Thomas F . Breslin " Colonel " Thomas F . Breslin ( 1885 – 1942 ) was a civil engineer and a civilian contractor for the United States Army . He was pinned as a Colonel at the outbreak of the Battle of the Philippines and died during the Bataan Death March , the brutal POW march in the aftermath of the Battle of Bataan . Birth and early life . Thomas Breslin was born in Summit Hill , Pennsylvania on July 6 , 1885 , the son of Francis Breslin and Mary Malloy . He was baptized 6 days later at the Church of St . Joseph . Francis was a Justice of the Peace in Summit Hill . Francis ' family had immigrated from Glenties County Donegal , Ireland in 1865 . Mary was also born in Summit Hill . They were married at St . Anthony ' s Church in Greenpoint , Brooklyn , New York . Thomas was the oldest of six children and grew to be 5 ' 11 " . Education . He received dual degrees in Civil Engineering and Mining Engineering from Pennsylvania State College , now called Pennsylvania State University , graduating at the age of 22 in 1907 . Work and marriage in Cebu . Thomas received a contract with the U . S . Government to survey large portions of the island of Cebu in the Philippines which was then under American rule following the Spanish - American war . While in Cebu , he married Maria Mata Laurel who was born in Danao City on Cebu Island , the daughter of Candido Laurel and Gabina Mata . They had 11 children together . A street named " Brezlin Street " was named ( with a phonetic spelling ) after him in Cebu City , Cebu . He became multilingual during his time there . According to a record held by his son , Robert Breslin , " The Island of Cebu bears his initials at each mountain peak " meaning that his initials are on the surveying benchmarks at each mountain peak on Cebu . Surveyor ' s initials are left on benchmarks so that if questions or disputes arise , the original surveyor can be consulted . Luzon . They moved from Cebu to the island of Luzon in order for Thomas to work as a mining engineer and mine inspector in Baguio . At the outbreak of World War II , he was working as a civilian contractor for the US Army . He was in charge of constructing new barracks at Fort William McKinley , just south of Manila . According to his obitutary in a Summit Hill , Pennsylvania newspaper , " Mr . Breslin ' s fortunes and prominence grew until his name was notably linked with many business and governmental institutions in the Philippines . He established his home on Cebu , and Americans who visited him were impressed with the obvious success he had made of his prominence . " The Baatan Death March . Although he was a leading civilian and was not in the military , he was pinned a Colonel when the Battle of the Philippines ( 1941 – 1942 ) started . According to a record held by his son Robert Breslin : " After his commanding general pinned Colonel ' s rank on his lapel , he made his goodbyes at home and by Christmas Day , 1941 was helping to position the defenses at Bataan . " His language skills are thought to have been an important consideration in his pinning as most of the enlisted men in the United States Philippine Division were from the Philippines . When the American forces there were overcome by the Japanese in the Battle of Bataan , the prisoners of war were made to march about 100 km as part of their journey to several concentration camp s in the Bataan Death March . It was during this death march that , according to his son Robert ' s record , " Sick with dysentery and malaria , his comrades hid him in a culvert on the road to avoid the Japanese bayonets . A young Filipino man found him , took him to his home and hid him underground in his backyard , trying to nurse back his strength for about a month . With meager food amounts and no medicine , he succumbed to the diseases that plagued him . " He died on May 10 , 1942 . His son ' s ordeal . His son , Richard " Dick " Breslin , was also on the death march but was much younger and stronger and so survived . Around April 3 , 1942 , Dick visited his father at the " Quartermaster Corps " before going to the front lines of the Battle of Bataan . This was the last time they would meet . After the surrender to the Japanese , Dick marched from Mariveles , Bataan to " Kilometer 69 " , and then was sent by cattle train to Camp O ' Donnell in Tarlac . Because he was relatively healthy he was moved to " Camp # 1 " in Cabanatuan , and from there was on assignment , constructing the airport in Las Piñas from 1943 to 1944 . He was near Corregidor when the Americans / Allies conducted the airstrike . Two days later , Dick was put in the coal bin of a hell ship and spent 38 days there before landing in Formosa . From Formosa they sailed the China Sea to Muji , Japan . From Muji he was sent by train to Tokyo and then to Odati for the winter 1944 – 1945 where he worked in an open pit lead mine until the war ended . He weighed about 87 lbs . at the end . His family . His family searched for him during the later , similar march of the prisoners from the Battle of Corregidor . They had no word of the fate of him or of his son until late in the war . Burial . After the American and Filipino army reoccupation of Luzon in 1945 , a villager on the Bataan peninsula pointed out where his body had been buried to the soldiers . Only at this point did his family learn that he had died . Thomas ' body was then exhumed and re - buried at Fort William McKinley , just south of Manila . His grave is maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission .