Glenn Weddell McDole was born on February 6, 1921 in Nebraska. A Nebraska native, McDole moved to the Des Moines area in the 1930s and attended high school in Urbandale. He joined the Marine Corps in 1940 and was sent to the Philippines, eventually landing at a base on Corregidor Island. He served with Company M, 3rd battalion, 4th Marine Regiment that time.

McDOLE was one of 11 prisoners of war who escaped death in a massacre on Palawan Island, the Philippines, in December 1944. 139 soldiers were killed when the Japanese herded them into trenches, dumped gasoline on them and set them on fire. Slipping away through a tunnel connected to his trench, McDole cowered in a heap of garbage for two days before hiding farther down the beach with a badly wounded man. Shortly after the man died in his arms, McDole made a run for the ocean. "When he passed away, I took off swimming," said McDole during a 2004 interview with The Des Moines Register. Guided by constellations in the dark, McDole swam several miles to a portion of the island not occupied by the Japanese.

McDole attended college after returning home. He was an officer in the Iowa State Patrol, serving in several communities, and later worked 12 years for the Polk County sheriff's office before retiring.

He wrote the book "LAST MAN OUT", which was published in 2004, with his friend Bob Wilbanks of Urbandale, Iowa, a retired news director for WHO-TV and radio. McDole for several years made the rounds of schools, churches and community organizations to share his story, along with attending national veterans' events.

McDole died on September 3, 2009 at the age of 88 in Alleman, Iowa and is now buried in the Highland Memory Gardens Cemetery, Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com