Name: Scecina, Thomas John
Born: 09/16/1910
Where Born: Linton, Indiana
Ordained: 06/11/1935
Where Ordained: St. Meinrad, Indiana
Served From-To: 1935-1944
Died: 10/24/1944
Where Died: China Sea
Buried: China Sea between Manila and Formosa; killed in World War II when, as a Japanese prisoner, his ship was mistakenly shelled by the United States Navy
Chaplain Scecina, United States Army, from Marion County Indiana served with the 57th Infantry Division at Fort McKinley, Philippines and was captured at the fall of the islands in 1942. He was one of the soldiers in the Bataan Death March. At the POW camp he volunteered for burial and cemetery details and ministered to the servicemens needs. In fall 1944 the Japanese prepared to transfer all POW’s on the Philippines to the mainland to work as slave labor, against the Geneva Convention. Father Tom boarded one of the first ships to move, the Arisan Maru, and endured two weeks of torture before the ship was unknowingly torpedoed by an American submarine. In the final three hours Father Tom heard confessions, gave absolution, and comforted his men as he became one of 1,792 men to die in the worst maritime disaster in United States History. For his heroism, Father Tom posthumously received the Purple Heart, the Silver Star, and the Bronze Star. Among many other honors, Father Thomas Scecina Memorial High School opened in his memory in 1953. He died with his comrades October 24, 1944. His name appears on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery.
– Bio submitted by Vada L. Long.
Manila American Cemetery and Memorial
Manila, Capital District, National Capital Region, Philippines
