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Title
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Reagan, Cornelius Lewis
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Gender
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Male
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Biography
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Cornelius Reagan graduated Florence High School and enrolled at the University of Kentucky before enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Corps in November of 1940 and being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. While serving in the South Pacific, Reagan was shot down over Bali, but survived. After returning to the skies his plane was once again shot down on February 25, 1942 over the island of Java.
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His mother Bertha Bauers was offiially notifed of her son's death, but she refused to believe she had lost her son. She held on to the hope that he would be found alive. She was encouraged to exchange letters with a pilot who served with her son who believed he had successfully exited his plane after it was disabled. Several years later her hopes would be realized.
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After the 1942 attack caused Reagan to parachute from his plane over Java, he found himself in a rice paddy on a mountain. He was able to survive for months by eating root, tropical fruit and the fish he caught from a stolen boat.
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Cornelius was eventually discovered by local villagers on the island who turned him over to the occupying Japanese. In hopes of saving his life, Reagan represented himself as a jounalist from Ireland (which was neutral in the war) in hopes of saving his life. He was asked by his captors to read propaganda over a public address system, Reagan refused and broke their equipment resulting in a severe beating and a sentence to life of hard labor. Along with his physcial suffering he was forced to bury fellow prisoners who had been killed by their captors.
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He was sent to a harsh internment camp on the north coast of Java where he survived hunger, harsh treatment and physical torture until his release and rescue by the British forces in September of 1945. On Cornelius' 29th birthday, October 5, 1945 his mother was preparing to celebrate another year without her son when she received word that her son was alive and would soon return home.
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Cornelius Reagan continued his military career for nearly 20 more years and then retired in Florida with his family in the 1960s. In 2010 he was presented with the Prisoner of War Medal before passing away at the age of 95 in 2011. He is buried with his wife in Arlington National Cemetery.
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Member
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Reagan family
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Birth date
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5 Oct 1915
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Mother
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Bauers, Bertha Nucholn
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Spouse(s)
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Hogan, Frances
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Child(ren)
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Reagan, Patrick
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Reagan, Barry
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Death date
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20 Aug 2011
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Place of death
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Miami, Florida
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Death and burial information
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Arlington National Cemetery (Arlington, Va.)
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Occupation(s)
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Military
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State of Florida Investigator: Florida Real Esate Commision; Business and Professional Regulation
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Employed by
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United States. Air Force
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State of Florida
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Military service
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unit unknown (United States. Air Force)
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Allegiance
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United States of America
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Held rank
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Lt Col
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Service began
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11 Jul 1941
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Service ended
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31 Jan 1961
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Bibliographic citation(s)
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Kentucky Post, Tuesday, July 23, 1946, page 1, column 6
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Kentucky Post, Thursday, July 23, 1942, page 1, column 5
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Miami Herald, Tuesday, August 23, 2011, page B4, column 3
Cornelius Lewis Reagan