Man remembered for service to country and community

RITZVILLE - Rudy Thaut is remembered as a man who served his community after service in the U.S. Army that included 42 months as a prisoner of war in a Japanese prison camp.

"Rudy gave so much to this town and his country, and he never wore it on his sleeve or expected much," Senator Mark Schoesler said. "The thought of Rudy Thaut saying you owe me, or the U.S. owes me, was unconscionable. He was a great American."

Schoesler got to know Thaut through his lifetime service to the community of Ritzville, including volunteer work with the Zion Congregational Church, the Boy Scouts and Little League.

"You could not have grown up in Ritzville in the age bracket of my dad, myself or friends and not know who Rudy was," Schoesler said. "He was involved in the church in every capacity; choir, Sunday School and on the church board. He was involved in the Boy Scouts as a scout master; his son was an Eagle Scout, and he was involved in Little League. You would never think poorly of the U.S. Postal Service if you were there when Rudy worked there. He gave public service a good name."

Thaut was born in Ritzville in 1918, the ninth child of Fred and Anna Thaut, Volga Germans who had immigrated from Russia 12 years earlier. Anna Thaut died a year after Rudy was born, and Fred Thaut died before Rudy turned five years old. Rudy and his siblings were adopted by Fred's brothers. Rudy attended the Lincoln grade school, then the Central School and Ritzville High School through the 10th grade. Wanting to work to help support the family, Rudy enlisted in the Civilian Conservation Corps; reporting for work in the summer of 1935 at a CCC camp near Pullman. The CCC enrolled mostly young men who enlisted for a minimum of six months. Workers were paid $30 per month in addition to room and board, and were required to send the majority of their pay home to support their families.

At the end of his first term, Rudy returned to Ritzville, where he completed high school; graduating in 1938. After working for two years, Rudy enlisted in the Army, along with his good friend Walt Koch.

"Rudy grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, and the military offered the chance to see the world," Schoesler said. "For a lot of poor kids in the 1930's, military and travel didn't seem too bad."

Thaut and Koch were granted their requested assignment to the Coast Artillery Corp in the Philippines, arriving at Corregidor Island Dec. 5, 1940. Also assigned to coastal defense batteries on Corregidor were Herb and Robert Kent of Benge, and Walter Giese of Lind.

"The first year wasn't too bad," Rudy Thaut told Ritzville Journal-Times editor Bill Wilmot for an article published October 25, 1945, adding he was assigned to the 59th coast artillery as a plotter. "When word came through in December, 1941, that Pearl Harbor had been attacked everyone knew that we were in for it, but the Japanese came sooner than we had expected."

Koch, Giese, and the Kent brothers were in the 60th coast artillery, also stationed on Corregidor.

"The last month on Corregidor was a terrible experience," Thaut told Wilmot. "We were bombed and shelled constantly day and night and no one got much rest. Many of us lived in the tunnels while soldiers manning the beach defenses had to live in foxholes. But it was a toss-up since one seemed as safe as the other."

Corregidor surrendered to Japanese forces May 6, 1942. American and Filipino prisoners of war were taken to Bilibid prison in Manila for classification and numbering, then sent in freight cars by rail to Cabanatuan, arriving at the end of June, 1942.

Thaut told Wilmot between 40 and 50 men died in prison camp every day, with malaria and dysentery the most common ailments.

"The Japs set up pretty strict rules and tortured anyone who didn't obey them," Thaut said. "They also tortured just to be torturing but I don't care to discuss that. I will say that I was mildly tortured."

In the fall of 1942, Thaut and Koch were taken along with other POWs to Kobe, Japan; and on to a prison camp in Osaka.

"When we arrived there were 445 of us, but all except 119 had died six months later," Thaut recalled. He said those able to work unloaded freight cars from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. with 30 minutes off for lunch. The work was hard, and they didn't get any larger rations of rice.

"The fellows who couldn't work got only half rations. Everyone seemed to get weaker and weaker," Thaut said. From there, he and Koch were moved to Tenagowa, where the Japanese were building submarines.

"It was here that Walt Koch and I, who had been together since the start of the war, were to part," Thaut told Wilmot. "He had been ill almost since his capture and became steadily worse."

Upon his return to the U.S., Thaut had to carry the news of his buddy's death to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry M. Koch of Ritzville. They hadn't heard from their son; receiving a postcard from Koch 14 months after he mailed it, and more than a year after he died.

