Word Received of Hodgins' Death
That Lt. Charles L. Hodgins, son of Mrs. Louise Hodgins of 126 Maple Street, had died while a prisoner of war in the Philippines was contained in a letter from General Headquarters, Southwestern Pacific Area, signed by Sen. Douglas MacArthur, and received last week by Oren K. Hodgins, assistant postmaster here, a brother of Lieutenant Hodgins, Lieutenant Hodgins, who was a veteran of World War I, was in the Philippines several months before the outbreak of war with Japan and fought with the infantry on Bataan Peninsula.
"My deepest sympathy goes to you in the death of your brother, Second Lt. Charles L. Hodgins, while a prisoner of war of the enemy," General MacArthur wrote, You [sic] may have some consolation in the memory that he, along with his comrades in arms who died on Bataan and Corregidor and in prison camps, gave his life for his country.
"It was largely their magnificent courage and sacrifices which stooped the enemy in the Philippines and gave us time to arm ourselves for our return to the Philippines and the final defeat of Japan. Their names will be enshrined in our country's glory forever. In your brother's death I have lost a gallant comrade and mourn with you."
On December 17, 1941, ten days after the start of the war, Leiutenant {sic] Hodgins sent a telegram to his mother, who was notified June 15, 1942, that he was missing in action from the date of surrender of Corregidor. Leiutenant [sic] Hodgins was born October 31, 1896, in Snohomish and attended schools here. He was a member of Fifth Company, Snohomish unit of the National Guard at the outbreak of the First World War. Later he was assigned to 63rd Coast Artillery and served in France, after which he was discharged at Camp Lewis, March 21, 1919. Re-enlisting in the Army in 1921, he was with the Second Division in Texas, served with the Fifteenth Infantry three years in China, returned to this country in 1938, was comissioned [sic] a second lieutenant at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, April 21, 1941, and then went to the Philippine Islands.
Besides his mother and brother, Lieutenant Hodgins is survived by two sisters, Mrs. Harry [handwritten note: Stella] Dunn of Arlington, and Mrs. Emil Wickstrom of Seattle, and two brothers, Clarence L. Hodgins of Sitka, Alaska, and Arthur C. Hodgins of Beemerton. (Note: Mother of Charles Hodgins, Louise Lentfoehr Hodgins was a sister of George Lentfoehr. She was originally from Oconto County.)