ChristopherMMatthews

Y'all are simply not going to believe the story behind this photo, which I found in the wonderful @spcouta archives, or the story AFTER the story. The photo shows Capt. Clyde Fillmore and his wife, Thelma, kissing in Fort Worth on Sept. 26, 1945. Clyde has just returned home from WW II. He'd been away for 46 months, 42 of which were spent as a Japanese Prisoner of War as a member of the famed "Lost Battalion." The Lost Battalion was the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery, 36th Infantry Division (Texas National Guard) of the U.S. Army. The men of the battalion, plus the survivors of the sunken cruiser USS Houston, were captured by the Japanese on the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) in March 1942. It is called the Lost Battalion because the fate of the men was unknown to the United States until September 1944. They were prisoners of war for 42 months. 34 soldiers from the battalion and 368 survivors of Houston were taken prisoner. Most of the men were sent to Thailand to work on the Burma Railway, the building of which is portrayed in the film "The Bridge on the River Kwai." Of the 402 soldiers and sailors taken captive, 163 died in captivity. Most of the prisoners of war were from West Texas. If that was Clyde and Thelma's entire story, it would be enough. But no. I'm just getting started. Clyde was born in 1908. He grew up in Iowa Park, Texas and Wichita Falls, graduating from Iowa Park High School. After graduating, Clyde attended North Texas State Teachers College in Denton for one year. He passed the Texas Bar examination in 1929 two months before his twenty-first birthday, after completing what supposedly was a three-year correspondence course from Blackstone Institute of Law in only eight months. Clyde moved to Wheeler, Texas where in 1930 he was appointed county attorney of Wheeler County. On July 11, 1931, Clyde married Thelma Louise Mayfield. They were blessed with two daughters. The family moved to Wichita Falls in 1936 and Clyde opened a law office. He later became an assistant district attorney under Wichita County District and joined the Texas National Guard's Battery D, 131st Field Artillery, 36th Division ---- which was to become the Lost Battalion. He resigned as assistant district attorney when the National Guard was mobilized on November 25, 1940. Out of Pearl Harbor, a few days after it was bombed, his convoy was diverted to Australia and later to the island of Java in Indonesia. They were to assist the Dutch in the defense of the island. The Dutch ended up surrendering to the Japanese and Clyde became a POW for 42 months. Upon his return, this photo was taken. Can you imagine his and Thelma's emotions in this moment? But there's MUCH more. After returning home, Clyde was released from active duty with the rank of Captain and resumed his duties as assistant district attorney, serving through 1948, when he was elected district attorney. Clyde was re-elected in 1950 and resigned in 1951 to enter private practice of law in Wichita Falls, where he was an attorney for 49 more years, finally retiring in 2000 at the age of 92. Clyde had been actively engaged in the practice of law for over 70 years. Colleagues and adversaries alike held him in the highest esteem. His skill and exploits as a trial lawyer were legendary. Clyde Fillmore died on Oct. 10, 2004, at the age of 95. Thelma had died earlier in the year, on March 17, 2004, at the age of 93. They had been married for 73 years. THAT, my friends, is what I'd call a Texas life, well-lived. I'll have a bit more about Clyde Fillmore tomorrow.