Jap Prisoner
Private J. Safin, 22, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Safin, 716 S. Linn Street, is being held by the Japanese as a prisoner of war. Private Safin enlisted in the coast artillery August 31, 1940. The war department reported that he was well and was being held somewhere in the Philippines.
Source: The Sioux City Journal, April 5, 1943 (photo included)
Private Safin Held By Enemy
Once Wrote to Parents “We Have Them Beaten”
Private Benny J. Safin, 22, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph H. Safin, 716 S. Linn Street, was captured by the Japanese and is being held as a prisoner of war, according to a war department list issued Friday.
The parents had been notified two weeks ago, they declared, but had made no mention of the wire from Washington except to intimate friends.
They immediately wrote their son a letter and understand he will be permitted to write them, they said.
The last letter they received from him arrived November 19, 1941, when he was stationed at Fort Mills, Corregidor, in Manila Bay. The letter was one of hope and stated that “we have the Japs beaten.”
Private Safin enlisted in the coast artillery August 31, 1940 and within three months was in the Philippines. At the time of his enlistment he was employed by a garage here. He was graduated from St. Francis School.
The war department in its message two weeks ago stated that he was well. He is a prisoner somewhere in the Philippines, the parents said.
Source: The Sioux City Journal-Tribune, April 8, 1943
Pvt. Benny J. Safin is memorialized at the Walls of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery, Taguig City, Philippines. He was awarded the Purple Heart.
Source: ancestry.com
