Charles S. Lawrence - World War II

World War II

During the battle, food supplies became so scarce that soldiers became hunters in an effort to stay alive. Even though American and Filipino forces would be victorious in early battles, they could not hold on and Bataan fell on April 8, 1942. Lawrence was among the 15,000 Americans who surrendered with 60,000 Filipinos and were forced into the Bataan Death March. He survived the march and would spend the rest of the war as a prisoner of war.

Lawrence was discharged from the US Army in 1948 after the end of World War II. He would earn the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Mexican Border Service Medal, the World War I Victory Medal, the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and the American Defense of the Pacific medal.