Franklin T. East Papers
Scope and Contents
This collection documents the military service and personal faith of Franklin T. East. The bulk of the collection focuses on his U.S. Army career in the Pacific Theater during World War II. It includes a memoir by East recounting his service, copies of newspaper clippings about his experience in the Bataan Death March and his imprisonment as a prisoner of war, and a photograph of East with an unidentified woman. The collection also contains a copy of a Bible published by Deseret Book Company for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, featuring East’s handwritten annotations. Together, these materials present East’s wartime experience in his own words and as reported by the press, as well as his religious life.
Dates
- Creation: 1935; 1977
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open to research.
Conditions Governing Use
Permission to publish material from this collection in any form must be obtained from the Natioanl Museum of the Pacific War, Center for Pacific War Studies.
Biographical / Historical
Franklin Thomas East (March 4, 1916 – August 1, 1989) was born in Pima, Arizona, and raised in Pomerene and Benson, Arizona. He was drafted into the United States Army in March 1941 and trained at the Quartermaster Training School at Fort Francis E. Warren in Cheyenne, Wyoming. In June 1941, he was assigned to Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City, Utah.
East arrived in the Philippines on Thanksgiving Day 1941 and served with American forces on Bataan. After the forces surrendered, he survived the Bataan Death March and was held as a prisoner of war. He was first held at Camp O’Donnell, then moved to Cabanatuan on Luzon in June 1942. In August 1943, he was transferred to Clark Field, and in July 1944 he was sent to Camp No. 6 in Nagoya, Japan. East was liberated in September 1945 and returned to the United States in October 1945.
Full Extent
.125 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Franklin T. East Collection contains a memoir, copies of newspaper clippings, and a photograph documenting East’s U.S. Army service in the Pacific Theater during World War II, including the Bataan Death March and his imprisonment as a prisoner of war, along with a Bible annotated by East.
Arrangement
This collection consist of two folders.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Franklin T. East donated these materials to the Texas Historical Commission in 1986 (Accession number 1986.557).
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Sarah O'Malley on October, 2026.
Subject
- United States. Army (Organization)
- Camp O'Donnell (Organization)
- Cabanatuan (Philippines : Concentration camp) (Organization)
- Title
- Franklin T. East Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Sarah O'Malley
- Date
- 2026-10-20
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Center for Pacific War Studies / National Museum of the Pacific War Repository
328 E. Austin St.
Fredericksburg Texas 78624 United States of America
archives@nimitzfoundation.org