#25 Unexpected. A newsreel gave the information.

The story of events was told to us by my mother, Helen Lloyd many times.  The story always had a sadness of the way the family learned that Tony was a POW. Unexpected

Tony and my mother were cousins. (1st cousins 1x removed).  Although Tony was about 10 years older than my mother, the Lloyd family lived in the same community.  Family was important and suddenly one of their's was in WWII.  

Tony Boynton Lloyd was born 12 March 1915 at Waitsburg, Washington.   His parents were Wesley and Ina Lloyd.  

He joined the military after completing four years at the University of Washington in chemical engineering.  Tony was called up with other reserve officers in August of 1940 and was transferred to Fort Mills, Corregidor in the Philippines in September of 1941.   

In Tony's file, created by my mother, was a picture of Tony in the Philippines in April of 1942.  My mother marked the picture that it was in Life magazine.

 It was there at Corregidor  that he was taken prisoner by the Japanese in 28 April 1942.  

With limited information to the public, the family was never certain if Tony was a POW or had died.

Wes & Ina were at a movie and a newsreel was shown as was the custom in those days.  The newsreel  was showing a Japanese film of the surrender of American troops at Corregidor.   They recognized their son as POW.  The theatre reprinted a picture from the newsreel for the family.  That was the first time that they knew their son was a POW.    Can you imagine receiving news like that?

Unexpected.

It was at Christmas time in 1945 when the family received a telegram from the War Department that  their son had died in a prison camp in Japan on 7 January 1943.

Telegram Following is the text of the message received:  "The Secretary of war has asked me to express his deep regret that your son, First Lieutenant Tony B. Lloyd, died in Japan, January 7, 1943, as a result of malnutrition while a prisoner of war of the Japanese government.  I regret that unavoidable circumstances made necessary the unusual lapse of time in reporting your son's death to you.  Confirming letter follows.

For 2 years, the family after his capture by the Japanese, his family would hear rumors, giving them hope.  

It was thought he later escaped.  Consistent rumors had him serving with Filipino, and later, Chinese guerrillas, where his resourcefulness and skill with weapons were being utilized against the common enemy.  Now it is known that following the surrender he was variously at Billbid prison, Cabanatuan and finally Kokura, Japan on Shokuku island.