The 2027 Clemson 8 Challenge

The Clemson 8 Challenge - Run/Walk/Bike/Hike/Swim/Ski

Mark your calendar, as we will be hosting an in-person OFFICIALLY TIMED race at 9:00 am on Saturday, February 27, 2027, around the Clemson University campus, along with a virtual race from February 27 to March 6, 2027. The Challenge is open to the general public.  You can complete your own run, walk, bike, hike, swim, or ski in Clemson, S.C., or on your own course - in your own town in one day or throughout the eight days. High school JROTC teams will have until April 9th to complete their challenge. Your participant packet consists of a 100% cotton Comfort Colors t-shirt, a wooden nickel, a race bib, and a window decal.

EVERY RACE DAY PARTICIPANT WILL HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO WIN SWAG FROM THE BATAAN MEMORIAL DEATH MARCH MARATHON IN NEW MEXICO.

100% of the proceeds will benefit Clemson University's Military-Affiliated student organizations.  The first six Challenges raised $139,628.54 for scholarships. The 2027 goal is to raise $19,420. 1942 is the year of the Death March. Dividends from the endowment and your donations will assist in paying for multiple teams to compete in the Bataan Memorial Death March Marathon in New Mexico on March 20, 2027.

When you look at the first of the six Clemson POWs above, the sun on this day in 2025 during the Memorial Marathon made it appear as if Colonel Skardon was standing behind a wire fence.  In fact, they were all imprisoned behind a wire fence as POWs.  

Donations can be made on-line during your registration or if you want a tax deduction, please contact Amy Craft at the Clemson University Foundation M-F from 8:00 am - 4:30 pm EST at 864-656-1240, acserna@clemson.edu or mail a check to:  Clemson University Foundation, Attn:  Amy Craft, P.O. Box 1889, Clemson, SC 29633 On the for line, write: Bataan Endowment.

Direct online link: https://iamatiger.clemson.edu/giving/giving-to-clemson?id=9ed46b59-6d7e-4b16-88c6-961984a7efe0

If you would like to become a Race Sponsor, contact John Seketa at johnseketa@gmail.com or 864-903-1487 for more information.

On April 9, 1942, six Clemson alumni became prisoners of war with tens of thousands of their brothers-in-arms when American troops who had been fighting in the Philippine theater of WWII were ordered to surrender to the Japanese. They were marched North some 70 miles by their ruthless captors in what would come to be known as the Bataan Death March, one of the most notorious war crimes in history.  Seven other alumni were also captured on neighboring islands during World War II.  

Already weak and starving from months of intense fighting and illness, the POWs were herded with other sick, wounded, and starving soldiers through the searing heat of the Philippine jungles. Thousands died. Those who survived the march then had to survive for years in the inhumane and brutal conditions of Japanese prisoner-of-war camps, and the sinking by our own Navy of unmarked prison ships trying to steal the POWs away to the mainland towards the end of the war. It is impossible to know the exact number, but it is estimated that at least 57 percent of the captured Americans did not survive the war, more than 11,500 souls, which is considered a very conservative number by most experts.

Colonel Skardon, 104, was the last living member of this illustrious group. He was well known as the only survivor of the real Bataan Death March who walked in the annual Bataan Memorial Death March (BMDM) at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., one of the toughest and most popular “ultramarathons” in the world. The event has become a pilgrimage for veterans, active-duty military members, supporters, the few remaining survivors, and family members of the men who perished in the march and POW camps.

Colonel Skardon had walked in the BMDM 12 times, most often 8.5 miles, beginning in 2007 when he was 89. In 2019, at 101, he walked more than three miles through the desert to honor his brothers-in-arms who did not return from the war. He considered it his duty. He was on his way to walk again in 2021 when the event was canceled due to the pandemic.  In response, the Clemson 8 Challenge was created by a team of students, veterans, alumni, and friends to enable Colonel Skardon to continue his pilgrimage from his home in Clemson.  The 8 represents the annual miles  Colonel Skardon walked to honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country in one of the most brutal wartime events in history.  

On Thursday, November. 11, 2021 (Veteran's Day), Colonel Skardon was awarded a star in a private ceremony and a rank of Honorary Brigadier General. On Monday, November 15, 2021, General Skardon passed away.

After registering for the Clemson 8 Challenge, everyone is encouraged to continue their training and participate in the 2027 in-person or virtual edition of the 38th Annual Bataan Memorial Death March at https://bataanmarch.com/

For more information on those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country from Clemson A&M College and Clemson University, visit the Clemson University Scroll of Honor website: https://soh.alumni.clemson.edu/

Here is a list of 28 known Clemson graduates and 3 former students who were POWs. 

World War II

• Army Air Force Captain Theodore Cuyler Bigger '34, York County, S.C. - Captured by the Japanese and survived the Bataan Death March.
• Army 1LT Martin Crook, Jr. ’39, Spartanburg, S.C. - Captured by the Japanese and survived the Bataan Death March.
  • https://soh.alumni.clemson.edu/scroll/martin-crook-jr/ 
    
• Army Captain William R. English ’37, Columbia, S.C. - Captured by the Japanese on Cebu Island.
  • https://soh.alumni.clemson.edu/scroll/william-robins-english/ 
    
• Army Major Albert M. George ’36, Aiken, S.C. - Captured by the Japanese on the island of Mindanao.
  
