Wade Rushton Cothran Jr. was born on November 28, 1896, in Greenwood, Greenwood County, South Carolina. He was the son of Wade Rushton Cothran and Jane Wardlaw "Jennie" Harrison Cothran. He graduated from The Citadel in the Class of 1916 and later from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in November 1918. He served in the Headquarters Company, Luzon Force, as a Major during World War II.

On April 9, 1942, he accompanied Major General Edward King during surrender negotiations with Japanese Colonel Nakayama in Bataan, Philippines. In May 1942, he was taken prisoner by the Japanese, forced to endure the Bataan Death March, and subsequently held at the PW Camp #1 – Cabanatuan 1-2-3 in Nueva Province on Luzon, Philippines. In December 1944, he was placed aboard the Oryoku Maru for transport to Japan. The ship was bombed and sunk by American aircraft in Subic Bay on December 15, 1944. The surviving prisoners were transferred to the Enoura Maru, which arrived in Takao, Formosa. While docked, the ship was bombed by American planes on January 9, 1945, resulting in heavy casualties among the POWs. The remaining survivors were moved to the Brazil Maru, where Major Wade Cothran succumbed to wounds sustained during the attack on the Enoura Maru.

Major Cothran's body was buried at the sea and officially declared dead on January 25, 1945. His name is memorialized in the Tablets of the Missing in the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Manila, Capital District, National Capital Region, Philippines. He also has a cenotaph in the Magnolia Cemetery, Greenwood, Greenwood County, South Carolina, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com