Willibald C. Bianchi Collection

Willibald C. Bianchi was born March 12, 1915, in New Ulm, Minnesota to Joseph and Carrie Bianchi.

He enrolled at South Dakota State College in 1937. An active member of the R.O.T.C., Bianchi was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army upon his graduation in 1940.

That fall, Bianchi entered Infantry School in Fort Benning, Georgia, where he was later promoted to First Lieutenant. In April 1941, Bianchi joined the 45th Infantry Regiment of Philippine Scouts. His unit was to provide military training to Filipinos.

Bianchi remained in the Philippines after the United States entered World War II. On February 3, 1942, he was injured during the Battle of Bataan. Despite being wounded multiple times, he continued to push back Japanese troops until an explosion disabled him. As a result of his actions, General Douglas MacArthur presented Bianchi with a Congressional Medal of Honor, making him the third recipient of the medal during World War II.

After recuperating, Bianchi returned to service and received a promotion to Captain. Along with 75,000 other American and Filipino soldiers, he was captured by the Japanese on April 9, 1942. The captives marched 65 miles across the Bataan Peninsula in the heat with no food or water, in what is known as the Bataan Death March. Bianchi worked to help his fellow prisoners survive the grueling conditions of the march and prison camps.

After more than two years of being held prisoner, Bianchi was detained in several prison camps. On January 9, 1945, he was being held on an unmarked prison ship, which was bombed by an American airplane. He died instantly.

His body was never recovered, and Bianchi is remembered on the Wall of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Manila, Philippines. His grave marker is located at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii.

In 1998, South Dakota State University honored Captain Willibald Bianchi by dedicating a plaque placed in the Student Union, creating a scholarship, and holding a ceremony.