From Tenagowa, Thaut was sent to Omei, near Tokyo, to work in a quarry.

"A number of prisoners were killed in accidents, and the Japs, thinking they were committing suicide, closed the camp and put us to work in a nearby steel plant," Thaut said.

He said rations were better for a short time, but after three months they became worse than ever; workers receiving a little more than a pound of rice a day.

"However, I guess we were no worse off than the Jap civilians because they were all slowly starving to death, just like we were," Thaut said. "At the iron plant, I was given the nice job of stoking the furnace -- all on one pound of rice a day. When we first arrived the Japs had coal but as the end of the war approached they were using charcoal or anything else that would burn. They were really whipped when they finally surrendered."

Thaut worked his last day in prison camp August 15, 1945. He arrived in Seattle October 9, and following treatment in Madigan general hospital in Fort Lewis, was finally able to return to Ritzville on a 60-day leave.

"I don't hold any bitter hatred for the Japanese civilians, but of course I can never forgive the Japanese soldiers who mistreated our men, even though some of them were forced to do so," Thaut told Wilmot. "No one was ever happier to be home -- and I hope to stay here a good long time."

Of the six Adams county men captured by the Japanese, only Thaut and Hebert Kent returned home. Giese, along with Jasper Holliday of Washtucna were reported dead by the Japanese; and Robert Kent was killed when a Japanese prison ship was bombed and sunk.

Twenty-two years old when he enlisted at 180 pounds, Thaut weighed 113 pounds when he arrived back in the U.S.

Thaut earned a presidential citation with two oak leaf clusters, the combat infantrymen's badge, seven overseas stripes, Philippine Defense medal, Asiatic-Pacific and American Defense ribbons and a good conduct medal.

Post-war life

On his return to Ritzville, Thaut ran into Freda Hennings, who was working as a telephone operator in Fort Lewis, but happened to be home visiting friends and family. A 1942 Ritzville High School graduate, Freda had grown up out in the country, on a farm near Cow Creek between Ritzville and Sprague.

"I knew Rudy before, but we only knew each other a little," Freda recalled. "He wasn't here very long; he went to the CCC camp, then off to the military."

The two visited back in Fort Lewis, and when he was discharged from the Army in 1946, Rudy convinced Freda to transfer back to Ritzville, where she had previously worked as a telephone operator. The two were married March 29, 1947.

"You wonder what they went through, how anyone survived," Freda said. "The torture they went through, and so many of them died. Sometimes they didn't have food or water for two or three days. One time they drained a radiator to get something to drink."

Freda said despite Rudy saying at war's end he didn't care if he never saw another grain of rice again, he ate it when it was served.

"When we cooked it, it was always with something else. They never even had salt or spices for it," Freda said. "He never said he didn't like this food or that because, he said, over there you had no choice."

Freda said Rudy suffered macular degeneration, and used a MagniSight reader the Veterans Administration supplied him with to read the newspaper.

"With your diet nothing but rice for three and a half years, it affects your eyesight," Freda said.

Rudy retired from the post office in 1978, and passed away in 2016 after suffering a stroke a year or two earlier.

Before his death, Schoesler passed a House Resolution honoring Rudy Thaut and other American heroes "who endured the suffering of Corregidor and Bataan for their heroism, sacrifice, patriotism, and loyalty to this great nation," in February, 2003.

Schoesler said Rudy Thaut approached him one day after church, and said, "We have been trying for decades to get an apology or restitution from the Japanese government, but they steadfastly refuse to acknowledge they were morally wrong."

"Rudy wanted some recognition of what he and others went through," Schoesler said. "Our servicemen incarcerated by the Japanese went through incredible abuse. The Geneva Convention didn't apply when you were a prisoner of war of the Japanese."

The resolution reads Thaut, as one of 1,200 living survivors of Corregidor and Bataan, "overcame horrible adversities and afflictions but has continued to carry his banner high with his service to his community and the state of Washington, a shining example of a true patriot and hero."

"Rudy and Freda exemplified everything that was good about this community in my life," Schoesler said. "They had the perfect yard and clean home, they were friendly and caring, Rudy shot a good game of snooker at the Pastime, and they performed community service. They exemplified everything good about Ritzville."

Freda still lives in the home Rudy built for them in 1947. At age 97, she still go downstairs to the basement to do her laundry, grows flowers in the yard and vegetables in the garden.

"Would you like to take some onions home? I have more than I can use," she said at last week's interview, a big smile brightening her face.