text: 1st Lt. John Taylor Furby
  1st Lt. John T. Furby was the son of Dr. Robert L. Furby & Edith Taylor-Furby, and was born on February 17, 1917, in Chicago, Illinois. It is known he had a sister. Sometime after 1930, the family moved to Portland, Oregon, because his father was a Lieutenant Colonel, in the Army Medical Corps, and was transferred to Portland as commanding officer of Barnes General Hospital.
  John attended college at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon, and later at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. It is believed that while he was in college he was also a member of the ROTC program, at U.S.C., which resulted in his being commissioned a second lieutenant upon graduating. John also married to Maxine D. Witman sometime around 1939.
  In 1940, he was assigned as Army recruiting officer in Corvallis, Oregon. John joined the 194th Tank Battalion at Ft. Lewis and was assigned to A Company as a tank platoon commander. After nearly six months of training, the battalion was there prepared for overseas duty. It was at this time his best friend, 1st Lt. Harold Costigan, got married and John was his best man.
  The battalion traveled by train to Ft. Mason in San Francisco ans was ferried, on the U.S.A.T General Frank M. Coxe, to Ft. McDowell on Angel Island in California. The battalion was there preparing to sail for the Philippine Island, and he was assigned to the battalion as a tank platoon commander with A Company.
  The soldiers boarded the S.S. President Calvin Coolidge at 3:00 P.M. and at 9:00 P.M. on September 8, 1941, the tank battalion sailed. The ship arrived at Honolulu, Hawaii, at 7:00 A.M. on Saturday, September 13. The soldiers were allowed off ship, but they needed to be back on board before the ship sailed at 5:00 P.M. After it sailed, it took a southerly route away from the main shipping lanes. It was at this time that it was joined by the heavy cruiser, the U.S.S. Astoria, and an unknown destroyer. Several times during this part of the voyage smoke was seen on the horizon. Each time, the cruiser revved its engines and took off in the direction of the smoke. All the ships it intercepted belonged to friendly countries.
  Zero Ward, which is where those who had little or no hope of recovering, were sent. It got its name because it was missed when the wards were being counted. The Japanese were so afraid of becoming ill from being near the building that they put up a fence around it and would not go near it. John developed malaria and was admitted into the camp hospital on June 16, 1942. He remained in the hospital until he was discharged on July 10, 1942. He was readmitted to the hospital on November 2, 1942 with scurvy and discharged on November 7. On November 28, he was again admitted to the hospital and died, according to records kept by the hospital staff, on Monday, November 30, 1942, at approximately 9:00 A.M.
  1st Lt. John T. Furby died of dysentery at Cabanatuan POW Camp and was buried in the camp cemetery in Plot 2, Row 22, Grave 2736. After the war, the remains of 1st Lt. John T. Furby were exhumed and identified. At his family request, his remains were returned to Oregon. He was interred at Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery in Portland. Oregon, in the mausoleum.