Remembering World War II Heroes: Joseph Illiscavitch and Thomas Power of Barre Plains

Mike Richard
·5 min read

BARRE - On Easter morning of 1942, Mr. and Mrs. Willard D. Power of Barre Plains received a cablegram from Clark Field in the Philippines. It read: “Dearest Mom: Am O.K. how is every one (sic). Where is Willie? Gig O.K. Answer R.C.A. Love to all, Tommy Power.”

The “Gig” referred to was Joseph Illiscavitch and “Willie” was Corporal Willard Power, a brother of Thomas', who was at the time stationed in the Hawaiian Islands in the Quartermaster Corps.

Later, in the terse words of a nurse in the Philippines, “I knew of at least three men called Sergeant Power, who were at Clark Field. All went to Bataan and I never heard from them afterward. They are probably prisoners of war.”

Sgt. Joseph Illiscavitch and Sgt. Thomas Power, both friends in Barre Plains before either went into the Army, were stationed near each other in Manila. They were in different outfits and the last time they had been together was in April 1942. Both were in battles that preceded the fall of Manila.

Sgt. Joseph A. Illiscavitch, of Barre Plains, was captured by the Japanese and survived the Baatan Death March in the Philippines. He and other servicemen were killed when the transport ship he and other prisoners were aboard was torpedoed by the USS Shark in the Bashi Straits, in the South China Sea. His remains were never found.
Sgt. Joseph A. Illiscavitch, of Barre Plains, was captured by the Japanese and survived the Baatan Death March in the Philippines. He and other servicemen were killed when the transport ship he and other prisoners were aboard was torpedoed by the USS Shark in the Bashi Straits, in the South China Sea. His remains were never found.

At the time, the Power family had been unable to obtain any information regarding their son but hoped that he went through the fighting around Manila unharmed.

This is the continuation of the series Remembering Local World War II Heroes.

Sgt. Joseph A. Illiscavitch (1919-1944)

Joseph A. “Ziggy” Illiscavitch was born in Barre on March 19, 1919, the son of Frank Joseph and Mary (Marginkite) Illiscavitch. He attended Barre High School for four years before enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Corps on Oct. 14, 1940 at Springfield, Mass.

Joseph was the first of four Illiscavitch brothers to go into the service. He was followed by brothers, Anthony, Peter, and in December of 1943 a fourth son, John J. Illiscavitch, was called to duty.

Sgt. Joseph A. Illiscavitch, of Barre Plains, is memorialized at Power Corner, on the triangle at North Brookfield and Wheelwright roads, and Main Street. The square was dedicated on May 22, 1949.
Sgt. Joseph A. Illiscavitch, of Barre Plains, is memorialized at Power Corner, on the triangle at North Brookfield and Wheelwright roads, and Main Street. The square was dedicated on May 22, 1949.

In the fall of 1942, while a member of the 698th Ordinance Company, Aviation Corps, Sgt. Illiscavitch was reportedly captured by the Japanese while fighting near Clark Field at Manila. He was made a prisoner of war at Bataan.

In August of 1944, the Japanese permitted him to write a brief message to his parents. At that time, he reported he was being held at Prison No. 4 where he reported his health was fair. The family would go on to receive three cards from their son, but none of them was dated.

After his imprisonment, Illiscavitch was among a group of fellow prisoners who were forced to undertake the Bataan Death March of approximately 90 miles before their arrival at Camp O'Donnell in the Philippines, located on Luzon island.

In October of 1944, the prisoners were loaded onto Japanese transport ship, Arisan Maru to be taken to Japan. The conditions aboard the ships were so bad they were dubbed “Hellships.”

On Oct. 24, 1944, the Arisan Maru was torpedoed by the submarine the USS Shark in the Bashi Straits, in the South China Sea. The U.S. sub was unaware that it was actually attacking a transport ship containing their own men.

Reportedly, 1,781 prisoners of war were aboard the ship and those who escaped were not rescued by the Japanese. In the end, only nine of the prisoners survived the sinking. The 25-year-old Sgt. Illiscavitch was among those who were lost at sea; the ship's other occupants also included Edward R. Browne of Gardner.

He is listed among the lost on the Tablets of the Missing in Manila.

Staff Sgt. Thomas W. Power (1918-1942)

Thomas Willard Power was born in Auburn on April 16, 1918, the son of Willard D. and Anna (Kacenski) Power. He lived with his family on Adams Street in Barre Plains and attended Barre High School, before enlisting in the Air Corps on Oct. 14, 1940 in Springfield.

Rather than surrender when Japanese forces overran the Bataan Peninsula in April 1942, Staff Sgt. Thomas Power of Barre Plains reportedly joined three other American officers in a courageous escape.
Rather than surrender when Japanese forces overran the Bataan Peninsula in April 1942, Staff Sgt. Thomas Power of Barre Plains reportedly joined three other American officers in a courageous escape.

A member of the U.S. Army Air Corps in the Philippines, he had been stationed at Nichols Field on Luzon, prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. His brother Staff Sgt. Willard D. Power Jr. was in Hawaii at the time of the attack, while another brother, Midshipman Edward W. Power, was a cadet at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. They also had a sister, Helen.

Thomas Power was in training as a pilot at one of the airfields near Manila when the war broke out. He had passed all but one of the tests for rating as a pilot and had expected to take the last examination prior to the outbreak of the hostilities. Power and fellow soldiers at the airfield were ordered to proceed to Bataan, abruptly ending his pilot training.

He served in the Far East Army Air Force, Headquarters Squadron in Manila, the Philippines. Rather than surrender when Japanese forces overran the Bataan Peninsula in April 1942, Staff Sgt. Power reportedly joined three other American officers in a courageous escape.

Staff Sgt. Thomas Power is memorialized at Power Corner, fronting the triangle in Barre Plains at North Brookfield and Wheelwright roads, and Main Street. The square was dedicated in Barre Plains on May 22, 1949.
Staff Sgt. Thomas Power is memorialized at Power Corner, fronting the triangle in Barre Plains at North Brookfield and Wheelwright roads, and Main Street. The square was dedicated in Barre Plains on May 22, 1949.

The four men traveled through the mountains of Luzon, toward Mindanao, to rejoin the fight against the Japanese. The group evaded capture for 14 weeks until they were attacked by Japanese soldiers on the morning of July 19, 1942.

It was on that date that Power was listed as missing in action. According to an item in The Barre Gazette, Mrs. Power never gave up hope of seeing her boy again.

“Many of the American soldiers succeeded in escaping into the hills and joining the Filipino forces and his mother hopes he was one of them,” The Barre Gazette reported. “There is a possibility that he is in some Jap(anese) prison on Luzon or in Japan and policy has prevented his sending word to his home.”

On Feb. 1, 1946, Mr. and Mrs. Power were notified by the War Department that their son had been officially listed as dead by the department at the age of 24.

Staff Sgt. Power’s remains were never recovered. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at American Cemetery, in Manila, the Philippines.

Friends since their boyhood, Sgt. Illiscavitch and Staff Sgt. Power are memorialized side by side at Illiscavitch Corner and Power Corner fronting the triangle in Barre Plains at North Brookfield and Wheelwright Road, and Main Street. Those squares were dedicated in Barre Plains on May 22, 1949.

Comments and suggestions for Remembering Local World War II Heroes can be sent to Mike Richard at mikerichard0725@gmail.com or in writing Mike Richard, 92 Boardley Rd. Sandwich, MA 02563.

This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Joseph Illiscavitch, Thomas Power of Barre Plains MA WW II heroes