Posted by HRP on July 23, 2009:

Maj Harry Brown Packard was born August 28, 1906, in Massachusetts and graduated as valedictorian from Woodstock High School. He won a competitive examination for an appointment to the Military Academy, entering in 1926. Upon graduation he was commissioned in the Field Artillery. He and his wife, Ila Gray Packard, had two children, Janet and Harry, Jr. Following service at Fort Lewis, Washington, Fort Sill, and West Point, he was assigned to the 24th Field Artillery at 'Fort Stotsenburn, Philippine Islands in 1939 and progressed through the ranks to Major. As a result of his outstanding service in the Philippines, he was awarded the Silver Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, and the 'Purple Heart. MAJ Packard was on the Death March of Bataan and subsequently died of starvation January 27, 1945, on a Prisoner of War ship en route from the Philippine Islands to Japan at the age of thirty-eight. Other accounts indicate he was on board an un-marked Japanese prisoner of war ship which was transporting prisoners of war, when the ship was attacked by American forces and sunk. Witnesses reported Harry was helping other victims off the vessel after it was struck. Harry lost his own life shortly thereafter. Survivors of the 'imprisonment described him as a "camp morale factor" and as one whose "espirit, integrity and solid character bolstered and strengthened the less hopeful."

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