BRATCHER, James E.

Pvt

38631243

Texas

21 Feb 1945

Corregidor

 

 

"A" Co. 34th Inf, 24th Div 

   
 

 

 

   

   

[At 11.30 on the night of the 21st, the Japanese exploded charges stacked against the blocked East entrance to Malinta, intending to blow the tunnel plug and attack through the reopened entrance. Though the plan was partially successful - in that the East entrance was reopened - most of the 600 men intending to make the attack were killed owing to a disastrous miscalculation of the amount of explosives required.]

"Huge sheets of flame shot from both ends of the tunnel, lighting up the dark sky. Rocks and dirt flew everywhere; large fissures opening along the slopes of Malinta Hill caused massive landslides. Six men from Captain Melvin A. Simpson's Company "A" were buried alive by one of these slides."

Back To Corregidor
Gerard Devlin,  P. 174.

Roster of Killed, 34th Inf Reg't, 24th Inf Div, 20 Oct 44 - 30 June 1945  - Company "A"

Only six men (Boyer, Bratcher, Broadfield, Brumfield, Connell and Moyer) were listed killed on the 21st February, and they were all from "A" Company.

BRATCHER'S body has never been recovered - he is carried on the rolls as MIA. Also never recovered, and thus MIA from the explosion and landslide are BOYER AND MOYER.

Confirmed

 

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