Name: Joseph Clarence E. Doucette Rank: Private Service Number: 11020622 Service: 28th Materiel Squadron, 20th Air Base Group, Far East Air Force, United States Army Air Force Date of Birth: February 15, 1919 Place of Birth: Waltham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts Date of Enlistment: October 8, 1940 Place of Enlistment: Boston, Massachusetts Address at Enlistment: Waltham, Middlesex County, Massachusetts Age at Enlistment: 21 Marital Status: Single Next of Kin: Cecelia Ann Doucette (Mother) 14 Lowell St, Waltham, Mass. Date of Death: July 15, 1942 Age: 23 Memorial: Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Manila, Philippines Reference: Section L, Row 7, Grave 42 Joseph Clarence E Doucette was the son of Leo Doucette (1892-1981) and Cecilia Ann (Chiasson) Doucette (1897-1982). Joseph’s father was born in Grand Étang, Inverness County, Nova Scotia and his mother was born in Margaree, Inverness County, NS. He was the brother of Charles Robert Doucette (1920-1998) and Mary Eileen Doucette (1925-1997). His mother was last living in Margaree, NS when she immigrated to the United States by train from Montreal, Quebec, to Vermont in 1916, and then on to Waltham in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. Joseph’s father had already immigrated to Waltham in 1913, and the two were married in Waltham in 1917. Joseph enlisted in October of 1940, and was later assigned to the 28th Materiel Squadron of the 20th Air Base Group, United States Army Air Force. The Squadron was assigned to the Far East Air Force during WWII. The group was based at Nichols Field, in the Philippines. On May 6, 1942, Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright IV surrendered the last American forces in the Philippines to the Imperial Japanese Army. With the capitulation, more than 23,000 American servicemen and women, along with 12,000 Filipino Scouts, and 21,000 soldiers of the Philippine Commonwealth Army became prisoners of war (POWs). Joseph became a prisoner of war and was held at Cabanatuan Prison Camp in Nueva Ecija Province, Central Luzon, Philippines. The brutal conditions of the Bataan Death March, including extreme exhaustion, starvation, dehydration, and disease, continued to plague prisoners in captivity. The lack of food, medical care, supplies, and sanitation, combined with mistreatment by the Japanese, made disease and death widespread among the POWs at Cabanatuan. From the arrival of the first prisoners until the camp’s closure, men continued to die in large numbers. The first official burials took place at the Cabanatuan cemetery on June 3, 1942, and the death toll remained high throughout the year. July 1942 saw the highest number of casualties, with 799 U.S. prisoners perishing that month alone. Private Joseph Doucette died at Cabanatuan on July 15, 1942, after just over 2 months in captivity. Approximately 2,763 Americans died as POWs at Cabanatuan during its operation. Immediately following the end of WWII, efforts to identify the individuals from Cabanatuan began by disinterring the remains from the Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery, and compiling a burial roster based on records kept by the American POWs of deaths and burial locations at the camp. Nearly two thirds, or approximately 1500 individuals, were identified from 1946-1950. The remaining approximately 1000 individuals were eventually buried as unknowns in the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Manila, Republic of the Philippines. The Cabanatuan Project’s scope of work is the disinterment and identification of these approximately 1000 Americans who died at the Cabanatuan during WWII and are currently unresolved and buried as unknowns. Joseph’s remains were identified, and he is interred at the Manila American Cemetery. With a total of 17,206 graves, Manila Cemetery has the largest number of graves of any cemetery for US personnel killed during WWII. Joseph is also remembered on the Cabanatuan American Memorial. The Cabanatuan American Memorial was erected by the survivors of the Bataan Death March and the prisoner of war camp at Cabanatuan. It is located at the site of the camp and honors those Americans and Filipinos who died during their internment. A second WWII casualty with ties to Nova Scotia, Private Grahame Bruce Cameron born in Canning, Kings County, Nova Scotia, also served with the 28th Materiel Squadron, 20th Air Base Group, and died 41 days later at Cabanatuan on August 25, 1942.