CAPTAIN CARY Mcclure ABNEY, JR
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CAPTAIN CARY McCLURE ABNEY, JR. Class of 1934 The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas BASED ON CAPTAIN ABNEY’S NOTES AT CLARK FIELD, BATAAN, ON THE BATAAN DEATH MARCH AND AT PRISONER OF WAR CAMPS REGARDING Captain Abney and 220 other officers and men, including twenty Texas Aggies, killed or captured by the Japanese and their dates and places of death, escape, rescue or liberation Second Edition William M. Huffman Texas A&M, Class of 1953 CAPTAIN CARY McCLURE ABNEY, JR. Class of 1934 The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas Taken prisoner at Bataan April 9, 1942 Survived the Bataan Death March and Japanese Prisoner of War Camps O’Donnell, Cabanatuan, Davao, and Bilibid Survived the sinking of the Japanese Hell Ships Oryoku Maru December 15, 1944, and Enoura Maru January 9, 1945, by planes from the USS Hornet Died on the Brazil Maru January 28, 1945, from injuries sustained on the Enoura Maru BASED ON CAPTAIN ABNEY’S NOTES AT CLARK FIELD, BATAAN, ON THE BATAAN DEATH MARCH AND AT PRISONER OF WAR CAMPS REGARDING Captain Abney and 220 other officers and men, including twenty Texas Aggies, killed or captured by the Japanese and their dates and places of death, escape, rescue or liberation Second Edition William M. Huffman Texas A&M, Class of 1953 Copyright 2010-2011 Foreword My initial interest in Cary M. Abney, Jr. stemmed from several facts. As a thirteen-year old boy, I read a newspaper report he was killed aboard a Japanese ship sunk by the U. S. Navy. His father and my father were friends. Years later, as a young lawyer, I met his father, the oldest lawyer then practicing in Marshall, and at our first meeting saw his Aggie ring. About the same time I met Ruben Abney, also an attorney, a brother of Cary, Jr. Over time I learned that he had been in the Army throughout World War II and served in General George S. Patton’s Third Army. Early in my career I met Thomas Y. (Tom) Abney, also a lawyer, another brother of Cary, Jr., and Hendricks Hightower, who was married to a sister of Cary, Jr. While serving on the board of a local financial institution of which Tom Abney was president, I learned he had been in the Army Air Corps and spent much of his time ferrying bombers from the east coast to England. We became good friends and hunted together. Years ago, I read or heard Hendricks Hightower had served in World War II and Korea. Before publication of Texas Aggies Go to Wa r, I began a search for the names of the twenty-five Aggies on Corregidor April 21, 1942. I had met one, Lieutenant Colonel Lewis B. Chavaillier, about the time I graduated from high school. After graduating from A&M and before going on active duty in the Army I had a number of visits with him when he stopped by the place I worked. I knew he had been a prisoner of the Japanese and can still see his hair as white as snow and was told it was black when he left Marshall for active duty. Over the years, I heard or read of the deaths of several men from Marshall who had been taken prisoner at Bataan or Corregidor and about three years ago read a story in a newspaper which reported Captain Abney had been taken prisoner at Corregidor. I could add one more name to my list of names called at the muster on Corregidor. In 2008, while working on a project with one of Ruben’s sons, William A. (Bill) Abney, an attorney, I had the pleasure of visiting and talking with Ruben a lot but we never directly mentioned Cary, Jr. After mentioning to Bill my interest in information about Cary M. Abney, Jr. and other Aggies captured at Corregidor, Bill told me he had always been told Cary, Jr. was on the Bataan Death March. He then located and allowed me to examine two of his grandfather‘s files which contained a letter notifying Cary M. Abney (Sr.) his son was a prisoner of the Japanese and a later telegram and letters notifying him of his son’s death. The files also contained a letter from The Adjutant General’s office to Winston Taylor, which said a notebook belonging to Captain Cary M. Abney, Jr. was enclosed. Although the notebook was also referred to in other correspondence, it was not in the file. After reviewing those files, I continued my research, still believing Cary, Jr. had been on Corregidor when taken prisoner. After Ruben died in September 2009, Bill and Ruben’s other son, Cary M. (Mac) Abney, a CPA, located Cary Junior’s A&M