The Major James O’Donovan Story, Part 1
MAJ O’Donovan, a highly decorated U.S. Army officer, served in the Philippine Islands during WWII. In the Battle of Bataan he led attacks at the most advanced positions, and proved to be an inspiring leader and an aggressive, courageous fighter. The Philippine defenders put up a stubborn fight, but in 5 months the battle was lost. Jim suffered on the Death March, and died needlessly of Beriberi at Cabanatuan POW camp. Ten years later, his widow was informed that his remains could not be identified.
What follows is the story of Major James “Jim” O’Donovan, his heroic military service, tragic loss, and the family’s ongoing effort to find his lost remains for final burial on American soil.
”MORE” Prior to WW2, Jim was a Captain in the Army Reserves and was professor of Military Science and Tactics at the La Salle Institute, a Catholic military preparatory school in Troy, NY. He’d been married nine years to Evelyn Murray, and they had five young children. In June 1941 he received orders and left everything behind to sail for the Philippine Islands, where war was looming. Immediately after the Pearl Harbor attack, Japanese bombing attacks in the Philippine Islands succeeded in wiping out that country’s air forces. This unforeseen outcome meant that naval defenses and ground forces were suddenly exposed to annihilation from above. The Navy’s ships sailed for safer waters, while the Army headed for the hills. Bataan peninsula, which juts out into Manila Bay, is covered in jungle, deep ravines and rugged mountains. It was thought to be an ideal place to defend. The plan of defense was sound, especially had its assumptions been true. It called for a “retrograde defense” or phased withdrawal behind successive lines into the peninsula. The enemy would have to pay dearly for every mile they advanced, and they did. But the plan assumed that soon, the American Navy would come to the rescue. After Pearl Harbor, it could not. The men on Bataan were on their own, written off, destined to fight starvation and disease as much as the Japanese Army. After the war commenced, no letters from Jim were ever received home. What the family has learned about his actions during the war has come from military orders, books, memoirs, and letters written after the war. By all accounts, Jim was an outstanding soldier and a capable leader. He served in the “All-American” 31st Infantry Regiment, which distinguished itself in battle, earning two presidential unit citations and a Philippine presidential unit citation. He was Executive Officer of the 3rd Battalion, second in command of a force of 400-500 soldiers. “There is no unit in the American Army which has served with greater distinction both in peace and in war, than the 31st Infantry. At Bataan, it achieved its greatest glory as its lines held firm time and time again against the assault of overwhelming superior forces.” – Gen. Douglas MacArthur “I should like to express…my admiration of the splendid courage and quality which the small American army, under General MacArthur, has resisted brilliantly for so long, at desperate odds the hordes of Japanese who have been hurled against it…” – Sir Winston Churchill ”LESS”