Platoon Sergeant (Plt Sgt) Michael (Mickee) Sugars, United States Marine Corps, Service Number: 264984

Early Life

Mickee Sugars was born on 12 October 1916 in Punxsutawney, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania. His given name was Michael, but he was always known as Mickee. His father, John Sugars, born 1 November 1875 in Hungary , died 24 November 1943 in Punxsutawney, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, was a Machinist. He emigrated to the U.S. at the age of 1. His mother, Mary Turansky was born on 18 January 1881 in Hungary and died on 12 May 1965 in Los Angeles, California. Mickee�??s parents were married in about 1899. Mickee was the youngest of six children in the family; he had two older brothers and three older sisters. His brother Andy also served in the U.S. Army during World War II.

Military

Mickee Sugars joined the U.S. Army Field Artillery in 1933. He served with the 31st Regiment in the Philippines. He then enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps on 20 June 1938 in San Francisco, California. He served with the Marines in Shanghai from May 1939 to November 1941 . At the time of his death, he was assigned to Company E, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment and was a Japanese Prisoner of War at the Osaka Main Camp in Chikko, Osaka, Japan. He was captured in Pampanga Province, Central Luzon in the Philippines in 1943.

He was promoted to the rank of Platoon Sergeant during the battle of the Philippines. As the fighting raged, the Marines had to abandon the U.S. Navy bases and made a fighting retreat to the bastion known as Corregidor and the Malinta Tunnel which held the command section of General Jonathan Wainwright, US Army, supply depot and hospital manned by U.S. Army & Air Corps women nurses. The 4th Marines now expanded to four battalions and included Navy Army and Philippine soldiers; anyone who was able to fight became Marines for that time in the conflict. The days of bombardment and death continued until General Wainwright finally ordered the surrender of the American forces in the Philippines to try and save the lives of his remaining troops. Sugars was one of those men who had to lay down their arms and become a prisoner - a guest of the Japanese Empire.

Three days later the Americans were marched south from Corregidor to the 92nd Company Army Garage area. Weakened, wounded men died along the way or shortly after arrival at the garage. While there, the prisoners were divided up and moved to areas where prisoner of war camps were being prepared.

Death and Burial

Mickee Sugars died on 2 March 1943; this is when he was captured by the Japanese in Pampanga Province, Central Luzon in the Philippines and was held from that point as a Prisoner of War. This is also the date on his headstone. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal and the Prisoner of War Medal. He is memorialized at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, Section: 13, Site: 6642.

Sources

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49360561

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101287625/the-indiana-gazette/

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1148361:3147?tid=78120655&pid=40379121977&queryId=b01e34e828475892af21421049d4936e&_phsrc=5ru-740033&_phstart=successSource

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/123807:1122?tid=78120655&pid=40379121977&queryId=b01e34e828475892af21421049d4936e&_phsrc=5ru1978600&_phstart=successSource

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen saved on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story.

If you noticed anything missing in this profile, you may contact the author by clicking on this link: (Mulvanny, Robert (Red) (SBTS Historian), CDR) at redandbon@outlook.com

Sugars, Michael (Mickee), PltSgt