Overview

K. L. (Kearie Lee) Berry was a star athlete at the University of Texas at Austin from 1912 to 1916, playing on the undefeated national championship football team of 1914. Upon graduation, he began his military career with postings along the Mexican border. Berry served as an officer and advisor overseas, including an assignment in Siberia just after the Bolshevik Revolution, where he was a member of the 27th Infantry “Wolfhounds” of the American Expeditionary Force. Prior to and during World War II, he was stationed in China and the Philippines, where he was captured by the Japanese army on Bataan in 1942. He survived the infamous Bataan Death March and was incarcerated in various POW camps over a period of forty months until his liberation in August 1945. Upon returning to his home state, Berry was promoted to brigadier general, serving one more year as an active-duty officer before retiring in 1947. He didn’t stay retired for long; five days later, Berry was appointed as Adjutant General of the Texas Military Department, a post he held for fourteen years. Upon his “second retirement” in 1961, he served as president of the University of Texas’s Forty Acres Club (now Forty Acres Society). He remained active with various alumni activities of the University of Texas until his death in 1965. Dana Berry Frazee, granddaughter of Lieutenant General Berry, has prepared this biography with the aid of her grandfather’s POW journal and considerable outside research. What unfolds in the pages of Beyond the Bataan Death March:The Life and Times of K. L. Berry is a story of honor, courage, and dedicated service over a lifetime and often under the most difficult of conditions.

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9781648433269

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Reviews

""Dana Frazee's gripping biography of General Kerrie Lee Berry, Sr., brings to life a forgotten hero of Texas military and sports history. A University of Texas gridiron and wrestling champion, he dropped out of college joining the National Guard to fend off Pancho Villa's border raids and winds-up helping the Army recognize the importance of fitness to readiness. During WWI he served in Siberia, China, and the Philippines. Mere days before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Berry returns to the Pacific Theatre quickly training and leading Philippine officers. Then commanding a division he is captured during bitter fighting, survives the infamous 'Death March, ' and endures forty-four months in brutal prison camps. Leaning on diaries, interviews, and contemporary sources, Frazee examines broad historical contexts, returning the weary soldier home to be honorably decorated before Governor Jester appoints him Adjutant General of the Texas National Guard. Sadly, heart disease and losing a son shortened his life. An exemplar of the 'Greatest Generation, ' Berry's inspirational story animates this captivating book.""--Monte L. Monroe, Texas State Historian --Monte L. Monroe ""General K.L. Berry's story is a powerful reminder of the grit, heart, and character that define Texas Athletics at its best. From anchoring the undefeated 1914 Longhorn football team to enduring the unimaginable during the Bataan Death March, Berry lived a life of uncommon courage and unwavering leadership. This biography preserves an essential chapter of UT and American history--one that every Longhorn, historian, and patriot should know.""--Patty McCain, Curator, UT Athletics Collection at the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports and Former UT Head Women's Tennis Coach --Patty McCain ""Maj. Gen. K. L. Berry was a University of Texas football star and accomplished Texas National Guardsmen before being transferred to serve under Douglas MacArthur on the eve of the Japanese attacks which brought the Second World War to the Pacific Ocean. One of the key leaders and true heroes of the gallant yet forlorn defense of the Philippines in 1942, Berry endured the Bataan Death March and three years in Japanese POW camps before embarking on a post war career as the longest serving Adjutant General of Texas. In remarkably clear and well-written prose, Berry's granddaughter, Dana Frazee, shares Berry's remarkable story, and in so doing adds new depth to the saga of the Battling Bastards of Bataan and the story of the Texas National Guard.""--Jeff Hunt, Director of the Texas Military Forces Museum, at Camp Mabry, Austin TX --Jeff Hunt

Author Information

Dana Berry Frazee, a retired educational consultant and educational counselor, is the granddaughter of Lt. Gen. K. L. Berry.

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