• Army Colonel Louis D. Hutson ’13, Aiken, S.C. - Captured by the Japanese after being wounded on Bataan.
  
• Army Captain Marion R. “Manny” Lawton ’40, Garnett, S.C. - Captured by the Japanese and survived the Bataan Death March.
  
• Army Captain Henry D. Leitner ’37, Greenwood, S.C. - Captured by the Japanese and survived the Bataan Death March.
  • https://soh.alumni.clemson.edu/scroll/henry-daniel-leitner/
• Army 1LT Otis F. Morgan ’38, Laurens, S.C. - Captured by the Japanese on the island of Corregidor.
  • https://soh.alumni.clemson.edu/scroll/otis-foster-morgan/
• Army Lt. Colonel William Allen Orr ’38, Anderson, S.C. - Captured by the Japanese and survived the Bataan Death March.
• Marine Captain Wesley McCoy Platt '35, Summerville, S.C. - Captured by the Japanese on Wake Island.
  • https://soh.alumni.clemson.edu/scroll/wesley-mccoy-platt/
• Army Air Force Captain Francis Herbert Scarborough ’39, Bishopville, S.C. - Captured by the Japanese on the island of Corregidor.
  • https://soh.alumni.clemson.edu/scroll/francis-herbert-scarborough/
• Army Captain Beverly N. “Ben” Skardon ’38, Walterboro, S.C. - Captured by the Japanese and survived the Bataan Death March.
• Army 1LT Howard Monroe Vassey ’40, Chesnee, S.C. - Captured by the Japanese on the island of Corregidor.

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• Army Air Force LT Robert Herman Berly, Jr., Lexington, S.C. - Attended classes in 1942.  Captured by the Germans after his B-24 was shot down in Hungary.
• Army PFC Thomas Whitfield Dunaway, Jr.,  '49, Thomaston, Ga. - Went Missing In Action in France on Nov. 13, 1944. Captured by the Germans. 
• Army 2LT George Albert Henry '45, Spartanburg, S.C. - Captured by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge. 
  
• Army Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Lake Hugh Jameson, Sr. ‘42, Easley, S.C. - Captured by the Germans.
• Army Staff Sgt. George W. Jones, Loris, S.C. - Attended classes in 1941.  Captured by the Germans.
• Army PFC Joseph Lawrence King '47, Columbia, S.C. - Captured by the Germans during the Battle of Orscholz.
• Army Corporal Horace Gordon Meisner, Jr. '46, Savannah, Ga. - Captured by the Germans in the Ardennes.
  • https://soh.alumni.clemson.edu/scroll/horace-gordon-meisner-jr/ 
    
• Army Air Force Captain William Henry Mooney, Jr. ’41, Hawkinsville, Ga. - Captured by the Germans when his P-51 was shot down near Fulda, Germany.
  • https://soh.alumni.clemson.edu/scroll-of-honor/search/?hname=mooney&conflict=none&yr=none&service=none  
    
• Army Air Force 2LT Lewis Anderson Page, Jr. '45, Columbia, SC - Captured by the Germans when his B-17 was shot down.
  • https://soh.alumni.clemson.edu/scroll/lewis-anderson-page-jr/
• Army Colonel Albert Ward Smarr ’50, Hickory Grove, S.C. - Captured by the Germans when as a B-17 gunner and radio operator his plane was shot down over Berlin.
  • https://soh.alumni.clemson.edu/scroll/albert-ward-smarr-jr/ 
• Army Sergeant Grady Lemuel Wise, Jr. '43, Newberry, S.C. - Died in a German POW camp of pneumonia.
  • https://soh.alumni.clemson.edu/scroll/grady-lemuel-wise-jr/
• Army Second Lieutenant Samuel Redden Webster, Jr., Mullins, S.C. - Attended classes in 1941. Captured by the Germans in North Africa. He escaped from Campo 78 POW camp near Sulmona, Italy.

Korean War

• Air Force Major Malcolm Brodie Edens ’47, Pickens, S.C. - Died while Missing in Action.
  • https://soh.alumni.clemson.edu/scroll/malcolm-brodie-edens/ 
    
• Army 1Lt. William H. Funchess '48, Orangeburg County, S.C. - Captured by the Chinese Communist Army.
• Army Captain St. Clair Webb, Jr. '43, Anderson, S.C. - Died while a Prisoner of War.
  
  • https://soh.alumni.clemson.edu/scroll/st-clair-webb-jr/

Vietnam War

• Air Force Captain William Renwick Austin II '59, Simpsonville, S.C. - Captured by the North Vietnamese.
  
• Navy Lt. Commander Robert Fant, '57, Anderson, S.C. - Captured by the North Vietnamese.
• Air Force 1Lt. Samuel R. Vaughan '67, St. George, S.C. - Captured by the North Vietnamese.

SUBMIT RESULTS

To submit results for the virtual challenge, simply follow these steps:

1. Click the results tab on the Clemson 8 home page

2. Click “Submit Virtual Results”

   1. Results can ONLY be submitted from March 11th through March 18th.

3. Search for your profile using either your name or email address

4. You can check your progress and the progress of others from the results page