The Wichita Beacon, June 22, 1945, page 1

4 WICHITANS

CASUALTIES

Relatives Friday received notification of the death in a prison camp of one Wichitan and the killing of three others, two of whom were on a prison transport which was sunk by submarine action.

The Wichitans aboard the prison ship, which went down in the South Cina Sea more than 200 miles from the Chinese coast were Capt. Donald A. Amend, 33, son of Mrs. R. E. Arnold, 4127 East Douglas, and S/Sergt, Arthur J. Race, 36, a son of Mrs. Ford Bolton, 1002 Litchfield.

Following graduation from East High School, Captain Amend attended Kemper Military School for four years, attaining the rank of second lieutenant from which rating he was elevated to captain after attending reserve Officers school.

Worked for Beacon

Employed for a time in the circulation department of the Beacon, Captain Amend then was employed by the Interstate Securities Company at Kansas City. He later worked for Interstate at Dallas and Fort Worth. He reported for duty October 15, 1941, and arrived in Manila December 1, 1941, only a few days before Pearl Harbor.

Mrs. Arnold was informed by the war department that Captain Amend will be carried, on the records of the department as killed in action October 24, 1944. For more than three years she had held hopes that she would see her son again. Captain Amend first was reported missing in action in 1942. It was not until 1943 that his mother learned that he was a prisoner of war.

Second Lieut. Lawrence Van Cleve, 27, son of Mrs. Grace Van Cleve, 3201 West Douglas, died in a Japanese prison camp in the Philippines in June, 1942, according to word sent Mrs. Van Cleve by Lieut. Daniel C. Limpert, of Albuquerque, N. Mex., a buddy of her son.

S/Sergt. Richard Albert Gilbert, 22, veteran of 31 bombing missions in the European theater as a waist gunner, was killed when the Liberator in which he was flying crashed 30 miles southeast of Denver on a flight from Lowry Field where he had been based since returning from Europe last September.

Lieutenant Van Cleve entered the armed forces January 6, 1941 took training at Fort Bliss, Texas and Fort Monroe Va., before being sent to the Philippines in November, 1941.

Lieutenant Limpert said that he and the Wichitan surrendered together on April 9, 1942, and that Lieutenant Van Cleve was "quite sick with dysentery."

Lieutenant Van Cleve was born in Deer Creek, Okla., and was graduated from North High School where he was a star football player. He also attended St. John’s Military Academy at Salina, Kas. Besides his mother he leaves a sister, Mrs. Frances Basham, Eureka, Kas., and his grandmother, Mrs. Rosa Van Cleve, Blackwell, Okla.

Sergeant Race went to the Philippines in September, 1935 with the 59th Coast Artillery and was taken prisoner by the Japs at the fall of Corregidor. His mother received cards from him when he was at the prison camp at Cabanataun.

He attended school in Wichita and was employed by the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad at Waco, Tex., when he entered the army. He was a grandson of the late Clara J. Race. In addition to his mother he leaves a sister, Mrs. Pauline Austin, who had been residing with his mother since the death of her husband, Lieut. R. H. Austin, at St. Petersburg, Fla., last February.

Sergeant Gilbert was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Gilbert, 601 South West Street. His parents brought him to Wichita from Eugene, Ore.

He was employed by Aircraft Welders when he entered the service November 4, 1942. After training at St. Petersburg, Fla., he went overseas and was awarded the distinguished flying cross, the air medal with three oak leaf clusters and three bronze stars for major battles.

The fatal crash occurred only 13 hours after his leave, which he had spent in Wichita, expired. He leaves two brothers, Ted M., in overseas service, and Ralph, Jr., at home. He was a member of the Four Square Gospel Church. Culbertson Mortuary will have charge of funeral arrangements.


Obituary submitted by Lonna & Bob Nevil (bobalon@centurytel.net). This page created for Sedgwick County KSGenWeb by John Schunk (jschunk@skpub.com). Not to be reproduced or redistributed without permission.