Captain Lester A. Schade, USMC

+ May 30, 1917 — January 9, 1945 +

Laid to rest, 11 May 2019

Patriot Guard Riders mission complete.
Capt. Lester Schade, USMC, WWII, was a POW and survived torture for over 1,000 days before he was killed.

Capt. Schade, “I” Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines became a POW following the fall of the Philippines in April 1942. He survived the “Bataan Death March” and imprisonment at Cabanatuan Prison Camp No 1. Capt Schade was listed “Lost at Sea” until January 1947 when a mass grave near Takao City was exhumed. Later these remains were transferred to Hawaii and interred in Unknown Grave No 423 at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. August 2018 his remains were finally identified.

Lester A. Schade was born May 30, 1917 in the town of Holton, Marathon County, Wisconsin. Graduate of Dorchester High School in 1935, and the University of Wisconsin in 1939. From there he entered Officer Training School in Philadelphia, PA. June 1940 he was deployed to the Philippine Islands.

It was an emotional honor to escort Capt. Schade to the little country cemetery, where he was finally laid to rest next to his mother and father.