JAP PROPAGANDA BROADCAST TELLS OF LAWRENCE W. DAGUE
Jake Dague, southwest of Akron, received on Monday the following telegram from Provost Marshall General Lerch, of Washington D.C., dated Jan. 20, 1945, with reference to his son, Lawrence W. Dague, of the U.S. Navy, who has been a prisoner in a prison camp in Japan for many months. The telegram read: Following enemy propaganda broadcast from Japan has been intercepted: “Dear Dad: In the best of health. Hoping you and all others are the same. Notify Thelma and Ronald. Say hello to any of the gang. Your son, Lawrence, MM2/c—Lawrence W. Dague.” This broadcast supplements all previous reports.
_____
Lawrence Dague, MM2/c was a member of the crew of the submarine USS Perch. At the time of his capture, he and a number of other members were reported to be ashore, and those aboard the Perch, to prevent the ship from falling into the hands of the Japs, took it out into the ocean some distance and sank it. This happened early in the war in the South Pacific.
Source: LeMars Globe-Post, February 5, 1945
AKRON MAN OUT OF JAP PRISON
Jake Dague left Monday for Milwaukee, Wis., to visit his daughter and other relatives and to await the arrival of his son, Lawrence Dague, of the U.S. Navy, at the Great Lakes naval training station from Japan, where he was released from a prison camp a few weeks ago, says the Akron Register-Tribune.
Lawrence graduated from Akron high school with the Class of 1938 in May of that year and soon thereafter enlisted in the Navy, being assigned to submarine service. Early in the war with Japan, his ship was sunk in the South Pacific and he and some other members of the crew were captured by the Japs and committed to a prison camp. He remained a war prisoner until VJ-day. During the intervening years his father received an occasional postcard from Lawrence in Japan, but was permitted to give very scan information regarding himself. Lawrence has written and wired his father since his recent arrival on the west coast, advising that he is well and all right and that he will be seeing him very soon, after about seven years absence from home.
Source: LeMars Globe-Post, October 29, 1945
***Further Research:
Lawrence William Dague was born Mar. 14, 1920 to Jacob “Jake” and Lovessie Mae Dunn Dague. He died Mar. 2, 2000 and is buried at Dague Cemetery, Island Lake, Remer, MN.
Source: ancestry.com
