Charles S . Lawrence Charles S . Lawrence ( December 22 , 1892 - June 12 , 1970 ) was a United States Army colonel who would survive the Bataan Death March to later become the first Executive Vice President of the Institute of Food Technologists ( IFT ) . Early life and career . A native of Guyton , Georgia , Lawrence enlisted in the United States Army in 1915 where he served for 33 years , including both World War I and World War II . Assignment to the Philippines . By the start of World War II , Lawrence was a lieutenant - colonel in the United States Army Quartermaster Corps serving in the Philippines when Japan invaded the country on December 22 , 1941 , as part of the Asian nation ' s Pacific conquests , now known as the Battle of the Philippines . During this time , the quartermasters ( including Lawrence ) attempted to purchase as much food as possible to outlast the invaders , but were stopped by their own commanding generals . This accounted for losses of 10 million pounds of rice as a result in one instance . In Lawrence ' s case at Tarlac where he served as depot commander , he had planned on seizing about 2 , 000 cases of canned food , mostly fish and corned beef , and a large amount of clothing from Japanese firms stationed in the Philippines , but was refused by General Douglas MacArthur ' s headquarters claiming that Lawrence had no right to confiscate these items . In fact , MacArthur ' s staff threatened the lieutenant - colonel with court martial if he attempted to take those supplies . The supplies were not taken as a result and were later destroyed during the Battle of Bataan . World War II . During the battle , food supplies became so scarce that soldiers became hunters in an effort to stay alive . Even though American and Filipino forces would be victorious in early battles , they could not hold on and Bataan fell on April 8 , 1942 . Lawrence was among the 15 , 000 Americans who surrendered with 60 , 000 Filipinos and were forced into the Bataan Death March . He survived the march and would spend the rest of the war as a prisoner of war . Lawrence was discharged from the US Army in 1948 after the end of World War II . He would earn the Legion of Merit , the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster , the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster , the Mexican Border Service Medal , the World War I Victory Medal , the Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal , the World War II Victory Medal , and the American Defense of the Pacific medal . Institute of Food Technologists service . After retirement from the Army , Lawrence agreed to become the first Executive Secretary ( now Executive Vice President ) of the Institute of Food Technologists ( IFT ) in 1949 . He took over the secretary ' s role from Carl R . Fellers , head of the food technology department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and moved the national offices to its present location in Chicago . Lawrence ' s tenure as Executive Secretary would see IFT grow from 3 , 000 members in 1949 to 6 , 000 members at the time of his retirement from the IFT in 1961 . Post - IFT activities . Following IFT , Lawrence served as advisor to the president of the National Florasynth Laboratory in Chicago until he retired for good in 1963 . He and his wife then moved to Romney , West Virginia where he lived until his death in 1970 . He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery .