Lester Joseph Tacy was born on November 9, 1898, in San Francisco, San Francisco County, California. He was the husband of Miriam Lyman Hill. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant of Field Artillery after attending Officers Candidate School during World War I. He entered West Point in 1920, graduating with the Class of 1924, and went on to serve at Fort Mead, Fort Myer, and Schofield Barracks, where he also taught English at the West Point Preparatory Schools. Over the following years, he trained at Brooks Field in Texas, served at Fort Sill with the 1st Field Artillery, and later commanded a bakery company and served as assistant commandant of the Bakers and Cooks School at Fort Slocum, before commanding Battery B, 7th Field Artillery at Fort Ethan Allen, Vermont. Promoted to Captain in 1935, he furthered his military education at the German Field Artillery School in Potsdam and took part in Italian military ceremonies in Rome in 1933.

In 1939, Joseph was sent to the Philippines, where he commanded artillery units and was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1942. During the Japanese invasion, he directed fire in support of U.S. forces on Bataan, earning him the Silver Star. After the surrender of Bataan, he was taken prisoner, first held at Davao and later transported to Japan on a Hell ship, where he died at Camp Moji (Hospital) Fukuoka #4, Kyushu Island on February 9, 1945.

Tacy’s ashes in a casket, along with some 100 others, were interred at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in 1950. To honor his wish to be remembered at West Point, his widow placed a memorial for him in the rose garden located just inside the cemetery gate in front of the Old Cadet Chapel.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com