Colonel Paul Delmont Bunker (7 May 1881 – 16 March 1943) was a West Point football star, a 40-year U.S. Army veteran, and the first member of The Lambs to die in WWII. He died of starvation and disease in a Japanese prisoner of war camp in 1943 after losing 70 pounds. Col. Bunker famously hid a scrap of the U.S. flag while a POW that was secretly handed over to a fellow prisoner on his deathbed. It’s in the West Point museum.
Col. Bunker’s posthumously published journal, Paul Bunker’s Diary, became a best-seller. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1969.
Bunker was elected to The Lambs in 1913. He was in New York, stationed at Fort Totten, Queens, and Fort Jay, Governors Island, both artillery corps posts.
After the Japanese surrender, Col. Bunker’s remains were returned to New York and are interred in the cemetery at the United State Military Academy at West Point.
From The Lambs Script, November December 1944 issue
Our First Gold Star Lamb
In September 1943 the War Department issued a tersely worded communiqué which read something like this: “Colonel Paul Delmont Bunker gave his life in a disease-ridden, malaria-infested Japanese prison camp.” Thus, Colonel Bunker became the first Lamb lost to The Fold in World War II.
Following his graduation from the United States Military Academy, this Alpina, Michigan, youth had a brilliant career in the Army. Specializing in big coastal defense guns, he set up an impregnable defense for the City of New York during his tour of duty at Fort Totten in 1927. He saw extended service in the Panama Canal Zone and at Hawaii before a militant role in the artillery defense of Bataan and Corregidor.
Colonel Bunker was on the Rock of Corregidor when General Wainwright’s half-starved and diseased outfit fell to the Japs after a heroic last ditch stand. Ravaged by malaria, the rugged Bunker, then past 60, could not survive the meager rationing of a rigorous Jap prison encampment.
A man who will never forget Paul Bunker is General MacArthur. Bunker and MacArthur were classmates and roomed together during their early days of officer training at West Point. Mac was manager of the football squad in 1902 when Bunker was picked for the second time on Walter Camp’s All-America, giving him the distinction of being the only man ever to make Walter Camp’s All-America both as a lineman and back.
General MacArthur has taken a personal oath to avenge Bataan’s defenders and Paul Bunker will be with the great General in spirit as he leads his veteran troops back to Bataan and Corregidor to raise once again the Stars and Stripes of America.
Colonel Bunker was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal posthumously in 1944 for exceptionally meritorious service to the government in a position of great responsibility at Corregidor, Philippine Islands. The citation reads, “His courageous and incessant devotion to duty in directing the activities of his batteries and supervising immediate repair of damage inflicted by enemy bombardment was outstanding. Colonel Bunker’s outstanding leadership maintained superior morale and efficiency in his command throughout the campaign.”