Walter W. Taipale
Era: World War II
Military Branch: Army
Walter W. Taipale served in World War II in the Pacific Theater. He served in the U.S. Army. He was inducted on January 24, 1941, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
At the time, he had been living with his sister in Madison, Wisconsin. He was trained in Fort Knox, Kentucky, and Camp Polk, Louisiana, and took part in the 192nd Tank Battalion Louisiana maneuvers of 1941. He was a member of A Company, 192nd Tank Battalion.
Mr. Taipale participated in the Battle of Luzon and the Battle of Bataan. He was captured by the Japanese on April 9, 1942, and became a prisoner of war (POW). He survived the Bataan Death March.
He was a prisoner at Camp O’Donnell, an unfinished Filipino training base, which had only one spigot for the entire camp. He was transferred to Cabanatuan, where be died of dysentery and beriberi on November 10, 1942. His parents learned of his death nine months later, in August 1943.
Mr. Taipale’s body was originally buried at Cabanatuan Camp Cemetery. His body was disinterred and reburied in Toivola Cemetery in St. Louis County, Minnesota.
Source: www.proviso.k12.il.us/bataan web/Taipale.htm; information provided by Jim Opolony
