Obit: Schade, Lester A. (1917 - 1944)
Contact: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Schade

----Source: Abbotsford Tribune (Abbotsford, Clark County, Wis.) Thursday, 2 Aug. 1945

Schade, Lester A. (1917 - 31 Dec. 1944)

Capt. Lester A. Schade, 26, of the United States marines, who has been a Japanese prisoner of war since the Jap invasion of Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines, was lost at sea on a Japanese boat that was sunk last Dec. 31 while he was being removed from the Philippines to Japan, according to a telegram received from the Marine Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C., by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Richard A. Schade, town of Holton.

The Schades had previously learned from the mother of one of their son’s buddies that the latter had left Cabanatuan Jap prison camp No. 1 in the Philippines with Capt. Schade last October, when they were moved to Billibid prison camp, also in the Philippines.

He also said that late in December when the Japs were removing the prisoners from the Philippines to Japan, Capt. Schade was lost at sea in the journey. His buddy arrived in Japan and had managed to send a letter to his parents through an “underground” route, it was said.

Capt. Schade had kept his parents informed of his health by postcard about every six months, they said. The last of these form postcards, furnished by the Japanese, was received by the parents last Christmas and was dated in July, 1944. It stated that he was in excellent health and sent his regards.

Word of Schade’s promotion to captain was received by the parents after he was reported missing in action on April 24, 1942. He was a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and attended an officer candidate school one year in Philadelphia, Pa.

He left the United States for the Philippines in June, 1940, and had fought on Bataan before its capture by the Japanese.

Surviving are the parents and two brothers, Clarence Schade, at home; and Ernest Schade, town of Holton. He was one of nine service men from Marathon county taken captive by the Japanese, and is one of six who died during imprisonment by the Japs. One has been liberated.