31st Infantry Regiment Rosters, 1941-42

While researching the operations of 31st Infantry Regiment in the defense of the Philippines it quickly became clear that few official documents regarding the manning of the regiment survived the war. Any discussions of the strength of the regiment in various post-war histories and memoirs are estimates – they vary significantly. The absence of official records is not surprising and is probably the case for many of the units of General MacArthur’s U.S. Army Forces Far East, due to the general chaos surrounding the defense of the Philippines and the resulting surrender. 

Regarding the 31st Infantry, official documentation is lacking both for total numbers of personnel assigned, and for “by name” personnel assignments. Compounding the challenge of understanding the actual strength of the regiment at various points during the defense of Bataan (and identifying the men attached to it) were dramatic shifts in the regiment’s composition leading up to and during the war. These included:

     · The transfer of dozens of 31st Infantry officers and senior enlisted personnel from the regiment to Philippine Army (P.A.) reserve units that were being called to active duty as the prospect of war increased in the late summer and fall of 1941. These men led the training of the Filipino reserves as war approached and remained with the P.A. units as ‘advisors’ when the war began.

     · The severe depletion of the 31st Infantry Regiment during the defense of Bataan resulting from combat losses, starvation rations, and disease. This led to an influx of over 400 augmentees (replacement troops) in early 1942. The augmentees came primarily from non-infantry units. 

In an effort to add a measure of fidelity to discussions of the strength of the 31st Infantry in my book, Bataan – Corregidor – Prisoner of War, I attempted to recreate the unit’s roster from the ground up. I consolidated information in official and unofficial records indicating an individual was assigned to the regiment, whether the assignment was during the run-up to war or during the defense of Bataan. The result of this effort is contained in the four ‘rosters’ below which contain:

     · Members of the 31st Infantry at the start of the war

     · Members of the regiment’s Medical Detachment

     · Augmentees to the regiment, reassigned after the start of the war

     · Former members of the regiment who had transferred out prior to the start 

       of the war, primarily to P.A. reserve units.

The rosters contain the following information for each individual listed: full name; rank (highest rank noted in the various sources consulted); service number; home state or state of enlistment; assignment within the regiment; the ‘outcome’ for the individual (combat fatality, POW fatality, or survivor of the war); if wartime fatality - the date and location of death; whether deceased is still considered “missing in action;” place of burial or memorial of those that died during the war; and, notes. When considering the rosters, please refer to the document below  – “Approach, Abbreviations (etc.)” – for a discussion of how the rosters were created, various sources consulted, and the breakouts of abbreviations, acronyms, short titles, and the like.

Although I have attempted to correct errors I discovered in prior research it is very likely some errors remain, and that I have introduced errors myself through faulty analysis of available information or through simple typographic errors (the rosters were created via manual data entry). Please send corrections or questions to: queries@bataan-corregidor.com.