Pvt. Phillip J. TIREY, POW

[Alex Smart]

Hello,
Seeking details of this airman.
Pvt. Phillip J. TIREY, 06574299.
POW, ITALY April 9th, 1942.
But detaining power was Japan ?
https://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-...1577,141473All
All that I can find is his enlistment details .
Staff Sgt, 22nd February, 1946.
https://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-...g=1&rid=211563
So what of his original enlistment and how did he become a pow ?

Alex

[Frank Olynyk]

Alex
I see no reference to Italy in my copy of NARA's POW file. Detaining power Japan, captured in the Philippines.

There is an entry on FindAGrave for him (I assume), which does not add any information (or note that he was a POW), other than his middle name is James.

Enjoy!

Frank.

[RSwank]

Here is a story about him in a local newspapers:

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6041...aily-sentinel/

His service number is a pre-war type number and he kept it when he apparently re-enlisted in 1946.

He was captured in the Philippines at the start of the war and was a POW for the rest of the war, first in the Philippines and later in Japan.

He died and is buried on Guam:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...ip-james-tirey

[Alex Smart]

Thank you Frank and Rolland,
This is the bit about Italy in the NARA pow page
https://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-...1577,141473All
" CAMP 909 CC 52 Chevari Genoa Italy 44-09"
Why would that be ?
Alex

[RSwank]

Alex, I think someone just mistyped or mis-coded his camp code at some point. Cabanatuan was coded "501" and O'Donnel was 504. 909 was Chevari.

He also shows up in the separate Japanese POW file, but only his name and number.

https://aad.archives.gov/aad/record-...pg=1&rid=26949

[Frank Olynyk]

Alex,

I obtained (purchased) my copy of NARA's POW data many years ago, and turned it into an Access database. I cannot locate the original files sent by NARA. But my camp table just has empty fields for camp 909. The 44-09 is the lat-long for the camp, which does in fact match Genoa (44°24′40″N 8°55′58″E according to the Wikipedia entry for Genoa). So maybe someone updated their file after I obtained my copy. If I remember, when NARA II reopens, I will ask about updates to the POW file, who made them, and the source. As far as I am aware the original POW data was on punch cards (like the enlistment data), and there was special hardware built to scan the cards without putting them through an actual card reader. You will notice the question marks in various fields. I do not know how much effort was made to review the results and cross check back against the original cards.

Enjoy!

Frank.

[Alex Smart]

Thank you both for your excellent response's
Alex