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<em>Thomas Walker Davis III</em> was born in 1913 to Thomas Walker Davis, Jr., and Margaret Brown Carpenter. A native of Brentwood, TN, he attended Robertson Academy in Nashville for a year before transferring to Duncan College Preparatory School in Nashville. He graduated from Duncan in 1931 and then went on to graduate from Vanderbilt University magna cum laude in 1935. At Vanderbilt, he was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa scholarship fraternity. He then received his appointment to USMA.</p>
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While a cadet, he played varsity football and baseball and graduated on the very eve of war in Europe. At his graduation, Franklin Delano Roosevelt spoke, inadvertently foreshadowing the events to come.</p>
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Thomas Davis’ first choice of service was that of many—air service in the fighter corps. But this was not to be. Instead, he was assigned to the 59th Coastal Artillery in the Philippines. He and his new wife, Elizabeth McDonnell Davis, honeymooned on the troopships USS Republic and USS Grant on their way to what was then referred to as the “idyllic” Philippine Islands. Their daughter, Kathleen Chilton Davis, was born in the Philippines.</p>
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Shordy thereafter, increasing military tensions with the Japanese forced the evacuation of all military dependents. Elizabeth and nine-month-old Kathleen left the islands on the troopship USS Washington in November 1941.</p>
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The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor one month later, and, with it, the Philippine Islands. COL Davis could recall with exacting detail the daily routine, if it can be called that, of the Japanese bombing and strafing—preparing them for the coming invasion. When one of the gun batteries (Battery H, 59th CA) under 2LT Davis’ command suffered a direct hit, he did not hesitate to put his own life in danger to help those who were trapped in the damaged battery. His actions earned him a Silver Star. To Davis, he was not a hero—he merely was helping his fellow soldiers. The depth of his courage was borne out in his ability to handle his capture when Corregidor surrendered on 6 May 1942 and to endure the trials of being a prisoner of war for 28 months.</p>
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I first met Tom in the summer of 1991. He and his brother, COL William A. “Bill” Davis, were the second and third veterans of WWII that I had the chance to actually meet and talk with. Bill invited me down to his place in San Antonio to visit.</p>
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Bill found a willing audience in me for his recollections because I always wanted to know more about my family’s past. He knew that I was interested in military history and asked me if I had ever heard about his brother being captured by the Japanese at Corregidor? I told him no, I had not, but that I was eager to learn more about this. Bill pulled out a yellowed manuscript that included some incredible photographs. The manuscript told the story of how my cousin’s brother, then a second lieutenant in the Coastal Artillery, had been caught up in the events that occurred when the Japanese overran the American forces in the Philippines during the early part of WWII.</p>
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I read the story carefully, understanding that what I was reading was a piece of important history—An incredible story of courage, perseverance, and, in some cases, just plain luck. The manuscript was richly detailed with interesting maps; first-hand photographs, and personal glimpses into what must have been a private hell.</p>
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Yet, despite all that happened—being shot at; taken prisoner by the Japanese; enduring the horrors of the Japanese makeshift POW camps in the Philippines, Taiwan, and Japan; and the nightmarish voyages on what historians have called the ‘hell ships,’ COL Davis, despite suffering from starvation and contracting beriberi, survived to come home.</p>
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Tom, as I knew him, was modest in nature. He never boasted about his exploits; in fact, he never liked to talk about his experiences. For a man who had suffered so much while imprisoned, Tom never spoke about revenge. He just wanted to get on with his life.</p>
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Through his own ingenuity and cunning, Tom was able to survive the horrors of his ordeal that eventually led to him being taken to the Japanese mainland. Unlike some, when the war ended, Tom did not seek revenge upon the surrendered Japanese nor did he let those under him. In true professional fashion, Tom kept his troops in line and got them safely back to the Japanese coast for their voyage home.</p>
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Tom’s book ends with his coming home, but the story does not end there. After the war, he married Virginia Tracy and had a daughter, Tracey Lee, in 1950. Thomas W. Davis went on to serve for 22 more years in the Ordnance Corps with the War Department General Staff, the Office Chief of Ordnance, the USMA Staff and Faculty, the U.S. Mission to NATO Headquarters in Paris, as Commanding Officer for U.S. Army Chicago Procurement District, and as the Army Material Command Project Manager for Combat Vehicles stationed at Rock Island, IL. For his postwar service, he was awarded the Legion of Merit with one oak leaf cluster. He also found time during these assignments to attend CGSC and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in Washington, DC. He retired from the service, in 1967, to spend more time with his wife and family. Virginia Tracy Davis died in 1971. After her death, he moved to San Antonio, TX, where he met his third wife Eleanor. He lived there for several years until his death in 1998.</p>
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My one regret about my relationship with COL Davis is that I was not able to meet him sooner. It took me a long time to put these words to paper because it seemed anything I wrote did not do justice to the man I had the privilege to briefly know. But I knew if I did not, then I would be dishonoring a man and a soldier who never asked for anything and suffered so much. His story points to a courage, honor, and strength that is rarely seen in today’s society. I am sorry that he is gone, but at least we have our memories to remind us of him.<br />
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