The John L. Schock Papers document Schock's military service, imprisonment, and his death in the Philippines during WWII. The collection includes personal documents, educational records, and professional achievements from childhood to adulthood.
The Correspondence series consists of letters from Schock to his family, including a series of 19 postcards used as stationary and written during a trip to Japan before the outbreak of war; details of his capture; 9 postcards (8 original and 1 photocopy) sent from prison camps; and telegrams to his mother on Mother's Day.
Letters from others to his family provide information regarding his well-being while imprisoned and his death on the Hell Ship "Brazil Maru."
Government correspondence consists of letters from the War Department, Army Service Forces, a member of Congress, and Information Circulars from the Prisoner of War Information Bureau on how to send mail to POWs. A handwritten note from Schock found at Bilibid along with a letter from the War Department detailing its discovery is included. The note was designed for some kind of Japanese radio broadcast, possibly as propaganda. Liberating soldiers found it among other items left at the camp at the end of the war. Of note is a telegram from the Secretary of War, informing the family of Schock's death.
The Miscellaneous subseries contains a notebook, photographs, clippings, a small badge, and various documents. The small, spiral bound notebook was recovered in Cabanatuan where Schock buried it along with the Busuanga Mine badge. The notebook contains phonetic translations of Japanese words and phrases; notes on treatment and care of specific POWs; ledger entries of "pay" to POWs; and notes on POW diet and how it was supplemented.
There are several yearbook page fragments; one photograph of Fort Mills, Philippines before the fall of Bataan; one unidentified negative; and a limited number of local newspaper clippings where Colonel Schock is mentioned.
Also included are assorted documents - bank records related to property sale, a letter of recommendation, and certificates related to Schock's education, military service, and professional activities, including diplomas, professional awards, military certificates, and report cards.
Colonel John L. Schock, of the US Army Dental Corp, was captured by the Japanese during WWII and imprisoned in the Philippines at the Camp O'Donnell internment camp for POWs; Bilibid Prison, a civilian prison converted to a POW camp; and Cabanatuan Prison Camp, built by the occupying Japanese.
Colonel Schock participated in the Bataan Death March, and died on January 24, 1945 on board the POW transport Hell Ship "Brazil Maru," one of the ships used by Japanese forces to transport POWs from the Philippines to Japan.
While imprisoned, Colonel Schock was part of the medical corps for the camps, and was appointed ranking officer at Camp O'Donnell by Colonel James W. Duckworth from June 29 to July 19, 1942. He participated in efforts to supplement starvation rations and save as many prisoners as possible by pooling money to buy small amounts of fresh food.
John L. Schock was born on April 18, 1891 in Nebraska, one of three children born to William and Dora Schock. He was raised in Falls City, Richardson Nebraska, served as an Army Dentist during WWI, was based at the 1st General Hospital in the Philippines after the war and at Fort Mills in December, 1941.