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John Henry Davis, Jr. was bom 13 February 1916 in Lynchburg, Virginia, the son of Hilda Forsberg and John Henry Davis. He graduated from E.C. Glass High School in that city and attended Lynchburg College for two years while striving for admission to West Point. In 1935 his lifelong ambition was realized when he received a Congressional appointment to the Academy through competitive examination.</div>
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At West Point Jack was a serious and dedicated cadet, preparing for his life's work as an officer in the Coast Artillery Corps. From the 1939 Howitzer: “Posessed of an unsuspected lighter side that arose with a bang with the proper kind of encouragment, Jack was a central figure in any gathering." As a member of the Honor Committee and a cadet lieutenant and 3rd Battalion adjutant his first class year, he enjoyed the respect and high esteem of classmates and superiors alike.</div>
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Jack graduated 12 June 1939, ranking in the upper ten percent of his class, which was West Point's largest up to that time. On 13 June 1939 he was married to Mary Louise Plummer of Asheville, North Carolina in a traditional military ceremony in the Cadet Chapel.</div>
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The new second lieutenant was assigned to the branch of his choice, the Coast Artillery, and Jack and Mary sailed from New York in September 1939 aboard the US AT U.S. Grant. They reached the Philippine Islands in late October, and Jack began his service with the 91st Coast Artillery Regiment, Fort Mills, Corregidor. For the first six</div>
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months he was posted to Battery F on Fort Frank, a small island outpost in Manila Bay, but he returned to Corregidor in the spring of 1940. In May of 1941, Mary, along with all dependents of U.S. Army personnel in the Philippines, was evacuated to the United States.</div>
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There are few details available of the ensuing months immediately before and after Pearl Harbor. Jack was promoted to captain on 1 February 1942, at which time he was in command of a battery on Corregidor. From the citation accompanying his Bronze Star Medal (posthumous), it appears that he returned to Fort Frank to serve as battery commander. He was there until taken prisoner at the fall of Corregidor on 5 May 1942. He was sent to Cabanatuan prison camp near Manila.</div>
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Two and a half years later, in the fall of 1944, as American forces came closer to Manila, the Japanese began evacuating American officer POW's to avoid their release by advancing American troops. On 13 December 1944, Jack was shipped out bn an unmarked prison ship for transfer to Japan. This vessel, the Oryo-ku Maru, was bombed and sunk in Subic Bay two days later.</div>
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Jack survived this sinking and was transferred to a second Japan-bound ship, the Enoura Maru. According to information received by the War Department, it was on board this ship that he died on 1 January 1945 from “exposure and starvation." He was apparently buried at sea.</div>
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Jack is survived by his widow and by his only brother, August, of Richmond, Virginia. Mary was married to Ridgeway T. Lynch in 1947 and now lives in Fair-view, North Carolina.</div>
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