https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/winter/hell-ships

The Oryoku Maru: After Sinking, Many Americans Still POWs

On October 20, 1944, Gen. Douglas MacArthur kept his promise and "returned" to Leyte Gulf. The conquest of the Philippines had begun. His objective on December 14 was Mindoro Island, a base for launching air attacks on his next target, Luzon. The U.S. invasion fleet entered the Sulu Sea and pushed northward.

A note concerning prisoners of war appeared in the Summary of Radio Intelligence on December 14:

On 7 December, Assistant C. of S. [Chief of Staff] of the Army General Staff in Tokyo sent a long message to Manila concerning the questioning of POWs, apparently from [U.S.] Task Force 38 carrier groups. The message indicates that considerable importance is being attached to information believed in the possession of these POWs, particularly as regards U.S. carrier strength. The message states that thorough interrogation should be conducted, as the present strength of U.S. CVs [aircraft carriers] will exert a very important influence on future decisions and policy. It is also desired that POWs be sent to Tokyo by air as soon as field interrogation is complete so that further questioning may be carried out in cooperation with the Naval General Staff.

Allied attacks on Japanese naval forces greatly reduced the number of warships available for convoy escort. In apparent response to Manila about delays in the arrivals of the high-speed transports Arisan Maru and Oryoku Maru, the Shipping Headquarters Takao Branch fired back:

Escort for the Arimasan Maru (JTGL 8696T) sailing alone is just as necessary as for convoys. _____ we have reached a still more critical period of insufficient escort-strength after accelerating the loading and unloading of the Arimasan Maru (JTGL 8696T) _____ Ooryoku Maru (JSKL 7362T) in so far as possible ______.

Both were scheduled to leave Takao on December 5 and arrive at Manila on December 10.

Oryoku Maru's cargo included the "4th Medium Mortar Battalion, consisting of 23 officers and 535 non-commissioned officers and troops, 1350 cases of unit baggage, 12 artillery pieces, 2430 cases of ammunition . . . 14 cases of gasoline, four trucks," and many more reinforcements and supplies. An intercept of December 13 announced, "Oryoku Maru is part of convoy with 2054 troops aboard." The ship was to be loaded and ready to sail with the MATA-37 convoy on December 14. On that date, the Brazil Maru and Enoura Maru prepared to sail from Takao to Manila.

During a lull in Allied air attacks, the Japanese ordered American medical officers at Bilibid Prison to examine and prepare a list of all prisoners who could depart with the last of the POW transports. On the morning of December 12, the roll was read. That evening the departees bade farewell to friends and packed what little remained of their belongings. They were awakened at 4 a.m. the following morning, fed a bit of breakfast, and then all 1,619 POWs marched to Manila's Pier 7. Awaiting them was the Oryoku Maru, its name dimly visible through battleship-gray paint. No Red Cross or other markings were apparent to distinguish her from any other combat craft. The ship bristled with antiaircraft guns.

First to embark were women and children in bright kimonos and merchant seamen stranded when their ships were sunk in the harbor. Not until dusk were the prisoners loaded into three holds of the ship.

The convoy was soon under way, bound for Takao, Formosa, and Moji, Japan. Divided into groups of twenty, the prisoners were "fed small amounts of rice, fish and water." Crowded together on the floor, there was little sleep to be found as cramped muscles jerked spasmodically and neighbors were suddenly jostled. "A Catholic padre, who had recently been brought from Mindanao, stood the whole night through that others might rest," refusing to trade places with one of those on the floor, recalled John M. Jacobs, one of the survivors, in a narrative later.

On the morning of December 14, after collecting the bucket from the ship's kitchen, the mess representatives returned to their holds and began doling out rations. Suddenly, there was the roar of planes and the firing of the antiaircraft guns. Prisoners heard the acceleration of plane engines as they went into their dives and then pulled up, followed by the deafening detonations of bombs. Several messmates scrambled down the ladders, buckets in hand, as bullets ricocheted about them. One of them, Chaplain Ed Nagle, was struck through the leg. "He continued down the long ladder with the bucket, blood streaming from his wound," Jacobs recalled.

Huddled together, seeking emotional refuge from the "terrific explosions and concussions," according to Jacobs, the prisoners "were shaken about like a dog shakes a rat." They "were covered with rust chips and bomb dust." Between raids, they tended the wounded with what scanty supplies were left. Some tried to eat the now dirty rice but found they had lost their appetites. From the depths of this inferno came the voice of Father Duffy praying, "Forgive them. They know not what they do."

