textzavatmarvin1937.html

North High School Wall of Honor
Marvin Zavat
Class of January, 1937

Research done by Claradell Shedd, Class of 1953.

Marvin Zavat

Marvin was a member of North High's class of January, 1937. His next of kin was listed as Mr. Paul Zavat, 1218 4th Street, Des Moines, IA. Marvin's service number was 39529112.

Marvin Zavat

Year		Rank		Status

January, 1937		x		Graduated from North High, Des Moines, IA
date	x	Worked	x	Where and when?
July 28, 1942		Inducted; US Army		Fort MacArthur, CA.
date	x	Training	x	*Camp Roberts, CA
November, 1942	x	Training	x	Mississippi. (Camp Shelby/Company C; 2nd Field Artillery Battalion; 65th Infantry Division?)
December 16, 1942	x	US Army	x	To Panama. Joined up with an Armored Division; December 29, 1942.
December 6, 1944- December 29, 1944	x	US Army	x	Troop ship to Philippines; arriving December 29, 1944. Crossed the 180th Meridian (International Date Line) on December 17, 1944 on US Army Transport (USAT) Sea Barb. Received certification for the "Domain of the Golden Dragon."
March 10-August 15, 1945	x	US Army	x	Invasion in **Mindanao
date	x	US Army	x	After bomb was dropped on Hiroshima (August 6, 1945), ***was stationed in Hiroshima, Japan.
date	x	Enroute	x	Troop ship to U.S.
January 13, 1946	x	Discharge	x	Fort MacArthur, CA.
Civilian	x	Retirement	x	Southern California

*Camp Roberts, CA (Paso Robles, CA)
Camp Roberts is a former U.S. Army base in central California, on both sides of the Salinas River in Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties[1], now run by the California Army National Guard. It is named after Harold W. Roberts, a World War I Medal of Honor recipient.[1] Nearby communities include San Miguel, Heritage Ranch (Lake Nacimiento), Oak Shores (Lake Nacimiento), and Bradley, all unincorporated. The nearest incorporated city is Paso Robles.

**Mindanao, Philippines
Mindanao is named after the Maguindanaons who constituted the largest Sultanate historically, and evidence from maps made during the 17th and 18th centuries suggests that the name was used to refer to the island by natives at the time. Evidence of human occupation dates back tens of thousands of years. In prehistoric times the Negrito people arrived. Sometime around 1500 BC Austronesian peoples spread throughout the Philippines and far beyond.

The Battle of Mindanao was fought by United States forces and allied Filipino guerrillas against the Japanese from 10 March to 15 August 1945 at Mindanao island in the Philippine Archipelago, in a series of actions officially designated as Operation VICTOR V, and part of the campaign for the liberation of the Philippines during World War II. The battle was waged to complete the recapture of the southernmost portions of the archipelago and secure them from remaining Japanese forces.

Operation VICTOR V On 10 March 1945, the U.S. Eighth Army under Lt. Gen. Robert L. Eichelberger was formally ordered by Gen. Douglas MacArthur to clear the rest of Mindanao, with the start of Operation VICTOR V, with expectations that the campaign would take four months. Eichelberger had misgivings about the projected timetable for the operation, but nonetheless, his Eighth Army staffers came up with a more effective plan. Instead of the expected headlong frontal assault on the Japanese defenses, the plan called for securing a beachhead at Illana Bay in the undefended west, then a drive eastward more than a hundred miles (160 km) through jungle and mountains to strike from the rear. The objective, which called for achieving surprise and pressing forward quickly and aggressively by the invading forces, deemed Eichelberger, could unhinge the Japanese both physically and psychologically. The key to the operation's success involved the beachhead performance of the landing force and the ability of the participating units to maintain the momentum of their attack, preempting Japanese reactions, and hopefully before the rainy season started which would complicate movement in the island. Ground operations were assigned to X Corps under Maj. Gen. Franklin C. Sibert, with Maj. Gen. Roscoe B. Woodruff's 24th Infantry Division and Maj. Gen. Clarence A. Martin's 31st Infantry Division as principal combat units. Amphibious Task Group 78.2, under Rear Adm. Albert G. Noble, was tasked to carry the 24th Division and X Corps headquarters to the assault beaches near Malabang by 17 April to secure a forward airfield. Five days later, the 31st Division was expected to be in Parang, twenty miles (30 km) south, located near Highway 1, the route to Davao.

***Hiroshima, Japan after the atomic bombing
During the year after the bombing, approximately 40,000 U.S. troops occupied Hiroshima, while Nagasaki was occupied by 27,000 troops.



Troop ship USAT Sea Barb from Panama to Philippines (below); Camp Roberts, CA (above)

When Marvin crossed the 180th Meridian from Panama to Philippines; December 17, 1944


Philippines	Mindanao Invasion Landing

	Marvin Zavat Technician Fourth Grade 2nd Field Artillery Battalion US Army
Good Conduct; Asiatic-Pacific Campaign; Philippine Liberation w/bronze star American Campaign; WWII Victory Medal

References

(1) The World War II Army Enlistment Records contain information on more than nine million indivdual enlistments. These records can be found online at http://www.archives.gov/.

(2) The comprehensive list of names from North High's 1893-2018 graduation classes are from Claradell Shedd's North Des Moines High School website. The names of North High School graduates can be found online at http://www.ndmhs.com/. Marvin Zavat's 1937 class page is http://www.ndmhs.com/pages/yearclass1937(1997.60).html

07/28/10. Living in CA.

Music: "Wind Beneath My Wings"