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World War II 19th Bombardment Group chaplain honored

  • Published
  • By Dan Phoenix
  • 19th Airlift Wing historian
ABBEVILLE, La. --  On May 26, Chaplain (1st Lt.) Joseph Verbis Lafleur was inducted into the Louisiana Military Hall of Fame here. Chaplain Lafleur's brief military career was spent entirely with the 19th Bombardment Group in New Mexico and the Phillippines before and during World War II.

The young Catholic chaplain had already gained a reputation for his selfless dedication to the morale of his airmen. When the Japanese attacked his unit at Clark Field in the Philippines, mere hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Father Lafleur worked his way across the airfield, performing last rites and comforting the wounded and the dying, even as the enemy continued to bomb and strafe the field.

In early 1942, as the 19th Bombardment Group began evacuating planes and personnel to Australia, Chaplain Lafleur was given the opportunity to join those leaving the Philippines, but elected to stay behind with those Airmen who remained. As a result, Lafleur became a POW when the remaining American forces surrendered in May of 1942.

Chaplain Lafleur was one of the many Airmen from the ground echelon of the 19th Bombardment Group who went into POW camps across the Philippines. In the succeeding two years of captivity, Chaplain Lafleur dedicated himself to the care of his fellow prisoners. He refused evacuation and, as prisoners were moved from camp to camp, he contrived to stay with the prisoners who were subjected to the hardest conditions, who were most in need of his services.

On Sept. 7, 1944, Chaplain Lafleur was imprisoned with approximately 750 American prisoners of war in the Shinyo Maru, a Japanese "hell ship." The Japanese had neglected to paint the Shinyo Maru with the markings of a POW transport, and an American submarine torpedoed the ship, believing that it carried enemy troops. Although some of the Japanese guards shot prisoners as they tried to escape, more than 80 prisoners survived the sinking. Chaplain Lafleur was last seen in the ship's hold, helping his fellow prisoners to escape the sinking ship.