09 December 2008
Veteran dies after reunion
*Update to a previous post*
Eleven days after his emotional reunion with a Filipino man who helped save his life during World War II, American veteran James Carrington died quietly Sunday at the Destrehan nursing home where he resided. He was 88.
James Carrington during World War II
One of thousands of American and Filipino soldiers imprisoned by the Japanese after the fall of the island of Corregidor, Mr. Carrington, a Marine who grew up in New Orleans, escaped from the notorious Bilibid Prison and was given refuge by a group of Filipinos in a passing horse cart.
He later help lead guerrilla fighters based in a mountain hideout who created havoc for the Japanese military before American forces retook the Philippines.
Mr. Carrington's son, James Carrington Jr., said he believes his father rallied in recent weeks to stay alive for a Thanksgiving week visit from Jesus Gonzalez, a native of the Philippines now living in Vancouver.
"It took every bit of strength he had," the veteran's son said. "It kept him alive, in my opinion. That's all he was looking forward to."
Mr. Carrington had visited with Jesus and Valerie Gonzalez, along with immediate members of his own family, for a few days prior to Thanksgiving Day. He died Sunday morning at the Ormond Nursing and Care Center.
"I'm very glad that we made the effort to go and see him," Jesus Gonzalez said Monday from Canada. "I didn't expect that it would be the last one with him. It was such a joyful moment with me to have met him at last after all those years. I'll see him again somewhere, somehow, up in heaven perhaps. He was a great man. He did a great service to the United States and to the Philippines."
resquiat en pace
Eleven days after his emotional reunion with a Filipino man who helped save his life during World War II, American veteran James Carrington died quietly Sunday at the Destrehan nursing home where he resided. He was 88.
James Carrington during World War II
One of thousands of American and Filipino soldiers imprisoned by the Japanese after the fall of the island of Corregidor, Mr. Carrington, a Marine who grew up in New Orleans, escaped from the notorious Bilibid Prison and was given refuge by a group of Filipinos in a passing horse cart.
He later help lead guerrilla fighters based in a mountain hideout who created havoc for the Japanese military before American forces retook the Philippines.
Mr. Carrington's son, James Carrington Jr., said he believes his father rallied in recent weeks to stay alive for a Thanksgiving week visit from Jesus Gonzalez, a native of the Philippines now living in Vancouver.
"It took every bit of strength he had," the veteran's son said. "It kept him alive, in my opinion. That's all he was looking forward to."
Mr. Carrington had visited with Jesus and Valerie Gonzalez, along with immediate members of his own family, for a few days prior to Thanksgiving Day. He died Sunday morning at the Ormond Nursing and Care Center.
"I'm very glad that we made the effort to go and see him," Jesus Gonzalez said Monday from Canada. "I didn't expect that it would be the last one with him. It was such a joyful moment with me to have met him at last after all those years. I'll see him again somewhere, somehow, up in heaven perhaps. He was a great man. He did a great service to the United States and to the Philippines."
resquiat en pace
Labels: Comrades-in-Arms, Heroes, Marine Corps, WWII
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