Captain Charles Russell Sparks
Charles Russell Sparks was born in Chillicothe TX to Lee and Leora Sparks on April 12, 1916. The family moved to El Paso where Charles graduated from El Paso HS in 1934. He entered NMAMC the next fall and in 1938 graduated with his degree in Chemical Engineering. He decided to remain in Las Cruces where he was employed by the Post Office.
He was called to active duty in 1941 and sent to the Philippines to serve as an officer in the 41st Infantry Division (Philippine). The division was stationed in the Cavite District south of Manila eventually pulling back to the Bataan Peninsula where Captain Sparks led his Pilipino troops in constant contact and fight against the superior Japanese forces including attacks to regain ground taken up to the point of surrender.
On April 9, 1942, the weakened survivors from the combined American and Filipino forces were unconditionally surrendered to the Japanese.
Most POWs were assembled in Mariveles at the southern tip of the Bataan peninsula and forced to march to San Fernando, Pampanga. Wounded men were assisted by able-bodied prisoners or carried on crude stretchers. Stragglers were beaten or killed. Civilians who showed mercy to the prisoners endured a similar fate. The incident covered a distance of 104 kilometers (65 miles) and became known as the Bataan Death March.
The final leg of the northward journey was completed inside stifling railway boxcars that took them to the prison set up at Camp O’Donnell. Most of the American POWs were eventually transferred to Cabanatuan. The captured soldiers were subjected to inhumane conditions. Death from malnutrition, disease and abuse was a common occurrence. More than 4,000 American POWs and 25,000 Filipino POWs died in these two camps alone.
Captain Charles Russell Sparks died at Camp O’Donnell, from dysentery and malnourishment, on June 21, 1942 at the age of 25. His parents would not learn of his fate until 1945 after the camp was freed by American forces. In 1948 he body was reinterred at the Las Cruces Masonic cemetery. Present at the graveside was Major RG Davey who, with Captain Sparks while in Camp O’Donnell, had made a pledge to attend their friend’s funeral should either die.
Historical Source: Bataan Memorial Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jack W. Bradley, 515th Coast Artillery, who, despite a debilitating illness, wrote the history — engraved on three of the columns