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According to information received from the War Department, a Japanese vessel left the Philippine Islands on October 11, 1944 carrying 1775 Americans who had been interned for almost three years as prisoners of war. On October 24 the ship was torpedoed by submarine action in the South China Sea. All aboard were lost except nine who escaped. No details are known of the fate of any other individual prisoners and the known circumstances of the tragedy lead to a conclusion that all other prisoners listed by the Japanese as aboard the vessel perished. Among those was Lieutenant Colonel <em>Albert Svihra</em>.</p>
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Born in New York City on November 21, 1898, he shortly afterwards moved with his family to Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he graduated from high school. He prepared for Annapolis and passed the examination as alternate, but not receiving an appointment, he entered Lehigh University, where after a few months he received his appointment to West Point.</p>
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Upon graduation from the Academy Al toured Europe with several of his classmates and when he returned was stationed at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey for a year in the Signal Corps. From there he was sent to Dayton, Ohio and then to Fort Sill, Oklahoma and it was while serving there that he transferred to the Field Artillery.</p>
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On August 31, 1928 he married Ila Mary Whiteside of Duluth, Minnesota, in Honolulu, T.H. and for three years thereafter was stationed at Schofield Barracks. In 1929 a daughter, Mary Ellen, was born. From 1931 to 1935 he was on duty at Yale University as Assistant Professor of Military Science and in addition was coach of the Yale Polo Team. Two more daughters, Anne Whiteside and Elizabeth Lani joined the family circle during this period.</p>
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Next came the assignment from the War Department to the University of Virginia, where he took the law course. Those three years were among the happiest of his life as he enjoyed the work and the students who affectionately called him “Cap”. He graduated with high honors and was elected to the Raven Honor Society. This society is more than a society of men with high scholarship; to be invited a man must possess the intangible qualities that make up the finest type of manhood. Dean F. D. G. Ribble of the Law School considered him as the ideal type of officer and gentleman, intelligent, courteous and brave.</p>
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From 1938 to 1940 Al was stationed in Washington, D.C. in the Judge Advocate General’s Department, specializing in contracts. In September, 1940 he sailed, accompanied by his family, to the Philippines where he was stationed at Fort McKinley as Judge Advocate on General Wainwright’s Staff, but his wife and children were ordered home the following May.</p>
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At the outbreak of war he was commissioned a Lieutenant Colonel and served in the field on Bataan and Corregidor. On Bataan he had charge of security and sanitation, and of “trying” to secure food for his men. After the fall ot our forces on Corregidor he was interned at Japanese Prison Camp No. 1 in Cabanatuan, where he kept a day-by-day account of his experiences. Before he left the Philippines he managed to bury this record, which after the liberation of the Islands was found and forwarded to Mrs. Svihra.</p>
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His special interests were football and the Class of ‘22, and his one regret was that he had no son to follow him at West Point and carry on the tradition which he had begun. Wherever he was stationed, listening to all football games was his hobby, as well as immediately looking up any classmates who might be in the vicinity.</p>
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Besides Mrs. Svihra and their three daughters who now reside in Palo Alto, California, Colonel Svihra is survived by his mother, Mrs. Paul Svihra, three brothers, Michael, Peter and Charles, and a sister, Mrs. John Stollman, all of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Another sister, Mrs. Andrew Marshall resides in New York City.</p>
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The Purple Heart was posthumously awarded to Lieutenant Colonel Albert Svihra on July 11, 1945.</p>
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