OSU
History Minute - August 11, 2000
Number
8 of a 12 part series: Honoring Oregon Staters who
died in WWII
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Keasey,
as pictured in The Beaver, 1941
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Richard
Alden "Dick" Keasey was from Portland
where he lived with his mother, Florence, at
931 SE 32nd Ave.
At
Oregon State, Richard majored in engineering,
graduating with honors in 1941. He was a member
of Phi Delta Theta fraternity, Tau Beta Pi
honor society in engineering, Pi Mu Epsilon
national honor society in mathematics, and
was a member of the Co-op Managers Association.
Entering
the Army after graduation, his first and only
official tour of duty was at Clark Field in
the Philippines, assigned to headquarters.
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Keasey
was involved in the surrender of American military
units during the struggle by the Japanese to take
the island of Corregidor and the Bataan Peninsula.
By May 1943, he was reported to be a prisoner of
war, also in the Philippines, and in September 1945
was reported a casualty at the Fukuoka Prisoner
of War Camp on Honshu Island.
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This
is a photo of one of the Japanese "Hell
Ships" on which thousands of American
prisoners of war were detained.
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The
exact details of Keasey’s captivity are not
known. It is believed he spent time on the Brazil
Maru, a prisoner “Hell Ship” that left
for Japan Christmas Day 1944 and arrived at Moji,
Japan on January 30, 1945, with only 500 of 1600
prisoners still alive. Allied planes repeatedly
attacked the unmarked “Hell Ships” totally
unaware they were shooting at American servicemen.
Alumni
Association records from the period list that Dick
Keasey died February 4, 1945, shortly after his
arrival at Honshu island.
Classmates
remember him as very soft-spoken and as the kind
of guy who would never offend anyone. He was older
when he entered school and seemed more mature than
a lot of his friends. They also remember him as
being the guy who had some pill or lotion for just
about any ailment.
Dick
Keasey is buried at the Manila American Cemetery
in the Philippines.
--
By George
Edmonston Jr.
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