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Casualty Info
Home Town Stillwater, OK
Last Address Springdale, AR
Casualty Date Jan 08, 1943
Cause MIA-Died in Captivity
Reason Illness, Disease
Location Japan
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Fairlawn Cemetery - Stillwater, Oklahoma
Wall/Plot Coordinates Block 10, Lot 47
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Just before the New Year 1942, the last of the submarines left USS Canopus, but she never quit as she cared for small craft and equipment of the Army and Navy, sent her men into battle in the improvised naval battalion which fought on Bataan, and converted her own launches into miniature gunboats dubbed Mickey Mouse Battleships which attacked the Japanese moving south near the shore. But the overwhelming Japanese strength could not be held off forever, and upon the surrender of Bataan on the night of 8-9 April 1942, Canopus was ordered scuttled in Mariveles Bay, Bataan, to deny her use to the enemy. On 9 April, she was backed off into deep water under her own power and the veteran whom the Japanese could not sink ended a lifetime of service to the Navy when she was laid to rest by her own men.
221 of her crewmen were evacuated to Corregidor on 28 February 1942 and served with the Marines 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions on beach defenses. The final 327 crewmen were also evacuated to Corregidor and served in the 4th Marine Regiment's 4th Battalion Reserves (Provisional) which fought gallantly during the final battle for the island fortress. Nearly all Canopus crewmen were captured at the fall of Corregidor and spent the rest of the war in Japanese POW Camps in the Philippines and the Asian mainland.
According to the records, TM2 Yeargin was captured on May 6,1942 and held in a POW camp - Osaka Main Camp Chikko Osaka 34-135 - where he died on January 8, 1943 of acute pneumonia.
Comments/Citation:
Service number: 3463982
Prisoner of War Medal
Awarded for actions during World War II
Service: Navy
Rank: Torpedoman Second Class
Division: Prisoner of War (Japan)
General Orders: NARA Database: Records of World War II Prisoners of War, created, 1942 - 1947
CITATION: Torpedoman Second Class Marion Richard Yeargin (NSN: 3463982), United States Navy, was captured by the Japanese after the fall of Corregidor, Philippine Islands, on 6 May 1942, and was held as a Prisoner of War until his death while still in captivity.
The information contained in this profile was compiled from various internet sources.
