Paul Bunker Paul Delmont Bunker ( May 7 , 1881 – March 16 , 1943 ) was an American football player and soldier . Bunker attended the U . S . Military Academy and became the first football player at West Point to be selected as a first - team All - American by Walter Camp . Bunker was chosen as an All - American at the tackle position in 1901 and repeated as an All - American in 1902 , but as a halfback . He served in the U . S . Army for 40 years and was in command of the coastal artillery forces in the Battle of Corregidor . On the fall of Corregidor , Bunker became a prisoner of war . He died of starvation and disease in a Japanese prison camp in 1943 after losing 70 pounds . His posthumously published journal , " Paul Bunker ' s Diary " , became a best - seller . He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1969 . U . S . Military Academy . All - American football player . Born in Alpena , Michigan , Bunker enrolled at the U . S . Military Academy at West Point , New York . At West Point , Bunker played at the tackle and halfback positions on the academy ' s football team from 1899 - 1902 . One writer summarized Bunker ' s football career at West Point as follows : " A steel - chested , tow - haired , rugged tackle tipping the scales well over 215 pounds , Bunker made the cadet varsity as a plebe in 1899 and played without relief throughout the 1900 , ' 01 and ' 02 grid campaigns . . . . He was not the colorful elusive runner so prominent in football today , but depended on bull strength and a pair of piston - like legs that consistently sent him through the center of the line for three , four and five yards at a clip . " At West Point , Bunker was a classmate of Gen . Douglas MacArthur . MacArthur also served as the manager of the Army football team in 1902 when Bunker was at his peak . Bunker was selected by Walter Camp as a member of the 1901 and 1902 College Football All - America Team s . Bunker is one of a handful of athletes to win All - America honors at two different positions . He was selected as an All - American tackle in 1901 and as a halfback in 1902 . In 2008 , " Sports Illustrated " sought to identify the college football players who would have likely won the Heisman Trophy as the best player in the sport during each of the years before the award ' s inception in 1935 . " Sports Illustrated " selected Bunker as the retroactive Heisman Trophy winner for 1902 . Hazing investigation . in 1901 , the U . S . Congress appointed a committee to investigate hazing at the U . S . Military Academy . Upperclassmen in the academy were accused of engaging in dangerous hazing activities with the first - year students , known as " plebes . " Bunker , well - known to the public for his accomplishments in football , became one of the subjects of the investigation . Some of the plebes told the Congressional committee conducting the investigation that Bunker had forced them to consume tabasco sauce . Bunker acknowledged having braced some of the plebes , but denied ever having given more than fifteen drops of sauce to any one . Bunker testified that his hazing activities were confined to bracing , " making men sing out their wash lists to popular airs , ride broomsticks , stand on their heads and charge sparrows with fixed bayonets . " The investigation led to a ban on all hazing at the academy and was the subject of the 1999 book , " Bullies and Cowards : The West Point Hazing Scandal , 1898 - 1901 . " Military career . Bunker went on to a 40 - year career in the military specializing in coastal defense artillery . In 1915 , Bunker was assigned to a position with a coast artillery regiment on Corregidor Island in the Philippines . Bunker served as a commander of Fort Amador in Panama ( 1919 – 1921 ) . In 1927 , he was charged with setting up an impregnable defense for the city of New York during a tour of duty at Fort Totten in Willets Point , New York . In 1937 , Bunker was assigned to a coast artillery unit at Fort MacArthur in San Pedro , Los Angeles , California . Capture and death in Japanese prison camp . In 1940 , Bunker , then a colonel , returned to the Philippines and assumed command the 59th Coast Artillery Regiment ( United States ) at Fort Hughes in Manilla Bay . There , Bunker was reunited with his college roommate , Gen . Douglas MacArthur . Following the Japanese military offensive against the Philippines , President Roosevelt ordered MacArthur to evacuate the islands . MacArthur reluctantly left , promising to send reinforcements that never came . In his autobiography , MacArthur recalled one of his last memories on leaving the Philippines was of Bunker : " On the dock I could see the men staring at me . I had lost 25 pounds