Private Raymond Stanton was born on January 26, 1919, to Harvey and Ida Stanton in Phillips County, Kansas. Raymond’s father died about a month before he was born. Raymond was raised and nurtured by his mother and three older siblings, Roy, Lee, and Ruth. They did a wonderful job raising Raymond as witnessed by the article written in the Republican City Ranger newspaper: “Raymond was a fine, upstanding young man, quiet and unassuming and well-liked by everyone. Popular with his classmates, admired by his teachers. Raymond was respected and trusted by all who knew him. He graduated as an honor student from the Republican City High School in 1937.”

One story that must be shared is, according to Raymond’s Aunt Nancy, Raymond had a motorcycle that they pushed more than they rode. Raymond was a typical small-town young man of that era – honest, loyal, hard-working, and respectful.

Raymond enlisted in the Army Air Corps on July 14, 1940. After three months of basic training, he came home on a furlough before shipping to his duty station in the Philippines. In one of his many letters home, Raymond wrote that he and some of the boys on the ship were playing craps. Mrs. Stanton thought it was so nice that the boys were playing games, unaware that they were gambling, an activity of which she would not have approved. Raymond’s older brothers never explained to their mother what was really going on.

When Raymond reached the Philippines, he was assigned to the 27th Material Squadron, 20th Air Base Group at Nichols Field near Manila. His assigned duty was a fire ambulance driver. On December 8, 1941, Japanese bombers and fighters attacked Nichols Field, Clark Field, and other air bases in the Philippines. Without air support, all personnel were ordered to form a defensive line against the coming Japanese invasion. From December 1941 until April 1942, these brave American soldiers, with the help of the Philippine army, held out against insurmountable odds.

Even knowing how bleak the situation was, Raymond’s last letter home contained this characteristic message to his mother, “don’t worry about me, but take good care of yourself.”

Finally, in April, all the soldiers were forced to surrender. Raymond and all the troops were forced to endure a journey that is appropriately called the Bataan Death March. It is believed that thousands of men died during this 5-day forced march. These soldiers endured the brutality of their captors on the entire route.

Surviving this torturous march, Raymond was imprisoned in a Japanese POW camp where he contracted malaria. PVT Raymond Stanton died on October 16, 1942 and is buried in the Manila American Cemetery. He was 23 years old.