David A. Farrell
PICAYUNE — Clyde S. Sumrall, Sr., was laid to rest with full military honors beside his wife, Ira Alsobrooks Sumrall on Thursday at New Palestine Cemetery.
Sumrall and his wife were both natives of Picayune.
Sumrall survived the infamous Bataan Death March during the opening days of World War II in the Philippines, and then survived 43 months of cruel imprisonment by the Japanese after the Death March.
He was buried here at noon on Thursday following funeral services at Hulett-Winstead Funeral Home Chapel in Purvis.
Following the services, his body was brought to Picayune’s New Palestine Cemetery for burial beside his wife.
He served with the U.S. Army in World War II.
He was a retired employee of the Hess Oil Refinery in Purvis.
He lived the last five years of his life with his daughter, Louise E. Crowley, in Portland, Tenn. He died on Sunday at Skyline Medical Center in Nashville.
He was 87 years old.
He was a member of First Baptist Church, Purvis.
Sumrall’s experiences in World War II were recorded in a book written by a fellow prisoner of war, Glen Frazier of Mobile, Ala.
The Bataan Death March was one of the most horrific occurrences in U.S. military history. The march began at Mariveles, The Philippines, on April 10, 1942. Historians say any troops who fell behind were immediately executed and any who had on their person Japanese souvenirs also were shot.
The U.S. soldiers were in poor health, having survived on half-rations for months while fighting the Japanese. On the Death March just asking for water resulted in execution, sometimes having your head chopped off, a favorite method of execution by the Japanese.
The march lasted six days and thousands died. They were given no food and just sips of water. Most drank out of mud holes along the dusty road.
U.S. and Filipino prisoners were forced to march 60 miles north to Camp O’Donnell after the Battle of Bataan ended, and the treatment by Japanese captors was so cruel and barbaric that it was declared a war crime by the United States, and those Japanese officers responsible for it were executed.
After the war, Japanese General Homma, who was in overall command, was tried for war crimes and on April 3, 1946, was executed outside of Manila.
Thousands of Filipinos and Americans died during the march, which military historians say exhibited some of the most cruel treatment ever recorded in military history.
At the last convention on May 29 of the Death March survivors, now numbering only about 70, in San Antonio, Texas, Japanese Ambassador to the United States, Ichiro Fujisake, apologized to the soldiers attending for “having caused tremendous damage and suffering to many people, including prisoners of war, those who have undergone tragic experiences.”
Sumrall was born at Logtown and shortly afterward his family moved to Picayune. He enlisted in the U.S. Army at age 17 in Picayune before the war started, and he was so young that his mother, Beulah Crosby Sumrall, had to sign giving permission for him to enlist.
He went to boot camp and then was shipped out to the Philippines where he served right in the middle of the battle by the Japanese to conquer the Philippine Islands.
Starting out on the Death March were 75,000 Americans and Filipinos and after the week-long trek only about 54,000 remained alive, historians say.
Sumrall, after being a prisoner at Camp O’Donnell, was transferred by the Japanese to a prison camp at Cabanatuan and later placed on what survivors called “Hell Ships,” and shipped to Japan to be used as slave labor in Japanese factories for the remainder of the war.
That is where Sumrall was liberated when the Japanese surrendered.
Said his son, Stephen, following the internment on Thursday at New Palestine, “He was a fine Christian man, an awesome father, and he made the comment that he always said if he survived that he would return home and not worry about anything, although he might be a little bit concerned.”
“He went through three years and seven months of misery, not knowing if he would make it. When he got back he directed all his life toward his family. He loved his family; he provided well for his family right up to the end. We loved him, and we honor him today because of what he did for us,” said Stephen.
Sumrall was preceded in death by his son, Clyde S. “Sid” Sumrall, Jr., and his wife, Ira Dell Alsobrooks Sumrall.
Survivors include a son, Stephen L. Sumrall of Purvis; a daughter, Louise E. Crowley of Portland, Tenn.; a sister, Dorothy M. “Dot” Pugh of Valdosta, Ga.; four grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
The funeral with full military honors included a flag-drapped coffin, a 12-member military contingent, a six gun salute and taps for Sumrall.
Sumrall moved to Purvis after the war and worked for Hess until he retired. He then remained in Purvis until moving to Portland to live with his daughter five years ago.
