The Life and Career of Thomas A. Lynch: Army Judge Advocate in the Philippines and Japanese Prisoner of War

摘要

Little is known about the officers who served in The Judge Advocate General's Department (JAGD) prior to World War Ⅱ, if only because there were relatively few lawyers in uniform in the "Old Army." Even less is known about men who served in the JAGD of the Philippine Scouts in the 1920s and 1930s. But one lawyer who served as a judge advocate prior to World War Ⅱ, and spent the majority of his time as a military attorney in the Philippines, was Thomas A. Lynch. He served in the Philippine Islands as a private, corporal and sergeant in the early 1900s and ultimately retired as a major in JAGD of the Philippine Scouts in 1934. Recalled from retirement in 1940, Lynch was the Staff Judge Advocate, U.S. Forces in the Philippine Islands, when he was taken prisoner by the Japanese in 1942. He survived captivity and retired from the Army a second time in 1946.