The Story of Alvin Lloyd McNeil
By Cody Berry
I recently wrote about Ewell Ross McCright who was a prisoner of war during WWII. Well, he wasn’t the only local veteran to have spent time in a POW camp. In the Gann Museum’s new exhibit, “My Country Called,” named after historian Arnold Wright’s book, we have some newspaper clippings and a discharge form belonging to Alvin Lloyd McNeil. This is his story.
McNeil was born on March 9, 1920, in Bauxite, Arkansas to Alvin Lee and Chloe Cate McNeil. McNeil was educated in Benton, and he joined the U.S Navy for the first time in 1937. After going through boot training in San Diego, California, McNeil was sent into the Pacific to serve on a series of ships. Arnold Wright’s book said that after training McNeil was assigned to the USS Satyr (ARI-23).1 A framed newspaper article I found with his picture said that McNeil entered the Navy in August 1940, did his training in Norfolk, Virginia and was assigned to the USS Pennsylvania until May 1941 when he was sent to the Philippines on the USS Conopus.2
While in the Philippines, McNeil was captured by the Japanese on Corregidor Island in May 1942 and was left in a prison camp until November 1943. After that McNeil was moved to another camp in Osaka, Japan. He spent three years there working in a steel factory. After the bombing of Osaka towards the end of the war McNeil moved to the mountains and worked in the Japanese shipyards until the surrender of Japan in 1945.3 McNeil also took part in the Bataan Death March along with fellow Saline County men, Billy Callison and Charles “Sonny” Moore.4
McNeil was finally liberated from the Japanese camp on September 10, presumably in 1945, and he made it back to the U.S. on October 2.5 The framed discharge form I have on display said that McNeil received an ankle wound on Corregidor Island on May 2, 1942. He entered the Navy at that time on August 30, 1940, in Nashville, Tennessee and his home address was on Military Road in Benton. McNeil was discharged honorably on July 11, 1950. By that point he had already served more than nine years in the Navy. He was awarded the American Defense Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Area Medal, Purple Heart Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the WWII Victory Medal, and the Philippine Defense Ribbon. McNeil retired on December 16, 1960. He passed away in October 1982.6
Citations:
1 Arnold Wright, My Country Called, 1993, p. 195.
2 “Lloyd McNeil, Prisoner 3 Years, Back Home; Was In Osoka Jap Prison,” 1945?
“Lloyd McNeil, Prisoner 3 Years, Back Home; Was In Osoka Jap Prison,” 1945?
4 Arnold Wright, My Country Called, 1993, p. 195
5 “Lloyd McNeil, Prisoner 3 Years, Back Home; Was In Osoka Jap Prison,” 1945?
6 Alvin Lloyd McNeil, Report of Separation from the Armed Forces of the United States, 1950 and Arnold Wright, My Country Called, 1993, p. 195.