Joseph David Gamache

1918 - 1942  (~ 24 years)

• Name	Joseph David Gamache
  Birth	ca. 1918	North Dakota
  Gender	Male
  Death	1 Jul 1942	Bataan, Phillippines
  Burial	Cabanatuan Prison Camp Mass Grave, Nueva Ecija, Philippines
  Person ID	I73340971	King/Roy | Ancestors and relatives of Alphonse Gamache
  Last Modified	12 Dec 2021

  
  

  Father	Joseph Kamel Gamache,   b. 27 Jun 1896, Williston, WILLIAMS, North Dakota d. 5 Apr 1959, Kalispell, FLATHEAD, Montana (Age 62 years)
  Mother	Olga A. Evenson,   b. ca. 1898, Whitehall, TREMPELEAU, Wisconsin d. 28 Apr 1973, Kalispell, FLATHEAD, Montana (Age ~ 75 years)
  Marriage	19 Jun 1916	Sidney, RICHLAND, Montana
  Documents		Marriage Record of Joseph Gamache and Olga Evenson Sidney,Montana, 1916
  Family ID	F5968	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - ca. 1918 - North Dakota  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Photos

  
  

  Histories

  Joseph Gamache Death Report The (Helena, MT) Independent-Standard, Jul 8, 1945, p.5

  
  

• Notes

  Declared Missing in Action Service Details NAME Joseph D Gamache SERVICE # 19018766 STATE Montana CASUALTY 07-01-1942 WAR World War II SERVICE Army RANK Private UNIT 33rd Quartermaster Truck Regiment DETAILS Missing in action or lost at sea BURIAL Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines AWARDS ? American Campaign Medal ? World War II Victory Medal Following the Allied surrender on the Bataan Peninsula on April 9, 1942, the Japanese began the forcible transfer of American and Filipino prisoners of war to various prison camps in central Luzon, at the northern end of the Philippines. The largest of these camps was the notorious Cabanatuan Prison Camp. At its peak, Cabanatuan held approximately 8,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war that were captured during and after the Fall of Bataan. Camp overcrowding worsened with the arrival of Allied prisoners who had surrendered from Corregidor on May 6, 1942. Conditions at the camp were poor and food and water supplied extremely limited, leading to widespread malnutrition and outbreaks of malaria and dysentery. By the time the camp was liberated in early 1945, approximately 2,800 Americans had died at Cabanatuan. Prisoners were forced to bury the dead in makeshift communal graves often completed without records or markers. As a result, identifying and recovering remains interred at Cabanatuan was difficult in the years after the war. Private Joseph D. Gamache Jr. joined the U.S. Army in Montana and served with the 33rd Quartermaster Truck Regiment in the Philippines during World War II. He was captured in Bataan following the American surrender and died of dysentery on July 1, 1942, at the Cabanatuan Prison Camp in Nueva Ecija Province. He was buried in a communal grave in the camp cemetery along with other deceased American POWs; however, his remains could not be associated with any remains recovered from Cabanatuan after the war. Today, Private Gamache is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines. Based on all information available, DPAA assessed the individual's case to be in the analytical category of Active Pursuit.