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When he was a boy in Como, Mississippi, his parents called him Taylor, but somewhere he acquired the nickname of Tubby; and although it was highly inaccurate, it stuck. <em>John Taylor Ward</em>, son of Dr. Benjamin Needham Ward and Grace Taylor Ward, was born 8 January 1900 in Robilene, Louisiana. His wonderful disposition, keen sense of humor, and ready dry wit made him a general favorite. One day his father told him the best career he knew of was the Cavalry and that it had always been his ideal. To be a Captain of Cavalry was the ultimate in a young man's experience in the Army.</p>
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The quiet, unassuming boy must have turned that thought over in his mind during his years in Como High School. One day when Dr. Ward told his three sons to clean up the yard, he found Taylor sitting on the fence telling the others what to do.</p>
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"He would make a good Captain of Cavalry," Dr. Ward said.</p>
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His ideal came to pass when Taylor finished a year at Bradens and entered West Point in 1918. As soon as the proud father could get away to visit him, he found Tubby walking the area for some minor infraction. The order was by command of Brigadier General MacArthur, Superintendent.</p>
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In the 1920 <em>Howitzer</em> it was written: "If after leaving a dance at Cullum Hall, your femme should ask you, 'Who was that blond pink-cheeked fellow with the dancing eyes and that languid Southern drawl?' you would without a moment’s hesitation reply, Oh, that was Tubby Ward."</p>
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His first assignment after graduation leave was the Cavalry Student Officers’ Basic Course at Fort Riley, which he completed in 1921. After graduation be married Betty King of Junction City, Kansas. Their first station was the 16th Cavalry at Fort Sam Houston. It was there 29 March 1924 John Taylor Jr. was born.</p>
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Service with the 4th Cavalry at Fort McIntosh followed; then he served at Fort Meade, South Dakota, where he was promoted to First Lieutenant. In January 1928 he joined the 26th Cavalry at Fort Stotsenbcrg, Philippine Islands, where he planned and built a model barrio (town) for Filipino soldiers' families. This town turned out so well that the General named it Wardville.</p>
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From the Philippines he went to the 5th Cavalry at Fort Clark, Texas. In 1932 after attending the Signal School, he commanded Headquarters Troop at Fort Oglethorpe and was also Post Signal Officer and Signal Officer for all Civilian Conservation Corps camps in the district.</p>
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He was an expert horseman, and polo was his favorite sport. He carried a national goal handicap of 3 and won many cups in polo and jumping. In 1935 he was promoted to Captain, and in 1936 he left for the Troop Officers’ Course at Fort Riley. He made history there by winning the Point-to-Point on a horse that was known to be the worst one in the stables. He said he knew the horse was crazy, but he chose it because it was so fast that he knew he would win if he could keep it on the course. So Betty and Johnny bet on that crazy horse. When they looked for the first rider coming into view, there was Tubby on the crazy horse, so far ahead he nonchalantly slowed it down coming in. No one but Betty and Johnny bet on it, so they won all the bets.</p>
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Those were great days of Army polo. The papers ran many stories about the Oglethorpe team, and there were headlines on the exploits of the modest young star on the white horse. WARD BRILLIANT AS DRAGOONS WIN. TUBBY SCORES FIVE GOALS. “Come on, Tubby!” his men would cry. They had great respect for him as an officer, for along with his professional ability, he had understanding and sympathy and was always loyal to his men. The efficiency of his troop or organization was paramount, always; so they surpassed themselves for him.</p>
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In June 1937 he was ordered to the 2d Cavalry at Fort Riley, and the efficiency and superlative performance of his troop was a matter of pride to officers and men.</p>
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Meanwhile, in September 1940 his son John entered New Mexico Military Institute, whose famous motto was "Every Boy Rides." John wanted a rugged school, and it was one. He played football, polo, piano, and drums; and his music, for which he had a natural genius, made him welcome everywhere. He composed many songs and was a general favorite among young and old.</p>
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Tubby was asked several times by the Quartermaster General (perhaps because of Wardville?) if he would accept a detail with the Quartermaster Corps. In June 1939 he became Post Quartermaster at Forts Baker, Cronkite, and Barrie in California. Knowing that war was coming, he felt that he must know supply; so he went on to serve as Post Quartermaster at Camp Callan. In 1941 a call came from General MacArthur for five officers of superior rating and outstanding ability who were young enough for field duty. Major Ward was picked by the Quartermaster General to be one of the five.</p>
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He sailed 1 November 1941 and arrived in Manila sixteen days before Pearl Harbor. His assignment was to organize and command an advance Quartermaster Depot for Fort Stotsenberg and all other camps in that area, about sixty miles north of Manila.</p>
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Thinking always of Betty and Johnny and of their happiness and safety, he wired several times that he was all right. Then on 12 February Betty received a wire from the Adjutant General saying Lieutenant Colonel John T. Ward had been seriously wounded in action on 7 February.</p>