living on the same diet as the soldiers , and I must have looked gaunt and ghastly standing there in my old war - stained clothes - no bemedaled commander of inspiring presence . . . . Through the shattered ruins , my eyes sought ' Topside , ' where the deep roar of heavy guns still growled defiance , with their red blasts tearing the growing darkness asunder . Up there , in command , was my classmate , Paul Bunker . Forty years had passed since Bunker had twice been selected by Walter Camp for the All American team . I could shut my eyes and see again that blond head racing , tearing , plunging - 210 pounds of irresistible power . I could almost hear Quarterback Charley Daly ' s shrill voice barking , ' Bunker back . ' He and many others up there were old , old friends , bound by ties of deepest friendship . " Bunker remained in command of the coastal artillery in Manilla Bay during the Battle of Corregidor . On May 5 , 1942 , the battle came to an end when the half - starved U . S . forces commanded by Gen . Wainwright surrendered after an heroic last - ditch stand . Bunker , at age 61 , became a prisoner of war and died of starvation and disease in a Japanese prison camp at Karenko , Taiwan . Fellow prisoners recalled that Bunker wasted away from 220 pounds down to 150 pounds prior to his death . Preservation of the U . S . flag from Corregidor . In May 1942 , when Gen . Wainwright decided to surrender at Corregidor , he ordered Bunker to lower the U . S . flag and burn it to prevent its falling into the hands of the Japanese forces . Wainwright later recalled , " Promptly at noon this May 6 , 1942 , I ordered the white flag run up and our firing ceased . It was with the sickest of feelings that I gave the white - flag - raising order to Colonel Paul D . Bunker . " Instead of burning the entire flag , Bunker cut off a piece and concealed it under a patch on his shirt . Before he died in the Japanese prison camp , Bunker sent for Colonel Delbert Ausmus , cut the flag remnant into two pieces and gave one of the pieces to Ausmus . He told Colonel Ausmus he did not expect to survive the prison camp and that it was Ausmus ' duty to take his piece of the flag to the Secretary of War . Ausmus concealed the remnant in his shirt cuff , and shortly after the war ended , Ausmus delivered it to Secretary Patterson . In November 1945 , Ausmus described the circumstances under which he received the remnant from Bunker : " He was taken to Billibid prison in Manila and came down with pneumonia . While he was in the hospital Col . Paul D . Bunker of Taunton , Mass . , was brought in suffering from seriously infected blisters on his feet and blood poisoning in one leg . On June 10 , Bunker watching carefully ' to see that there were no Japs near , ' swore him to secrecy , Ausmus continued , and ' said he wanted to turn something over to me to deliver to the Secretary of War . ' From beneath a false patch set into the left pocket of his shirt Bunker took a bit of red cloth . Solemnly he gave Ausmus part of it and put the rest back . " While giving one piece of the flag to Ausmus , he held onto another piece until the time of his death . Gen . Wainwright later recalled the circumstances of Bunker ' s death in the prison camp , still holding onto the remnant : " He must have suffered . . . constant pain of hunger . . . I sat with him for a part of the last two hours of his life . . . [ He was ] cremated in the rags in which he had carefully sewn a bit of the American flag he had pulled down in Corregidor . " Ausmus did deliver it to the Secretary of War who unveiled it during a speech on the event of Flag Day in June 1946 . The remnant of the U . S . flag from Corregidor saved by Bunker and Ausmus is on display in the West Point museum . Posthumous honors . In 1944 , Bunker was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for exceptionally meritorious service at Corregidor . The citation read : " His courageous and incessent devotion to duty in directing the activities of his batteries and in supervising the immediate repair of damage inflicted by Enemy bombardment was outstanding . Colonel Bunker ' s outstanding leadership maintained superior morale and efficiency in his command through the campaign . " Bunker ' s 190 - page diary of his time on Corregidor was published posthumously under the title " Paul Bunker ’ s War " and became a best - seller . Bunker was honored with burial in the cemetery at West Point . In June 1946 , one of the U . S . Army ' s coastal artillery batteries located at Fort MacArthur was renamed the Battery Paul D . Bunker , BCN - 127 to honor Bunker ' s memory . He was posthumously inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1969 .