Robert Prince was a captain in the United States Army's elite 6th Ranger Battalion

6th Ranger Battalion

The 6th Ranger Battalion was a United States Army Ranger Battalion which saw action in the Pacific during World War II. The battalion is best known for its role in the Raid at Cabanatuan in January 1945.-98th Field Artillery Battalion:...

. In 1945 he was chosen personally by Lt. Col. Henry A. Mucci to plan the rescue at the Cabanatuan POW camp

Raid at Cabanatuan

The Raid at Cabanatuan was a rescue of Allied prisoners of war and civilians from a Japanese camp near Cabanatuan City, in the Philippines...

 in the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

.

Personal life

Prince was born in Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

 and grew up in Madrona, Seattle

Madrona, Seattle, Washington

Madrona is a mostly residential neighborhood in east central Seattle, Washington. It is bounded on the east by Lake Washington; on the south by E. Cherry Street, beyond which is Leschi; on the west by Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, beyond which is the Central District; and on the north by E. Howell...

. He graduated from Garfield High School and Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

, studying history and economics. He was initiated in Sigma Chi

Sigma Chi

Sigma Chi is the largest and one of the oldest college Greek-letter secret and social fraternities in North America with 244 active chapters and more than . Sigma Chi was founded on June 28, 1855 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio when members split from Delta Kappa Epsilon...

 fraternity at Stanford. Prince joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant

Second Lieutenant

Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...

 in 1941. On January 31, 1942, he married Barbara Harrison at Seattle's Episcopal Church of the Epiphany. Only a few months afterwards, Prince was sent to New Guinea to fight in the war against the Japanese army. The fighting in New Guinea ended a week before his group arrived. Shortly afterwards, the US Army created the 6th Ranger Battalion

6th Ranger Battalion

The 6th Ranger Battalion was a United States Army Ranger Battalion which saw action in the Pacific during World War II. The battalion is best known for its role in the Raid at Cabanatuan in January 1945.-98th Field Artillery Battalion:...

 with Lt. Col. Henry A. Mucci commanding. In January 1945, news spread of the "Kill-All" policy of the Japanese. Mucci was quickly ordered to form a team to rescue prisoners at the Cabanatuan camp. After the successful raid in 1945, Prince left the Army as a Major

Major (United States)

In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, major is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel...

 the day before Thanksgiving 1946.

Raid at Cabanatuan

Prince was mainly involved with the planning of the raid. He had to hastily create a plan using a low level of intelligence of the area. Prince built his plan around his two best weapons; surprise and confusion. One of his primary concerns was the flatness of the countryside. He knew his Rangers would have to crawl through a long, open field on their bellies, right under the eyes of the Japanese guards. At the suggestion of Juan Pajota

Juan Pajota

Captain Juan Pajota was involved in the Raid at Cabanatuan, an action which took place in the Philippines on 30 January 1945 by US Army Rangers and Filipino guerrillas and resulted in the liberation of more than 500 American prisoners of war from a Japanese POW camp near Cabanatuan.A local from...

, a Filipino guerrilla, Lt. Col. Mucci arranged for the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) to have a P-61 Black Widow

P-61 Black Widow

The Northrop P-61 Black Widow was the first operational U.S. military aircraft designed specifically for night interception of aircraft, and was the first aircraft specifically designed to use radar. It was an all-metal, twin-engine, twin-boom design developed during World War II...

 night fighter buzz the camp while the men made their way across the field. It proved to be the biggest factor in achieving the element of surprise.

The Raid at Cabanatuan was depicted in the 1945 film Back to Bataan

Back to Bataan

Back to Bataan is a World War II war film produced by Robert Fellows, directed by Edward Dmytryk and starring John Wayne and Anthony Quinn. It was produced by RKO Radio Pictures. It depicts events that took place after the Battle of Bataan on the island of Luzon in the Philippines...

and the 2005 film The Great Raid

The Great Raid

The Great Raid is a 2005 war film about the Raid at Cabanatuan, adapted from William Breuer's book of the same name. It tells the story of the January 1945 liberation of the Cabanatuan Prison Camp on the Philippine island of Luzon during World War II. It is directed by John Dahl and stars Benjamin...

that featured actor James Franco

James Franco

James Edward Franco is an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author, painter, performance artist and instructor at New York University. He left college in order to pursue acting and started off his career by making guest appearances on television series in the 1990s...

 playing Prince.
Prince was personally responsible for the rescue of approximately 500+ 'Bataan Death March' survivors through his rescue plan and direct actions. The principles of this plan are still taught today at the United States Military Academy

United States Military Academy

The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...

, the greatest successful rescue to date.

Later years

Prince reunited with his wife and raised two sons. He settled in Wenatchee and ran an apple business.

Honors

Prince received the nation's second-highest award for valor, the Distinguished Service Cross

Distinguished Service Cross (United States)

The Distinguished Service Cross is the second highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member of the United States Army, for extreme gallantry and risk of life in actual combat with an armed enemy force. Actions that merit the Distinguished Service Cross must be of such a high degree...

 for his involvement in the raid. In the late 90's, he was added to the Army Ranger Hall of Fame.