By: Casey T. Bazewick, Jr., Son

           
                                                                                                                                                         August 2007

Before enlisting in the Marine Corps in 1938, he had been a sign painter apprentice in Chicago. One of his jobs at the prison camp was painting the numbers that the POWs wore. He said that the Japanese were impressed by his skill and because he painted numbers holding the brush as Asians do. His POW number was 439 ("yon san kyu" in Japanese), which he regards as his lucky number.  Below is an image of his Japanese POW record which was included in a copy of his service record received from St. Louis.