Harrison Sterling Hughes Full Narrative

Harrison Hughes (born March 9, 1914 in Benton County, Washington) was a student of the Depression, studying part-time and joining the Army National Guard while enrolled at WSC from 1934-40.  He joined the Army Air Corps in 1940 and became a fighter pilot.  Stationed in the Philippines, he took a leading role in trying to maintain his unit’s few remaining aircraft during the Japanese assault, until becoming a prisoner of war in April 1942.  He survived more than two years of inhumane conditions in a POW camp before, ironically, being killed in October 1944 when an American submarine torpedoed the transport ship on which the Japanese were sending 1800 POWs to Japan as forced labor.