Bartholomew Ambrose Cheeney was born September 7, 1911 in Oswego, NY to Bartholomew Cheney (1864-1934) and Margaret McDonald (1872-1933). His parents were married in 1894. His mom was from Canada. He had an older sister Anna Mildred (1896-?). His dad worked for the post office for 48 years in the town of Oswego, NY. He attended St. Paul's and St. Mary's parochial schools in Oswego and graduated from Oswego High School circa 1929. While there he was on their Track team.

Bartholomew enlisted in the U.S. Navy on December 4, 1934 with service number 4022212. He was assigned to the U.S.S. Colorado (BB-45) and later to the U.S.S. Langley (CV-1). In 1939 he was transferred to the radio station at Cavite in the Philippine Islands which is where he was when World War II broke out. Later RM1c Cheeney was assigned to the USS Vaga (YT-116) a District Harbor Tug operating in the Philippines.

Following the surrender of Corregidor, Cheeney was taken prisoner by the Imperial Japanese Army and was transferred first to Cabanatuan Prison Camp in the Philippines and then to the Tanagawa Camp (Osaka POW Camp #4-B) located near Osaka, Japan. Tanagawa was a notorious camp where prisoners were forced into grueling manual labor to construct a dry dock and breakwater. Cheeney passed away at Tanagawa, presumably on June 11, 1943 from bacillary dysentery. At the time of his capture, his wife, Mary Lydia Bohanan Cheeney, who was living in Manila, Philippines was also taken prisoner. His sister, who married in 1926, now Anna Mildred Woods was his next of kin. She was living in Utica, NY at the time of his death.

Bartholomew's remains are returned home during the government's body recovery program and buried with full military honors in the Saint Peter Cemetery and Mausoleum, Oswego, NY.

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project. This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 421,000+ of the US WWII fallen on Together We Served and Fold3.

(Please see - http://www.storiesbehindthestars.org).

Can you help us write these stories? Together We Served and Fold3/Find A Grave have smartphone apps that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery and read these stories of WWII fallen.

If you noticed anything erroneous in this profile or have additional information to contribute, please contact Jim Greenberg at jim.greenberg@oneonta.edu.

SBTSProject/New York/Oneida

Sources

Allied POWs Under the Japanese, accessed at https://www.mansell.com/pow_resources/camplists/osaka/tanagawa/tanagawa_death_alpha.htm on September 25, 2026.

Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1847-1849, 1907-1936 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.

Bartholomew Cheney Obituary, Oswego Palladium-Times, Oswego, NY, September 4, 1934, pg. 14.

Dad's FAG - Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/172495196/bartholomew-cheney: accessed 25 Sep 2026), memorial page for Bartholomew Cheney (1864–1934), Find a Grave Memorial ID 172495196, citing Saint Peter Cemetery and Mausoleum, Oswego, Oswego County, New York, USA; Maintained by B Rozpad (contributor 50074804).

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/172495198/bartholomew-cheney: accessed 25 Sep 2026), memorial page for Bartholomew Cheney (7 Sep 1911–15 Jan 1943), Find a Grave Memorial ID 172495198, citing Saint Peter Cemetery and Mausoleum, Oswego, Oswego County, New York, USA; Maintained by MAJ Jimmy Cotton (contributor 48803557).

Mom's FAG - Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/172495197/margaret-cheney: accessed 25 Sep 2026), memorial page for Margaret McDonald Cheney (1872–28 May 1933), Find a Grave Memorial ID 172495197, citing Saint Peter Cemetery and Mausoleum, Oswego, Oswego County, New York, USA; Maintained by B Rozpad (contributor 50074804).

National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD, 20740-6001, Nagoya Camp #1 (Kamioka) THRU Umeda (Osaka 2D); Record Group 153: Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Army); Series: Far East Place Names Index to the Series "Case Files, 1944-1949; (see images #897 – 984 for testimony from Tunagawa Camp); NAID: 296803438.

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National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD, 20740-6001, Asiatic-Pacific/Pearl Harbor Midway (Philippine Islands Op. Includes Guam & Other Concurrent Asiatic Fleet Ops.) [P3 98-208], Record Group 24: Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel; Series: Casualty Lists for World War II and Korean War Battles; NAID: 631849172.

National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD, 20740-6001, Vaga (YT-116), 1/1/39-3/31/42; Record Group 24: Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel

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"Navy Announces Death Of Utican's Brother", Utica Observer-Dispatch, Utica, NY, July 1, 1943, Section II, pg. 1.

"Navy Issues 4th List of Casualties", Utica Observer-Dispatch, Utica, NY, June 1, 1943, pg. 1.

Prisoner of War Record, Died or Killed in Prisoner of War Status, New York, pg. 178.

"Two Oswego Men Die for Country; Another Prisoner", Oswego Palladium-Times, June 19, 1943, pg. 12.

Vaga I (YT-116), Naval History and Heritage Command accessed at https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/v/vaga-i.html on September 25, 2026.

"World War Hero Funeral Tuesday", Oswego Palladium-Times, September 13, 194?, pg. ?

Year: 1920; Census Place: Oswego Ward 6, Oswego, New York; Roll: T625_1254; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 174

Year: 1930; Census Place: Oswego, Oswego, New York; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 0035; FHL microfilm: 2341369

Supporting Documents