Costance Cowan with Jimmy's dog tag
To recap, someone recently
found a dog tag of James W. Cowan on Corregidor Island. Over the years, hundreds – if not thousands –
of dog tags have been found on Corregidor.
Many are on display in the museum.
But finding one today is expectedly rare. Tour guide Armando Hildawa came into
possession of Jimmy’s dog tag and entrusted it to American visitor Brandon
Ainsworth. Brandon, by clever use of the
internet, tracked down Jimmy’s sister and only surviving sibling, Constance Cowan,
age 87, of Duluth, Minnesota. Since we
were in the area during the months of July and August, Steve contacted Constance
to set up a meeting. Steve also contacted
the American Cemetery in Manila to get photographs of Jimmy’s name on the Walls
of the Missing, something Steve was sure that Constance would appreciate.
Steve thought that this story
was newsworthy, and by chance met TV reporter and weekend weatherman Dave
Anderson from KBJR, Channel 6 in Duluth, who initially sounded very interested
in producing a feature story. However,
repeated follow-up emails went unanswered, so Steve contacted the editor of the
Duluth News-Tribune. Reporter Michael Creger was assigned the
story, which appeared on the front page the day after the meeting took place. Michael did a great job of not only telling
the story of the dog tag but also included that Steve’s father, Walter, a
Duluth native, had been in the same regiment as Jimmy on Corregidor, although the
two were in different batteries. He also
told about our living on the Rock. One
thing that Michael failed to mention was that Constance and Jimmy Cowan are
first cousins to former Minnesota Senator Walter Mondale. Jimmy’s middle name is Walter, and multiple male
relatives on that side of the family have Walter as first or middle name, not
to be confused with Steve’s father.
As is usual in modern-day
newspaper editions, it was only available on-line free of charge for a
week. Soon the Associated Press picked
up the story, but to our dismay, they eliminated all references to Walter and to
us. Eventually we managed to find one
website that contains the entire account – if you have not yet seen it, it is
at:
To be clear, we point out that we had nothing to do with Constance
initially receiving her brother’s dog tag.
However, had we not contacted the media, the story would have been untold. In addition, the coincidences – that Walter
was in the same regiment as James, was from the same city where Constance spent
much of her life, and the fact that we now live on Corregidor – make the story
more compelling, in our opinion.
But the story does not end with our meeting in Duluth.
During that get-together, Constance mentioned that her brother
had been assigned to “F Battery” of the 60th Coast Artillery
Regiment (60th CA). While
Steve is more familiar with his own father’s E Battery, he seemed to recall
that Everett Reamer (WW II Corregidor veteran, POW, and dear friend) served in
F Battery. Steve told Constance a little
of what he knew off the top of his head, mostly that the men in that battery
manned anti-aircraft guns around Battery Cheney. Constance said, “Oh, Jimmy would have loved
that – he loved anything to do with big guns.”
By the way, Walter, Everett, and Jimmy entered the service at the same
time, crossed the ocean on the same army transport ship (The Republic), and arrived on Corregidor on the same day. But Jimmy didn’t make it home.
After returning to Virginia (MN), Steve called Everett at
his home outside Cincinnati, Ohio, and asked him if he possibly remembered Jimmy
Cowan. Without hesitation Everett said,
yes, he did. At first all he could
recall was that they were in the same battery and that they had taken a leave
together to Manila when it was still peace-time. By coincidence, Everett’s daughter lives in
Hinckley, Minnesota, 75 miles south of Duluth, and he and his wife Bernice were
planning to be there soon. This gave
Steve the idea of trying to get Everett and Constance together.
As it turned out, it was rather easy. We had already made plans to drive from
Virginia, where we had been staying with Steve’s mother, Mary Anne, to
Minneapolis, where the three of us would spend several days with family before
our flight back to the Philippines. Hinckley
was right along our route.
We (Steve, Marcia and Mary Anne) arrived at David and
Melissa’s house (son-in-law and daughter of the Reamers) and spent a few
minutes meeting them and chatting with Everett, introducing him and Mary Anne
to each other. Bernice soon returned
from a hair appointment to join us.
Steve initially met Everett on his first tour to the
Philippines, back in 2002. Everett was
one of five Corregidor and two Bataan defenders who made the trip for the 60th
anniversary of the fall of the Philippines.
Steve immediately took to Malcolm Amos, a Death March survivor from Iowa
whom we have mentioned on several occasions, and to Everett, who was in the 60th
CA as was Steve’s father. Both veterans
could have been described as feisty and quick witted. Later they were both on the 2006 tour that we
took for the dedication of the Hell Ships Memorial in Subic Bay. (We’ve included a picture. Everett is second from left, Malcolm second
from the right.) And later in 2006 the
Reamers and Malcolm were at the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor
annual convention in Phoenix, Arizona, the first convention we attended.
Dick Francies, Everett Reamer, Malcolm Amos, and Chuck Towne
Soon, Constance and her cousin Eric Gibson arrived. Connie told Everett a bit about her brother,
showing him the dog tag and pictures of James.
Everett had had a couple of weeks to think about James, and after seeing
his pictures, recalled that they were indeed very close. They bunked together on the USAT Republic, were assigned to the F Battery,
and even manned the same anti-aircraft gun! Everett set the fuses and Jimmy worked the
horizontal control. (A third soldier
worked the vertical control.) On May 5,
1942 they were moved from their position to a point above James Ravine, in
anticipation of a second Japanese landing which never came.
Constance listens to Everett
Constance and cousin Eric
.jpg)
Everett Reamer outside Malinta Tunnel, May 7, 1942
Melissa had prepared a sumptuous meal, typical of Midwestern
hospitality, so we all sat down for lunch.
Lunchtime
After lunch, Steve overheard Melissa talking to Marcia about the scars on her father’s back. It reminded Steve that he had never paid attention to the scars on his own father’s back, although Marcia noted them the first time she gave Walter a haircut. So Steve asked if Everett would mind showing us the scars on his back from wounds inflicted by sadistic Japanese prison guards. We took a picture, included here. Be mindful that these scars have had 70 years to heal and that the camera cannot do them justice. Nevertheless, Everett, who was once acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records for having been forced to stand at attention for 132 straight hours as punishment for attempting to steal Red Cross food packages withheld by the Japanese prison guards, still shows obvious signs of frequent, brutal beatings. (Guinness has since rescinded the record, probably due to political pressure.)
Everett's scars
Finally we gathered in different groupings for photos, and
said our goodbyes, which often take a long time in Minnesota. We were so happy to see the Reamers again, as
well as to bring Everett and Constance together for the first – we hope not
last – time.
Bernice and Marcia
Everett and Steve
Constance and Everett
If you find this story and set of coincidences intriguing,
we encourage you to pass along this email or to contact the media, in an effort
to give the story of Constance, Jimmy’s dog tag, and Everett Reamer, the coverage
it deserves.
Steve and Marcia, back on the
Rock
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