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Nothing more was heard until 20 March, when a friend in Washington told Betty that Tubby had returned to duty 14 March. She had been writing every day, but all her letters were returned to her later. During the terrible drama of Bataan there were three RCA messages from Tubby, saying that he was all right. The last was in March. On 9 April 1942, Bataan fell, and all our men there who survived were captured and were sent on the infamous Death March to the prison camp at Cabanatuan.</p>
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Four months after the fall of Bataan Betty received three letters written on Bataan and found floating on the ocean by one of our submarines. Later she learned how they were gotten out. Some of the men had put their letters in a mail bag and put the bag on a freighter. The freighter shifted it to a submarine. The Japanese sank the submarine, and months later the bag was found on the ocean. The letters were cheerful, with no hint of the conditions on Bataan or the seriousness of his condition, only love and messages to John with the hope that he would stay at New Mexico Military Institute and graduate with a commission in 1944.</p>
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As the Japanese never listed Colonel Ward as a prisoner, he was carried as missing in action until MacArthur returned to the Philippines and rescued our prisoners in July 1945. Most of the reports on how he died were second or third-hand and differed somewhat. Most of those who actually saw what happened did not survive. One man who was just behind him on the Death March was able to give an eye-witness account. He said that on 11 April 1942 Colonel Ward was having trouble trying to keep up, owing to pain and exhaustion from his weakened condition. A Japanese guard kept prodding him with his bayonet and saying “Cuda" (hurry). They were on a narrow bridge; and as a truck was coming, they were told to move to the side. Colonel Ward staggered against the railing. It gave way, and he fell in the shallow creek below. The Japanese guard shot once, but missed. He then went down, picked him up, and bayonetted him.</p>
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Colonel Ward was buried with six others near Orion, and later they were buried in the new Memorial Cemetery in Manila.</p>
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Jean Mac Arthur, as a loyal friend of Betty, did her very best to find out the facts of the tragedy, and wrote many times from the Philippines and Australia. Major General Clovis E. Byers, a classmate, spoke to the nurses from Bataan who had just been released from Santa Tomas prison camp. He found one who had taken care of Tubby in the hospital on Bataan. He asked her to get in touch with Betty, which she did. The nurse told her that Tubby left the hospital in fine spirits, but that be had worn a plaster body cast, and that he was appreciative of any care. She said General MacArthur had offered him his choice, when he was able to leave the hospital, of coming over to Headquarters in the tunnel on Corregidor or remaining on Bataan. He chose to remain on Bataan, as he felt responsible for the men under him and thought he might be able to help if they were captured. Others who returned said he went on the March for the same reason, although he was not physically able. Some who were wounded and unable to start on the March were left in the hospital on Bataan and moved by truck later.</p>
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As Ceneral Byers wrote, “The knowledge that Tubby was held so high in the affection of all who knew him and that his name will forever be associated with that group of proven heroes should help you and John face now what must be a certainty.”</p>
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General MacArthur wrote her that Colonel Ward died in action against the enemy and that it was largely the courage and sacrifice of Colonel Ward and his comrades-in-arms “which stopped the enemy in the Philippines and gave us the time to arm ourselves for our return to the Philippines and the final defeat of Japan. Their names will be enshrined in our country’s glory forever. In your husbands death I have lost a gallant comrade and mourn with you.”</p>
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He was awarded the Purple Heart posthumously as well as two other decorations for gallantry, and a plaque was dedicated to him in Cullum Hall in 1949.</p>
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After Bataan fell and months passed with no word of his father, John found it impossible to remain in school. He said if anyone should be fighting, he should. He enlisted, and when General Patton needed replacements for his 90th Division, John volunteered. He qualified in all firearms, and he went in with the invasion.</p>
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John is now a successful territory manager for Wyeth, and with his lovely wife, who was Jane Wendover of North Adams, Massachusetts, is active in many church, school, and civic affairs in the Lake Chautauqua community, where they have a house on Cheney Point. There are three Ward boys living with them there, Edward Fisher, William James, and Peter King, and one daughter Betty Jane. The eldest son John Taylor is in his senior year at the University of Rochester; and the second son Robert Wendover enlisted in the Navy, and in 1909 was serving on the Destroyer Blue in the Parific.</p>
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Betty sees them every year and usually brings back another bright eyed young tourist to see the sights of Washington, where she lives at the Kennedy-Warren with her husband Edward Fisher, a novelist whom die married in 1950. He was a major in Military Intelligence during World War II and has been a devoted, understanding father to John and a loving grandfather to his children.</p>
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<em>—Betty King Ward Fisher</em></p>