Above the holds, gun crews stood and died at their guns. Their blood trickled over the deck and into the holds. New crews replaced the fallen, just as the next flight dived and strafed the decks. The spray of bullets was quickly succeeded by the detonations of bombs that "bounced" the ship about "like a cork in a tub." In futile defiance, the Japanese gun crew officer shook his spear at the onrushing planes.

The POWs endured seventeen such attacks before sunset. Only Oryoku Maru remained afloat. All other craft were sunk or departed. That night a Japanese officer ordered some medical officers topside to tend the wounded. "Decks, cabins, dining room and parlor were littered with dead and dying," reported one officer. Working by candlelight without medicine or bandages, the doctors rendered what little assistance they could. Realizing the hopelessness of the situation, the Japanese sent the medical teams back to their holds.

The night was filled with the "groans of the wounded" and "the screams of the crazed." John Jacobs remembered, "[Latrine] Buckets were soon filled to overflowing, but the guards did not permit them to be brought topside for emptying. Above the holds, the prisoners could hear the sounds of passengers being loaded into lifeboats. A cable broke, spilling screaming women and children into the sea. By morning, passenger removal was completed." To those in the holds, it was apparent the "Japanese intended leaving us to go down with the ship."

On the morning of December 15, U.S. Navy aircraft returned to finish their task. Their bullets and bombs went unchallenged. Between attacks, a Japanese guard shouted down to the POWs that they were going ashore, wounded first. About fifty healthy prisoners rushed up the ladder, only to be surprised by returning planes. Minutes later, Jacobs clambered up the ladder, discarded shoes and clothes, and dove into the water as three planes soared overhead. With the aid of some floating bamboo, he swam the half-mile to shore.

Jacobs and two others collapsed on a seawall, but only briefly. A Japanese soldier suddenly emerged from the neighboring woods, raised his rifle, and fired at one of Jacob's companions. The soldier slumped, Jacobs recalled, "blood pouring out of his heart." The Japanese soldier then took aim at Jacobs, who dove into the water with his surviving companion. Safe for the moment, they watched as the enemy soldier shot at other prisoners swimming for shore.

Oryoku Maru sank near Olongapo Naval Station, Subic Bay, Luzon. Surviving prisoners were assembled nearby at some tennis courts. Of the 1,619 POWs aboard the "hell ship," as they termed it, only 1,290 answered roll call.

Not until December 18 did the Japanese transmit details of the sinking. In a lengthy seven-part message, the attack was described and the presence of American POWs was first announced:

1. The OORYOKU MARU (JSKL 7362T) was bombed and strafed by about 200 enemy planes in Subic Bay on 14 December from 0910 to 1700. In this attack it received a total of 6 direct hits[,] 1 in each of the following places: the left side of the passenger quarters, the front part of the right side of the #1 hold, a center part of port side, rear part of coal box, starboard side of passenger quarters, and port side of passenger quarters. And on the next day, the 15th, beginning at 0800, it was attacked again by almost the same number of enemy planes.

3. Things on board: 546 Japanese nationals begin evacuated (____children____) unhurt.

Of 1191 shipwrecked, ship personnel returning home, 10 were killed, the rest unhurt. Of the 1619 prisoners, about 250 dead. The others were all picked up.

On December 20, Manila informed Hiroshima of their intent to transport overland "about 1300 white prisoners who were shipwrecked on the Oryoku Maru." They expected to have this done by December 24.

From December 15 to 21, 1944, survivors of the Oryoku Maru sinking were held at the double tennis courts at Olongapo Naval Station. No food or medical aid was provided the first two days. Afterward, they were allowed five spoonfuls of raw rice daily and some water from a tap on the tennis court. On December 21 the POWs were transported from Olongapo Naval Station to San Fernando, Pampanga, where they were confined in a jail and movie theatre.

Japanese Lt. Junsaburo Toshino told Lt. Col. E. Carl Engelhart that those prisoners too badly wounded to continue the trip were to be selected for transport back to Bilibid Prison. Fifteen men were selected. On December 22, the fifteen were taken not to Bilibid but to a cemetery, where they were executed by decapitation or bayonet thrust and buried in a mass grave.

On December 24, the remaining prisoners were loaded onto trains and sent to San Fernando, La Union. Train windows were closed, and the prisoners suffered from the heat. From December 24 to 27, the POWs were held in a school house and, later, on a beach, at San Fernando, La Union. They were permitted "one handful of rice and a canteen of water." So terrible was their thirst in that broiling sun that many drank sea water, often dying as a result.

Richard B Williams