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Ben Davis
The Hugo Daily News February 6, 1950 – transcribed by Ron Henson

Funeral Services For Pfc. Ben Davis To Be in St. Louis

Funeral services for the late Pfc. Ben F. Davis, son of Mr. and Mrs. P.H. Davis of Fort Towson, are scheduled for Wednesday, February 22, in the Jefferson Barracks national Cemetery at St. Louis, Mo., according to a telegram from Louis B. Sellmeyers superintendent at the cemetery.

Attending the rites will be the father; brothers Kelly Davis of Baytown, Tex., Donald Davis of Muskogee, Lt. P.H. Davis of St. Louis, Mo.; sister Mrs. Dunward Scruggs of Denison, Tex.; and a cousin, Miss Dorothy Orton of Oklahoma City.

Pfc. Ben F. Davis was born and reared in Fort Towson, where he attended public schools. He enlisted in the Army February 10, 1940. In April of that year, he sailed from Angle Island, Calif., for the Philippine Islands, where he was attached to the 59th C.A. Battery D at Fort Mills.

He was captured by the Japanese when the Philippines fell in May 1942. He was in the infamous “death march.” The first card received from him during his imprisonment came from Mukden, Manchuria. Later he was in Toten Camp at Osaka, Japan.

On September 7, 1945, Pfc. Davis was liberated by American troops.

According to the Army records and investigation, Pfc. Davis was aboard a B-24 aircraft, along with five crew members and 19 other liberated prisoners of war, which crashed during inclement weather about 3.75 miles northeast of Mount Hiansa on Formosa Island. All aboard the plane were killed. The airplane was enroute from Yontan Field, Okinawa, to Nielson Field in the Philippines.

Survivors are the mother and father, Mr. and Mrs. P.H. Davis, six brothers, Kelly Davis of Baytown, Tex., Don Davis of Muskogee, Lt. P.H. Davis of St. Louis, Mo., James Davis, Charles Davis, and Sam Davis of Fort Towson; three sisters, mrs. Durward Scruggs of Denison, Tex., Mrs. Merle McMillian and Miss Lucy Davis of Oakland, Calif.

The News joins their many friends and relatives in extending condolence to the bereaved family of the deceased.