 |
| Sgt Charles Coggeshall survived the Bataan Death March only to die seven months later in a POW camp. (Photo of painting was taken by Philip Garcia, Mar 18, 2010, DBC office in Camp Aguinaldo) https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/1265/40391_247254-00152 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/17531467/charles-allen-coggeshall https://bataancampaign.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/bataanpainting.jpg |
Charles Allen Coggeshall never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on April 19, 1918 in New Mexico. His parents Charles and Veva were born in Kansas and Indiana, respectively. His father worked as a railroad conductor. The younger Charles had a younger brother and a younger sister. By 1940 Charles had completed two years of college at the University of New Mexico and was living at home.
He served in the New Mexico National Guard and his unit was federalized on September 4, 1940. He was corporal in the 200th Coastal Artillery Regiment which was sent to the Philippines in August 1941. It was supposed to be a one year posting but the Japanese invasion changed that.
Corporal Coggeshall's unit provided anti-aircraft defense when the Japanese bombed Philippine targets a few short hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The anti-aircraft units were credited with shooting down 85 Japanese planes in the next four months.
Charles was promoted to sergeant and transferred to Battery B, 515th Coast Artillery Regiment and fought on the Bataan Peninsula until the Americans surrendered. He endured the April 9, 1942 Bataan Death March to the Camp O'Donnell prison camp. There was inadequate medicine and food causing the deaths of hundreds of prisoners. Sgt. Coggeshall died on November 7, 1942. (Update: See first comment below from James Erickson for correction on date of death and additional details.) By the end of the war only half of the original 1,800 men from the 200th Coast Artillery Regiment remained alive to be liberated from Japanese prison camps.
His cenotaph grave is at Santa Fe National Cemetery in New Mexico.
Last year on this date I profiled Carlton Carney, 4th Infantry Division. You can read about Carlton here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
Cpl Charles A Coggeshall actually died on 6 Dec 1942 in Ward 2 of the "hospital" of Cabanatuan POW camp. Official cause of death was beri-beri but he undoubtedly suffered from a variety of contributing nutritional and other ailments. A copy of his death record can be found in the US National Archives File 71 Vol XIII in Record Group 407 Box 178. I have a copy of the image but don't know how to post it here.
ReplyDeleteThanks for adding this additional information. I have updated my post to reflect your contribution.
DeleteMy father knew Cpl. Coggeshall and I have two letters he sent to my Dad from Fort Bliss - I would be happy to share them with his family.
ReplyDeleteBlackwalnut Cove: All of the stories on this blog were created from publicly available information. Only rarely has the family of the fallen been involved. In the case of Cpl. Coggeshall, I have not been contacted by his family so I am not able to pass on the letter that you have. Perhaps at some point one of them will read your note here and reach out for this important letter. Thanks, Don Milne
DeleteBlackwalnut Cove - I am writing a book about 24 individuals that were in the Philippines at the start of World War II and Charles Coggeshall is one of ones that I am researching. I consider the 24 as ambassadors for the thousands of others whose story I cannot write about. Do you think his family would be interested in communicating with me? Thank you. Tim
DeleteBlackwalnut Cove, contact me at don@storiesbehindthestars.org to discuss this further.
DeleteThanks, Mr. Milne. My Dad was in the same NM company as Cpl. Coggeshall, but was transferred a month before they left for the Phillipines. He survived the war but carried the sadness of loss of his NM friends for the rest of his life. We visited the Bataan Memorial Military Museum in Santa Fe several times. It is a wonderful tribute to the NM soldiers.
ReplyDeleteThanks for adding these comments
DeleteMr. Milne - just a quick followup - I found a family member and have passed on the letters and have given them your website address. Thanks so much for what you're doing.
ReplyDeleteMy email for this project is ww2fallen100@gmail.com
ReplyDelete