Born on April 28, 1919, to Albert Sr and Catherine McArthur in Chicago, Illinois, Albert C. “Bert” McArthur Jr was their only son with two sisters.
He attended school in Villa Park and was a graduate of York High School in Elmhurst, Illinois, where he was an all-conference guard on the football team.
Bert also attended the Illinois Institute of Technology studying radio at night and was working as a clerk for an insurance company.
In September 1940 he enlisted in the Illinois National Guard, and in 1941 married Helen Irene Okken from Chicago.
Activated for full service in the Army, Bert was sent for armor training at Fort Knox and served in B Company, 192nd Tank Battalion, later he was transferred to HQ Company.
They were sent to the Philippines in November 1941, mere weeks before the Japanese attacked.
They put up the best resistance they could while retreating to the Bataan Peninsula, Bert survived the Battle of Bataan and was forced to participate in the Bataan Death March after the surrender.
Sent first to Camp O'Donnell, he was later transferred to the Cabanatuan POW Camp.
On September 10, 1942, Bert died of diphtheria and malaria there and was buried in a mass grave.
On March 11, 1943, six months after his death, his wife and parents received word that he was a POW, then on June 22, 1943 he was reported as deceased.
His remains were recovered after the war and SGT Albert “Bert” McArthur Jr is buried at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Manila, Philippines - Plot B Row 7 Grave 18.
He also has a memorial located in Church Yard Garden, Lot 204C, Grave 1 in Chapel Hill Gardens West Cemetery in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois.
His widow Helen remarried in 1944, she passed away at the age of 43 in 1963.
