By the calendar, there are those who will say that Sgt. Michael J. Perfett survived the infamous Bataan Death March and more than two years as a prisoner of war of the Japanese Empire during World War II.

Family members of Perfett, who died when a blood clot went to a lung, collapsing it, on May 13, 1953, know better.

While Perfett made it through what can only be described as three years of pure hell, that hell eventually came back to kill him at the age of 36 while he was doing work in his back yard.

Perfett was among a handful of siblings who were honored this past summer by family members at a reunion at the home of his brother, Dr. Alfred Perfett of Sharpsville.

Michael and Alfred, along with a brother Raymond Perfett and a sister Constance Marie Perfett Knight, all served in the military during World War II. But it didn't take much prodding of the family members to focus on Michael, the oldest of seven siblings, whom all considered a hero by any measure of the word.

Even 50 years after his death, the tears came easily when family members recalled Michael, whom all said was much more than a big brother.

"Mike of course was the oldest. In a large family he was the typical big brother," Alfred, 78, said. "... To me, he was like a second father. ... Mike was a role model for the entire family and I think he was one of the inspirations we had for our education. He was the oldest and always assumed that role well. And when he left there was a big void. ... As the years went by we always considered him the role model. And he had a short life, but yet he left his impact behind."

That impact grew out of Michael's exploits during World War II, which began auspiciously enough when he arrived in the Philippines on Oct. 28, 1941. Upon arrival he was assigned to Clark Field, about 60 miles north of Manila, attached to B Company of the 803rd Engineer Battalion that was planning and developing air fields.

Less than six weeks later on Dec. 7, the Japanese launched their surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. The following day, the Japanese began an air attack on Clark Field and started landing troops in the Philippines. Michael and his entire battalion were removed from construction work and immediately brought into action as combat troops.

Eventually the troops retreated into the jungles of Bataan where they fought with the Japanese until April 8, 1942, when Bataan fell and the Americans surrendered.

While the family back in Sharpsville knew nothing at the time -- Michael wasn't reported missing in action until May 25 -- the infamous death march was under way.

During the march from Mariveles on the southern end of the Bataan Peninsula to San Fernando 55 miles away, 76,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war were bound, beaten or killed by their Japanese captors. Some were bayoneted when they fell from exhaustion. Some were forced to dig their own graves and were buried alive. Only 56,000 prisoners reached camp alive and thousands of them later died from malnutrition and disease.

That malnutrition and disease helped reduce the 6-foot-3 Michael from a 185-pound man to only 87 pounds while a prisoner in the Philippines where his daughter, Mary Ellen Perfett Hilko, 54, of Pittsburgh said he and others served as "pack mules" to transport Japanese supplies.

When Michael got to Japan in late 1943, he was forced to perform hard labor at Sensiese Steel Mills, Alfred said. But they fed him much better to enable him to work and he was back up to about 165 pounds when he was liberated.

For nearly a year, the family heard nothing about Michael's fate. The telegram the family both feared and anxiously awaited arrived from the War Department on Jan. 3, 1943, and read: "Your son, Cpl. Michael J. Perfett, reported a prisoner of war of the Japanese government captured in the Philippines Island. Letter to follow."

"There was a tremendous sense of not knowing because he was missing in action," Alfred said. "... There was a lapse of six months where there was little or no contact and it was difficult to react to that. It was six months later that he was reported to be a prisoner of war. And of course that was good news that he was a prisoner of war because we knew he was living. Prior to that we did not know. There was a period of over a year that we didn't know whether he was living or dead."

Michael was in a prison camp only 57 miles from Nagasaki when the second atomic bomb was dropped on Aug. 9, 1945. Six days later the Japanese surrendered and on Sept. 4, 1945, Michael was among 304 POWs rescued at Hirohata on Osaka.

A sister, Dorothy Perfett Toth, said a neighbor one day commented that if they didn't know the Perfetts, they wouldn't believe they had a son who was a prisoner of war because the family didn't outwardly show their distress or emotions.

"They said, 'How do you take that?' " said Mrs. Toth, 80, of Sharpsville. "My mother said, prayer."

Michael's brother Bill, an Army veteran who served during the Korean War, recalled vividly his mother Lucille's actions when Michael was missing.

"The mailman used to come about noon every day and that's when we'd get out of school for lunch," said Bill, 75, of Conneaut Lake. "I'd come home and she'd be waiting for the mailman every day."

And Mrs. Knight, 85, of Hermitage, added that when the telegram finally did come that Michael was liberated, their mother took it and walked four blocks to St. Bart's church where she prayed alone before returning home to deliver the good news to the rest of the family.

The first opportunity the family, in almost their entirety, had to see Michael was in October 1945 after he was sent to the army hospital in Staunton, Va. Within hours, he was overwhelmed by what was called a "surprise visit" by his parents, Anthony and Lucille Perfett, and four other family members.

"We didn't recognize him at first," Mrs. Toth said. "He was sitting on the side of his bed and we walked past...and somebody said that was Mike. He was sitting on the side of his bed, but we didn't recognize him."

On Nov. 3, 1945, Michael's long journey home finally came to an end when he arrived back in Sharpsville in time to go see baby brother Bill, then a senior quarterback, lead the Blue Devils to a 7-0 win over Greenville in the team's season finale.

With his war hero brother serving as an inspiration in the stands, Bill managed to score the game's only touchdown.

"I was kind of excited," Bill said of having Mike at the game.

"Of course everybody greeted him as a hero," Alfred added.

Seven years after being officially released from active duty by the Army, Michael died unexpectedly. Alfred said he was doing yard work while on vacation from Westinghouse and was found by the family dead on the ground, leaving a wife and two young daughters.

Although Michael had no obvious medical problems, Alfred said he had bad varicose veins and phlebitis that would have developed prematurely in a relatively young man because of the severe, chronic malnutrition Michael suffered while a prisoner in the Philippines. That malnutrition would have damaged his veins, which could have caused the blood clot that collapsed his lung.

While Michael never talked much about his experiences, his daughter Mary Ellen Perfett Hilko, 54, of Pittsburgh said family members discovered a diary about 14 years ago while they were cleaning out their mother's house after she died.

"That's where my knowledge of my dad came from," said Mrs. Hilko, who turned 4 a week after her father's death.

"He was so far away but was constantly encouraging those who were at home," she said. "It gave me insight about him that he would be so far from home in a war and still be encouraging his brothers and sisters at home."

It's that legacy that hasn't been forgotten by family members nearly a half-century later.

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