Personal

Thomas Lycurgus “Tom” Davidson was born on 9 August 1909, in Elgin, Comanche County, Oklahoma, to John E. Davidson and Elizabeth Bateman Davidson. He had five brothers—Willie, Louis, Arnold, Charlie and Johnnie—and two sisters—Lula and Christine. Tom had a grammar-school education and worked at Bauman’s Country Store in Elgin for 14 years as a farm-implement and tractor mechanic. He never married.

Military Service

Tom enlisted in the U.S. Army on 13 March 1941, at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, with Serial #18050436, and after infantry training was assigned to the 31st Infantry Regiment. The Regiment was part of the Philippine Division, United States Armed Forces of the Far East, a division consisting mostly of Filipino enlisted men and American officers. The 31st Regiment, however, was the sole maneuver element in the Philippine Division consisting exclusively of American soldiers.

The 31st Infantry Regiment was unique in that it was formed on foreign soil in 1916 and was stationed outside the United States for its entire pre-World War Two existence. Thus the unit was sometimes called “America’s Foreign Legion.”

Death

The Japanese invasion of the Island of Luzon in the Philippines began 10 December 1941, three days after the Pearl Harbor attack, and was successful in part because General Douglas MacArthur’s air forces had been destroyed on the ground on 8 December. In order to buy time to establish defenses on the Bataan Peninsula and the fortress Island of Corregidor, MacArthur ordered 5,000 troops, including the 31st Regiment, to delay the Japanese 14th Army by conducting a covering action. The Regiment and other covering forces were so successful that the Japanese advance on the Island of Luzon was delayed until reinforcements could be summoned from Japanese units in China. The 31st endured heavy casualties, dysentery, and a shortage of heavy weapons during this action, and finally joined the main line of resistance on 9 January 1942. Despite starvation, disease, and little ammunition, the defenders of the Peninsula held the Japanese at bay for four months. Surrender by the American and Filipino forces on Bataan came on 9 April, and the surrender of Corregidor was on 6 May. Private First Class Davidson was listed as missing in action at that time. After the United States forces returned to the Philippines, Davidson’s fate was discovered: he had become a prisoner of war and had died of dysentery on 12 May 1942.

Burial and Honors

Private First Class Davidson was buried in the Philippines at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Plot D, Row 11, Grave 251. He was awarded the Purple Heart Medal posthumously in 1945 and the Prisoner of War Medal retroactively in 1985.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the U.S. World War Two Fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? There will be a smartphone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the name and read his or her story. In addition, stories can be read anywhere on the Find-a-Grave website.

If you have noticed anything erroneous in this profile or have additional information to contribute to it, please contact me at hgb98@ix.netcom.com.

Sources:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56787672/tom-lycurgus-davidson

https://www.fold3.com/image/712940278?rec=641592544

https://www.fold3.com/image/310763148?rec=299363245

https://www.fold3.com/record/529949337/tom-l-davidson-us-american-battle-monuments-commission-1914-1950

https://www.fold3.com/record/84767377/tom-l-davidson-us-wwii-army-enlistment-records-1938-1946

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/89908963:2442?tid=&pid=&queryId=b3259d3e-4de1-4c67-8ef3-2346645bfa68&_phsrc=9a8-386064&_phstart=successSource

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/13983548:2238?tid=&pid=&queryId=59d27507-cd46-4b83-8585-7d7490292d05&_phsrc=9a8-1155145&_phstart=successSource

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/153003705:7884

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https://www.newspapers.com/image/873306967/?terms=Tom%20L.%20Davidson&match=1

https://www.newspapers.com/image/743891343/?terms=Tom%20L.%20Davidson&match=1

https://www.newspapers.com/image/908975854/?terms=Tom%20L.%20Davidson&match=1

https://armyhistory.org/31st-infantry-regiment/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/31st_Infantry_Regiment_(United_States)

https://www.honorstates.org/profiles/102106/

Owens, Oscar. A History of the Second World War, Vol. 2. Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: Victory Publishing Company, 1948. (The Fighting Men of Oklahoma).

Tom L Davidson