The Bluffton News

Speculation About Welfare Of David
Kliewer Made After Jap Broadcast

Prisoners Taken by Japan on
Wake Island are Being Put
To Work

No Word Received Here From
Former U. S. Marine Air
Corps Lieutenant

With press dispatches reporting that hundreds of United States prisoners of war taken in the Japanese capture of Guam and Wake islands will be put to work in reclaiming waste lands, speculation as to the welfare and whereabouts of Lieut. David Kliewer, 23, formerly of Bluffton, was made here this week.

Lieut. Kliewer, the son of Rev. and Mrs. P. A. Kliewer, of Albany, Oregon, and formerly of the Ebenezer Mennonite church west of town, was taken as a prisoner of war when Wake island was attacked by the Japanese on December 7.

The press reports, based on radio broadcasts from Japan, stated that

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Speculation about Welfare Of David Kliewer Made After Broadcast

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the men will work in groups of 80 for seven hours daily with commissioned and non-commissioned officers exempted. Kliewer, it is pointed out, is a commissioned officer.

Following verification from United States Marine headquarters that David was a prisoner of the Japanese, Rev. and Mrs. Kliewer received a letter from him stating that he was "alive and in good health but much more than that I am not allowed to say. . . . Please let all my friends know I am safe and sound."

There was no information as to his whereabouts and the letter was censored twice. A corner of the envelope, presumably bearing his return address had been cut off by the censor.

Kliewer graduated from Bluffton High school in 1935 and was valedictorian of his class. He was also prominent in athletics and public speaking.

He enlisted in the marine air corps in 1939 and was stationed for a time in Pensacola, Florida, and later at San Diego, Calif. From there he was sent to Hawaii. Word from the marine corps was the first announcement that he was stationed on Wake island at the time of the Japanese attack.