FEBRUARY 3, 2025 – Thousands of men died during the brutal Bataan Death March in the Philippines during World War II. Army Capt. Willibald Charles Bianchi was one of the soldiers who stood out as a leader and caretaker. He survived more than two years in captivity before losing his life as the islands were being retaken by the Allies. For his valor and selflessness, he posthumously received the Medal of Honor.
Bianchi was born March 12, 1915, in New Ulm, Minnesota, to Joseph and Caroline Bianchi. He had one older sister and three younger sisters, and he went by the name of Bill.
Bianchi’s family lived on a poultry farm. As the only boy in the family, he was often called upon to help his dad with daily tasks. Sadly, Bianchi’s father died in a farming accident when he was still in high school, so the teen had to quit school to take over the farm and support his family in his father’s absence.
Eventually, however, Bianchi was able to complete his schooling through the University of Minnesota Farm School in St. Paul. Afterward, he enrolled in South Dakota State University to major in animal science. While there, he played football and was active in ROTC. He also worked as a janitor and did furnace work to pay his way.
In June 1940, Bianchi graduated and was commissioned as an Army second lieutenant. As soon as he could, he requested to be sent overseas because he wanted to see action, according to the Minnesota Medal of Honor Memorial website.
Soon enough, he got his wish. In April 1941, Bianchi was sent to the Philippines to serve with the 45th Infantry and the Philippine Scouts, who were a group of native troops trained by U.S. soldiers to fight off Japanese aggression.
Unfortunately, that training didn’t happen quickly enough, as the Philippine Scouts saw some of the very first action of World War II in the Pacific. On Dec. 7, 1941 — the same day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor — the enemy also bombed Clark Field, an Army air base on the island of Luzon. Soon after, the Japanese invaded, forcing Allied troops to withdraw to the Bataan Peninsula and to Corregidor Island to hold off the enemy until the U.S. Navy could bring supplies and reinforcements.
On Feb. 3, 1942, Bianchi’s unit was on the western part of the peninsula when a rifle platoon of another company was ordered to wipe out two strong enemy machine gun nests. Then-1st Lt. Bianchi volunteered to go with them and lead some of the men.
When the fight kicked off, Bianchi was shot twice through the left hand, but instead of stopping for first aid, he tossed aside his rifle and began shooting with his pistol instead. When he came across the first machine gun nest, he quickly silenced it with grenades.
Bianchi was shot twice more in the chest, but again, instead of getting help, he climbed onto a U.S. tank and took command of its anti-aircraft machine gun. He blasted the second enemy machine gun position until he was shot again and completely knocked off the tank.
Bianchi spent a month recovering from his wounds before returning to duty and being promoted to captain.
On April 9, 1942, the Philippines fell to the Japanese. Bianchi and about 75,000 other American and Filipino soldiers were captured as prisoners of war. They endured the famous Bataan Death March across 65 miles of terrain in which they were brutally abused. Many men died on the trek, but as a leader, Bianchi moved through the marchers to try to lift their spirits and get them to keep going.
Bianchi spent time in several POW camps, each of which had horrible living conditions. At each one, Bianchi continued his role as caretaker, bartering with their captors for food for himself and other starving prisoners. “Many servicemen wrote to Bianchi’s mother following the war, telling her that they owed their lives to her son,” the Minnesota Medal of Honor Memorial website said.
By December 1944, Allied troops had begun to retake the Philippines, so the Japanese had started transferring all its POWs to the mainland using what survivors referred to as “hell ships” due to the extremely harsh conditions they endured on them.
Bianchi was first put on a ship called the Oryoku Maru. When it was attacked by Allied aircraft, Bianchi survived, but he was transferred onto a Japanese POW ship, possibly called the Enoura Maru, that was anchored off Taiwan, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency website said.
Many of these ships were unmarked, so Allied aircraft were unaware they were filled with American POWs. Sadly, Bianchi died on Jan. 9, 1945, when a U.S. Navy aircraft dropped a 1,000-pound bomb on his ship.
Stories of Bianchi’s valor eventually made it out of the Philippines. On June 7, 1945, his mother received the Medal of Honor on his behalf during a ceremony at Fort Snelling, Minnesota.
Later, famed Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur wrote to Bianchi’s mother to honor her son and his fellow soldiers. “It was largely their magnificent courage and sacrifices which stopped the enemy in the Philippines and gave us the time to arm ourselves for our return to the Philippines and the final defeat of Japan,” MacArthur said.
Bianchi’s body was never recovered, so his name is enshrined on a marker at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, as well as on the Wall of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines.
The 29-year-old never married and had no children, but his mother and sisters kept his memory alive by donating his Medal of Honor and other decorations to the Brown County Historical Society Museum in his hometown, which displays those items for visitors.
New Ulm also named a street for Bianchi in 1955 and renamed its American Legion in his honor in 1990. At Bianchi’s alma mater, SDSU, a memorial and scholarship were established in 1998. Two years later, a monument in his honor was also dedicated at the school.
By Katie Lange, DOD News