David Sherman Babcock was born on September 28, 1899, in Staten Island, Richmond County, New York. He was the son of Philip Sheridan Babcock and Mary Lily Clark Babcock. He was first married to Elizabeth Ann Giltner and later to Roberta Mary Miner Ratts. He was a West Point graduate of the Class of 1923 and served in the U.S. Army Field Artillery as a Lieutenant Colonel during World War II.

LTC Babcock was captured after the fall of the Philippines, he was held at PW Camp #1 in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, Philippines, before being loaded onto the hell ship Oryoku Maru in December 1944. The vessel was bombed by U.S. aircraft in Subic Bay, and survivors were transferred to the Enoura Maru and Brazil Maru for transport to Japan. Babcock died of wounds sustained during the bombing on January 24, 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.

Source of information: www.ww2-pacific.com, weremember.abmc.gov