The sinking of the Arisan Maru on October 24, 1944, about 1800 POWs boarded the Arisan Maru hoping they would be better off than in the camps they were leaving. They would soon find out differently. The Arisan Maru was a rather new freighter and the men were led to the holds. These contained three levels of wooden shelves with about three feet between shelves. They could barely stand or move in the space. After dark the ship left the harbor, and the men discovered the ship was heading south and not towards Japan. It had joined a convoy accompanied by a destroyer. The ships were about 200 miles south of Manila and went into coves in the islands. They were trying to elude American forces in the area. The ship then returned to Manila, arriving there around October 20. The next day they joined a convoy heading towards Japan. The men received scant amounts of rice and water while on board. The heat proved unbearable, and about a third of the men suffered from dysentery and malaria. The stench grew steadily in the confined quarters. The Japanese dispensed no medicine. They did however issue life preservers that served to increase the prisoners fear. Many men lost their spirit and will to live and had fits. The other men had to hold them down. On the 24th of October, some of the POWs saw Japanese running toward the rear of the ship and they witnessed the wake of a torpedo heading towards the ship. It barely missed the ship. A second torpedo also misfired. Then a torpedo successfully hit mid-ship on the starboard side. The ship buckled in the middle, but the forward part of the ship stayed level. This was where the Americans were. They Japanese cut the rope ladder to the forward hold, and closed the latches on the second hold. They boarded life boats and headed for two destroyers. Some of the Americans managed to get on deck and threw rope ladders down to the men below them. Some of the men jumped overboard once on deck. Some attempted to swim toward the destroyers, but were then struck with long poles from the Japanese. Some of the men who had remained on board went to the galley and hit the food supplies. The ship began to break into two pieces and sunk. According to the Japanese Prisoners of War Information Bureau listed 1,778 of the 1,782 prisoner as deceased.** However, a few were picked by the Haro Maru and taken to Taiwan. Five survived in the sea and a Chinese junk ship took them aboard and they were helped by the Chinese to an American air strip.

Charles F Jonaitis