Douglas William Bogue was born on April 20, 1918 in Omaha, Nebraska. He was the son of Alvin Eugene Bogue and Anna Sophia Bogue. Douglas served in Company A, 1st Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment as a SGT during World War II. An American prisoner of war, he was one of the Japanese massacre victims in Puerto Princesa, Palawan Philippines. In order to prevent the rescue of prisoners of war by the advancing Allies, on 14 December 1944, units of the Japanese Fourteenth Area Army (under the command of General Tomoyuki Yamashita) brought the POWs back to their own camp. An air raid warning was sounded to get the prisoners into the shelter trenches, the 150 prisoners of war at Puerto Princesa entered those trenches, and the Japanese soldiers set them on fire using barrels of gasoline. Prisoners who tried to escape the flames were shot down by machine gun fire. Others attempted to escape by climbing over a cliff that ran along one side of the trenches, but were later hunted down and killed. Only 11 men escaped the slaughter; 139 were killed. Those that did escape to southern Palawan, and eventual rescue, were aided by Filipino scouts and guerrillas under the command of Nazario Mayor. Bogue was one of only 11 American POWs who escaped the horrific slaughter committed by the Japanese.

He was awarded the Legion of Merit for his escape from the camp, killing three guards. He testified at the war crimes trial in Japan in 1948. He returned to service with the 6th Marine Division in Tientsin, China until 1949. Assigned to Korea with the the 11th Marines in 1951, he received a battlefield commission to Captain. He retired from the service in 1959.

He married his long time girlfriend, Betty, in 1945. They were married for sixty years before his passing. He worked for the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway for twenty years. He became a civilian pilot. Upon his passing at age 85, a memorial service was held in Moffett Field and his ashes scattered at sea per his request. He has a memorial marker located at the Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.wikipedia.com