Honoring those lost but never forgotten

On Dec. 26, 1941, deep in the Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines, two men volunteered to hold a bridge and provide covering fire for a retreat. They were never heard from or seen alive again.

Their names were Pfc. Gerald J. Bell and Pvt. August “Jeff” Bender. Almost 83 years later, on Sept. 23, 2024, Bell was given proper honors and a place of rest at the Little Falls Veterans Cemetery during a dedication ceremony thanks to the hard work and dedication of his great-niece Dottie Bisted.

“On behalf of the family, we would like to thank you all for coming,” Bisted said. “Uncle Gerald was my grandma’s little brother. She always said he was a prankster and spoke of her baby brother with fond memories. She was so proud of her baby brother that she named one of her sons after him, my dad, who was born in August of 1941. So while Gerald knew about my dad, he was never able to meet him, although he thought it was great that there was another Gerald in the family.”

Bisted said not having a place to honor Bell was difficult for the family, especially after learning of the heroic choice her great uncle and Bender volunteered for, knowing that they would likely be killed.

Brainerd Public Schools archivist John Erickson has been working on preserving local history and compiled an account of Bell and Bender’s actions leading up to and during World War II. This retelling is taken from his historical account, military records and the family’s recollection of the events.

Born in Crow Wing County to James Bell and Vietta (Dottie) Barker-Bell on July 14, 1922, Bell, a twin, was the sixth of eight children. He had brown eyes and brown curly hair. And according to his siblings, he was a prankster and a “little devil.” He used to talk his twin sister Geraldine into giving him all the toys.

Bell was very close to his twin and they even had their own language. Family members recall when they were around 3 or 4 years old, they needed to be separated for 24 hours, so they would talk to others.

Bell attended Krech School and went on to Washington High School. As was not uncommon for the time, he left high school during his sophomore year to provide for the family and got a job at Northwest Paper Co.

Four months after turning 17, he lied about his age and enlisted in the Army in 1940, joining the Minnesota National Guard’s 34th Tank Company, located in the Brainerd National Guard Armory.

On Feb. 5, 1941, Bell became a United States soldier in the federalized 194th Tank Battalion. Company A departed from Brainerd in February of 1941 for training.

Bell graduated from the Armored Force School at Fort Knox, Kentucky, as a radio operator on Aug. 2, 1941, and was assigned as a radioman and assistant tank driver. Bender and Bell were accompanied by about 60 other men of Brainerd’s Company A, 194th Tank Battalion.

After initial combat on, International Dateline adjusted, Dec. 7, 1941, it was forebodingly quiet. That ended Dec. 24 with the order to evacuate fixed defensive positions and to disappear into the jungle, as the Japanese forces were coming.

Late on Dec. 24, the 192nd and 194th tankers formed a defensive line along a river and road. The 192nd Tank Battalion then received orders to withdraw, but the 194th remained. The 194th tanks and crews extracted heavy Japanese losses that day, but also suffered losses as the Japanese advanced to a crucial river crossing. Then the order came: Retreat.

Ultimately, Company A, 194th Tank Battalion, including Bell and Bender, were informed that to escape into the Bataan Peninsula, they would have to fight their way out.

To protect the retreat of the 194th, two volunteers were sought to set up a machine gun position at the far end of a bridge, which the approaching Japanese Army was expected to cross in pursuit of the retreating tanks.

Bell and Bender volunteered.

As Company A began a fighting retreat into the Bataan Peninsula, the Japanese Army suffered heavy casualties from Bell’s and Bender’s machine guns, but ultimately Bell and Bender were surrounded and were killed by Japanese fire.

Bell was 19 years old, Bender 22. Bell was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. His posthumous Purple Heart, awarded on Sept. 18, 1945, states Bell was wounded in action, resulting in his death on Dec. 26, 1941.

It was not until Oct. 12, 1945, that Bell’s parents received a telegram from the War Department informing them that he had died in action.

Bender’s mother passed away on Aug. 28, 1945, never having learned of her son’s fate. Ten days after her death, Bender’s family learned that he, too, was killed in action.

The 194th and others engaged the enemy for four months, buying America time to regroup before all were ordered by their command to surrender on April 9, 1942. Those soldiers who survived were then forcibly marched through the Phillipines over about 65 miles in brutal conditions. Those who couldn’t march were beaten, killed and sometimes beheaded, the National WWII Museum reported. It became known as the Bataan Death March.