Weldon Hamilton U.S. Army Air Corps Weldon Hamilton joined the U.S. Army Air Corps on October 5, 1940. he was hipped to the Philippines in November of 1941. He fought the battle of Bataan, a battle that the Japanese planned to win in three weeks, but required four months instead. When food and ammunition ran out, Bataan was overrun. Mr. Hamilton was taken prisoner of war by the Japanese. He survived the infamous Death march. On the Death March it is estimated that more than 10,000 men died. Hamilton was held for 1,256 days. He was held in the Philippines for ever two years; first in Camp O’Donnell, where over 25,000 men died in less than two months.  He was then held in Camp Cabanatuan, where 3,000 died, the most Americans ever to die in an overseas prison camp, and second only to Andersonville in all our history. Hamilton was then taken to Japan on one of the notorious “Hells Ships”.   At the end of the war he was 30 miles from Nagasaki, where he witnesses the dropping of the Nagasaki atomic bomb. After liberation, Hamilton continued on in the Air Force and retired as Chief Warrant Officer CWO-4 in 1969. He has many decorations, including The Presidential Unit Citation with two oak leaf clusters and the Bronze Star. Photo is Weldon Hamilton 1957      Links:   More photos   Back to Hamilton Page    Weldon's Obituary     Obituary #2 Biographies Page     Main Page