled in a car... no air, no lying down, no room, food hurled in at intervals by friendly Filipinos."
"Sims was transferred to O'Donnel on June 5, 1942, and placed in the prison camp hospital which was little better than a barracks. American officers were working without drugs or medicine trying to help the sick, wounded and dying men."
"Finally, after 3 1/2 years as a prisoner, news came from recently captured Americans that the end of the war was near. On August 15, 1945, the prisoners were given Red Cross boxes and a three-day holiday. Then, on the 19th they lined up the camp garrison and read the news of surrender and the camp was turned over to American forces. He was moved to a U.S. Hospital ship, Haven, and finally a plane to Manilla and a transport home."
He spent seven years of treatment before the last traces of malnutrition and wound effects were gone. He continued to serve in the military until 1960, then retired from civil service in 1980.
Sims had been awarded three Presidential citations -- the Purple Heart, Good Conduct Medal, American Theater Asiatic Defense, Philippine Defense and Victory Award.
He did not like to talk about his war experiences, but in later life, he wrote a book, published in 2009. He died January 10, 2010, at age 89. He is buried at Ft. Sam Houston National Cemetery.