James Downey Jr., who survived the infamous Bataan Death March in 1942 and became an inspiration to his family, died Monday. He was 96 years old.Downey served with the Army's 26th Cavalry Philippine Scouts, a decorated unit that still rode horses into battle in the early days of World War II. Half-Filipino by birth, his mother was of Philippine and Spanish heritage and his father was from Augusta County, a cavalry officer who fought in the Spanish-American War.
In 1942, Downey was a young soldier in the prime of life, six years removed from a tryout on the 1936 U.S. Olympic swim team, when Japanese soldiers captured him on April 9.
He was put in line with thousands of other prisoners and ordered to start walking. The rule was simple, he recalled. If you stop, you die.
The forced march to a Japanese POW camp covered 60 miles and lasted five days. For a time, Downey carried his little brother, Robert, who survived the march but ultimately died of sickness.
Downey recounted his experiences last year in an interview with the Daily Press. After more than 60 years, his memories were still chilling.
"A lot of my friends died along the way," he said. "And sometimes a Japanese tank would go over -- Oh God -- you'd see them along the road. It was terrible."
By some estimates, 11,000 men died.
But his determination in surviving one of the darkest chapters in American military history was not lost on his family.
His son, Gary Downey, said the themes of never giving up and always helping a brother were impressed upon the children at an early age.
"The journey that happened to him on Bataan, it still continues for him," Gary said last year.
James Downey retired from the Army in 1963 as a master sergeant. He served a stint at Fort Eustis in Newport News, where he met his wife, Frances.
She died in 2006. She and James were married 57 years and had four children. He was a former resident of Yorktown.