ring, Artillery brass and the notebook he began keeping before the start of World War II. Foreword In early December 2010, Mac called me to tell me he had something I might like to see. I rushed to his office and in a box were an Aggie ring, Army photo ID card, Artillery Brass, a photograph of Cary M. Abney, Jr. his senior year at A&M, a photograph which was taken shortly after he was promoted to Captain, a Purple Heart, a number of childhood photographs and early school records of Cary M. Abney, Jr. Knowing his ring would have been taken by the Japanese after he was taken prisoner and that he had died at sea, my first thought was, “How could these items have been returned to his family?” Within a few days, Bill Abney told me he had another box of items of interest. In that box were the two files of his grandfather, Cary M. Abney Junior’s diploma from A&M and several other items, including, much to my surprise, his notebook that had been mailed to Winston Taylor and a hand-sewn canvas cover in which it had been kept. Fearful the paper was in such condition it would be damaged or destroyed by opening it and turning the pages, I was tempted to leave it as I found it but upon carefully opening the front cover discovered the paper was in remarkably good condition. The notebook had been water-soaked and some entries were not legible, however. Instead of risking damage by extensive and repeated handling of each page to determine its contents, I photographed the notebook and case, scanned each page, carefully returned the notebook to its case, and then transcribed the readable handwritten entries in the notebook. Through that process I found the names of 220 other officers and men, including twenty Texas Aggies, killed or captured in the Philippines. I also learned Cary M. Abney, Jr. was taken prisoner on Bataan – not Corregidor – was on the Bataan Death March to Camp O’Donnell, then taken to Camp Cabanatuan, then to the Davao Penal Colony, and then to an old prison at Bilibid. Based on the information found in my research, two of the twenty Texas Aggies whose names were found in Captain Abney’s notebook were taken prisoner at Corregidor. The others were killed or taken prisoner on Bataan. Included, beginning on page 23, are the entries, other than names and addresses, in Captain Abney’s notebook. The twenty Texas Aggies, with information as to their death or survival, are listed beginning at page 33. An alphabetical list of the 221 names in Captain Abney’s notebook, with the notes he made regarding them, begins at page 37. The names of those who died or were killed, with the location and date of their deaths, will be found at page 59 and a list of those who escaped, were rescued or liberated begins at page 73. One entry in the notebook answered my question “How did his Aggie ring and Artillery brass survive?” He sent them, his wedding ring, and his money home before Bataan fell. Some of the things I learned about Captain Cary M. Abney, Jr. and his friends during the 33 months he was a prisoner were, to say the least, mind-boggling, especially ii Foreword the numbers and percentages who survived combat, the Bataan Death March and the horrible conditions in prison camps only to die on ships taking them to Japan. Captain Abney’s experiences and later death were probably typical, except for the fact many died sooner. Before dying on the fifth Japanese Hell Ship on which he was placed (one that took him from the prison camp at Cabanatuan to Davao City, one that took him from Davao to Bilibid in Manila Bay and two sunk by planes from the USS Hornet while enroute to Japan) Captain Abney survived the bombing of his quarters that killed six of the nine occupants the first day of the war, injuries from another bomb on the Alongo River Front shortly before Bataan fell, the Bataan Death March, four Japanese prisoner of war camps, malaria, malnutrition, near starvation and the attacks on and sinking of two ships. Not one entry in his notebook expressed anger, bitterness, despair or self pity. Little mention is made of his own situation, injuries or physical condition and the few that were made show he was thinking of others or what they had done for him, as illustrated by the following: “The following are addresses of men and officers I have known and wish to remember if and when I ever get out of this mess. Right now I think my chances are nil!” “Murray Max L. Day - - - Slept next to me when I was confined in #B with Malaria.