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Remember...John Marion Legg
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As a student at Richwood High School, Pete liked to write poetry, and one of his poems was published in the 1940 Richwood Year Book. He was a member of the Richwood Annual Biscuit Hounds Staff, the Agricultural Club and the Literary Guild.
Pete Legg enlisted in the Army on February 14, 1941, in Columbus, Ohio. On December 7, he was on Corregidor in the Philippine Islands as a member of the Signal Corps. As it was thought the large artillery located on Corregidor would afford them protection, Pete and others in his group withdrew to Bataan. They reached a mountainous location called McKinley, where they "lived off the land" because their supply lines had been cut off by the Japanese. This lasted until April 9, 1942, when the Philippine Islands, with the exception of Corregidor, were surrendered by General Edward King.
John Marion "Pete" Legg, a prisoner of the Japanese, died August 16, 1942, at Cabanatuan Prison Camp. He is listed on the Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery.
Mancel Neely Legg, called "Scoot," was a brother of John Marion Legg. He was born September 17, 1930, in Tioga, West Virginia.
By 1951, Scoot Legg was a member of 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, in Korea. He was wounded on February 1 but returned to duty on April 5. Two months later, his family was notified that he was missing as of May 18. It later was determined that Scoot Legg has been captured by Chinese forces in the vicinity of Hangye, South Korea, along with about 100 other soldiers. According to William E. Froeklich, a fellow prisoner of war, the POWs were put in buildings along the front line that were designated targets of American aircraft, and Scoot Legg was killed when American jet fighters attacked the building. He and the other casualties were buried by the surviving POWs.
On February 24, 1953, the Legg family was informed that his remains had been found, and in March his remains were shipped home. On March 29, 1953, Mancel "Scoot" Legg was buried in the Legg Family Cemetery in Tioga, where a double monument stands for both Mancel and his brother John. The names of the brothers also appear on the Nicholas County War Memorial located on the Courthouse lawn.
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West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.
