Captain
Frank Gyovai

Captain Frank Gyovai was born in Sovereign, West Virginia in 1920 and entered the Army before the outbreak of World War II.

As a private, he went to the Philippines in January 1941 and served as a tracked vehicle mechanic with the 17th Armored Ordnance Company. Following the Japanese invasion of the Islands in December 1941, his unit supported the Philippine Provisional Tank Group. He played a major role in repairing and returning tanks to battle. This was particularly difficult after his unit found itself fighting a defensive battle on the Bataan Peninsula, cut off from their source of supply.

He was one of many thousands forced to undertake the infamous Death March which began on April 10, but he escaped. For a year and half, he was a guerilla fighter on the Island of Luzon.

In December 1943, he won a battlefield commission as a lieutenant and was made supply officer for his guerilla unit. He continued to gather food, arms, ammunition, and medical supplies for his group and others fighting the Japanese. He also conducted reconnaissance activities, and passed much useful information through the guerrilla chain of command and ultimately to the American authorities at the Pacific Command.

From May 1945, when he left the Philippines, until June of 1947, he was Quartermaster Supply Officer at the Quarter¬master Depot on the island of New Caledonia. Captain Gyovai subsequently left the Army and died in 1984.