Hal Clark Granberry Jr. was born on January 4, 1898, in Meridian, Lauderdale County, Mississippi. He was the son of Simeon Sebastian "Sim" Granberry Jr. and Lucy Shore Nelson Granberry. He was a West Point graduate of the Class of 1923. After service at Fort Huachuca and Fort Wolters, he was sent to the Philippines in late 1941, promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on December 24, and assigned as supply officer and later commander of the 2nd Battalion, 57th Infantry (Philippine Scouts). Leading 460 Fil-Am soldiers, he distinguished himself in the January–February 1942 battle at Longoskawayan Point, successfully clearing Japanese infiltrators after days of fierce fighting. Despite such successes, starvation, disease, and heavy losses weakened the 57th, and on April 9, 1942, Bataan fell, and the regiment was forced into unconditional surrender.

LTC Granberry was captured after the fall of Bataan, survived the Bataan Death March, and imprisonment at Camp O’Donnell and PW Camp #1 in Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, Philippines. Chosen for transport to Japan as forced labor, he was among 1,600 POWs loaded onto the hell ship Oryoku Maru, which was sunk by U.S. aircraft in Subic Bay. After enduring confinement on shore, he was transferred to the Enoura Maru and then the Brazil Maru, where he succumbed to wounds and starvation on January 27, 1945, just two days before the ship reached Japan. His body was cast into the sea.

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 Rose Hill Cemetery, Meridian, Lauderdale County, Mississippi, USA.

Source of information: weebly.com, weremember.abmc.gov