Cecil Raymond VanDiver
Private
Pvt. Cecil Raymond VanDiver (Harrodsburg Tankers Survivor, WW II) 1919–1999 BIRTH 5 AUG 1919 • Harrodsburg, Mercer County, Kentucky, USA DEATH 27 OCT 1999 • Died in the VA Center, Lexington, Fayette Co., Kentucky; Buried at Spring Hill Cemetery Harrodsburg, Mercer County, Kentucky, USA; MEMORIAL ID, 23035891 Education; 1 year of high school. Occupation; Farm hands, general farms, (He was married with 2 sons and 1daughter.)
-- ReferenceCecil Raymond VanDiver
BIRTH, 5 Aug 1919, Harrodsburg, Mercer County, Kentucky, USA
DEATH, 27 Oct 1999 (aged 80), Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky, USA
BURIAL, Spring Hill Cemetery, Harrodsburg, Mercer County, Kentucky, USA
MEMORIAL ID, 23035891
Cecil R. VanDiver, 80, died Wednesday, October 27, 1999 at the VA Medical Center in
Lexington. Born August 5, 1919 in Harrodsburg, he was the son of the late Oscar and
Susie Cumingo VanDiver. VanDiver was a US Army veteran, having served with the
192nd Tank Battalion at Bataan.
The former prisoner of war was captured April 9, 1942, and forced by Japanese troops to
walk about 70 miles with thousands of other U.S. soldiers (several of which were from
Harrodsburg) in the infamous march in the Philippines. After the march, which left
thousands of dead, VanDiver lived in prison camps, doing such tasks as burying fallen
fellow soldiers and mining coal.
He was a prisoner until September 1945. VanDiver was a life-time member of the
Disabled American Veterans, was a mason with 777 F&AM, and a member of the
Veterans of Foreign Wars. He was retired from the maintenance department at the
Kentucky State Hospital. He was a member of the Indian Hills Christian Church in
Danville and was a Kentucky Colonel.
Survivors include: his wife, Ruby Hawkins VanDiver, Burgin; two sons, Cecil Howard
VanDiver, Carrollton, and Robert Eugene VanDiver, Burgin; one daughter, Betty Jean
VanDiver, Burgin; one sister, Mary Della Yates, Indianapolis, IN; one grandson and one
great-grandson. Funeral services were held at 1 p.m. Saturday, October 30, at the
Alexander and Royalty Funeral Home with Odis Clark and Lee Cox officiating. Burial
with full military rites was held in the Spring Hill Cemetery.
Private Cecil Raymond Vandiver joined the Harrodsburg National Guard unit in 1939.
He was assigned as a cook in Headquarters Company. On April 9, 1942 he was taken
prisoner. He survived the Death March. At San Fernando they were loaded into steel
boxcars to Capas and then the final march to Camp O'Donnell.
He was later sent to Cabanatuan #1 and was on a work detail to rebuild bridges. He was
later put on a Hell Ship bound for Korea but was turned around because of suspected
submarine activity. They remained in the ships for days before setting sail again. They
finally arrived at Puson where they were put on a train for Manchuria. At Mukden he
unloaded sacks of cement and coal. He later worked in a steel mill. He eventually
returned to Harrodsburg after the war. He died on 27 October 1999.


