William Atha Gay was born on July 29, 1912, in Brooksville, Noxubee County, Mississippi. He was the son of Thomas Sephalon Gay and Maddie Woodlief Jamison Gay. He was married to Eleanor Dark. He attended Lepanto High School and Arkansas State College before joining the Army. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Class of 1938. His military career began with river and harbor engineering duties in Los Angeles and Santa Ana, California. Scheduled to study at Cornell University, his plans changed when he was reassigned to the Philippines in February 1940, joining the 14th Engineers. He was promoted to captain in October 1941 and major in December 1941, serving as assistant to the Luzon Force Engineer during the Philippine Defense Campaign. From March to April 1942, he directed construction and demolitions vital to the defense of Bataan.

After Bataan’s fall, he avoided the Bataan Death March by being evacuated with Major General Edward King’s staff to Camp O’Donnell, where, despite severe malnutrition, he volunteered to aid starving and wounded POWs. Later transferred to Cabanatuan POW Camp and then to Billibid Prison Hospital in Manila in December 1944, Bill endured long captivity. During this time, he learned Spanish, inspired by a heartfelt desire to return and assist the Filipino people after the war. During his brief stay at Billibid Prison Hospital, Bill Gay wrote several heartfelt letters to his wife Eleanor, entrusting them to another POW for delivery, letters that reached her through Army Intelligence.

On December 13, 1944, William and over 1,600 prisoners of war were loaded aboard the Oryoku Maru, destined for transfer to Japan. Cramped into the ship’s hold without food or water, the POWs endured horrific conditions. Unmarked as carrying prisoners, the vessel was bombed and sunk by American forces in Subic Bay on December 15, 1944, killing about 942 POWs, including William Gay.

Maj Gay's 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 Oaklawn Cemetery, Jonesboro, Craighead County, Arkansas, USA.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, alumni.westpointaog.org