Abbotsford Wisconsin

Lester Albert Schade, age 27, from Clark County Abbotsford, Wisconsin .

Parents: Richard A. Schade

Service era: World War II

Date of death: Tuesday, January 9, 1945
Death details: On July 26, 2018, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Captain Lester Albert Schade, missing from World War II. Captain Schade, who entered the U.S. Marine Corps from Wisconsin, served in Company I, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment. On April 8, 1942, Capt Schade was stationed on the east side of the Bataan Peninsula when he received orders to withdraw his men to the island of Corregidor, as the Japanese were sweeping across Bataan. On April 9, before they were able to withdraw, Capt Schade was captured by enemy forces. The Japanese did not start keeping records of their prisoners until after they reached the Prisoner of War (POW) camps; however, it is highly probable Capt Schade was subjected to the 65 mile-long “Bataan Death March.” He was imprisoned in Cabanatuan Prison Camp No. 1 and was later moved to Bilibid Prison. On December 13, 1944, he was loaded into the Oryoku Maru, a POW transport ship, which was used to take Allied POWs back to Japan to be used as laborers. On December 14, 1944, Allied aircraft attacked the Oryoku Maru in Subic Bay in the Philippines, crippling it and forcing prisoners aboard to be transferred to another ship, the Enoura Maru. On January 9, the Enoura Maru was again attacked by Allied aircraft while in Takao Harbor, Taiwan. Capt Schade was killed in this attack. In 1946, American Graves Registration Service personnel excavated a mass grave site near Takao Harbor and recovered the remains of many Allied service members from the Enoura Maru. In 2018, using modern forensic techniques, analysts identified Capt Schade from among these remains.
Cemetery: Remains buried as unknown in Hawaii and in 2017 identified.

Source: National Archives, Wisconsin Public Radio, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, Marshfield News Herald (1945)