Topic:
Japan's hellships for prisoners of war in World War II

Section I:
During World War II, Japan took a large number of American soldiers as prisoners of war. Japan's treatment of these POW's was inhuman and horrific. Japan kept POW's in various prison and forced labor camps throughout their holdings, where soldiers suffered mistreatment, abuse, and malnutrition. Prisoners of war were also kept aboard prison ships, also aptly named hellships. Japan used these ships to transport the soldiers, but also as floating camps. These hellships traveled in convoys of Japanese warships, making the unmarked ships easy targets for American forces. Therefore, American forces actually sunk ships of their own men during the war.
I am interested in finding out what primary sources are available on hellships, mainly information from actual prisoners of war who survived the experience. I am also interested in knowing which of these sources are available at Davis, along with other locations where I can find these sources. I would like to find information on the number of Japanese hellships and how many were sunk by American forces. My research will be important for a research paper I am conducting in my Pacific War class, and would also be of interest to individuals who were in the Pacific War or whose family members were there. The audience for this kind of topic would either have some connection to the Pacific War, would be academic in nature, or would be interested in history.

Section I-b:
Pacific War AND prisoners
World War II AND prisoners
prisoners AND personal narratives
Pacific War AND hellships

Section II:
Roy L. Bodine, Diary: Jap Hell Ship, World War II (Manuscript, 1946). Call Number
D805.P6 B635 1946.

Gregory F. Michno, Death on the Hellships: Prisoners at Sea in the Pacific War
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2001) . Call Number D805.J3 M52 2001.

King Rat [videorecording] (1983) Burbank, CA: RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video.
Call Number 65-V332

Section III:
Anthony Curtis, "Sunk by friendly fire," The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), September 12,
2001, Features; p. 48. Also Available [Online] Academic Universe [Accessed 4
February 2002].

Charles Burress, "Congressional panel kills bill for ex-POWs of Japan; Bush team feared
undermining war coalition," The San Francisco Chronicle, November 10, 2001,
News; p. A12. Also Available [Online] Academic Universe
[Accessed 4 February 2002].

Jeanette Steele, "Decades after capture, POWs to get back pay; World War II sailors,
Marines lost promotions," The San Diego Union-Tribune, September 21, 2001,
Zone; p. NC-1; NI-1. Also Available [Online] Academic Universe
[Accessed 4 February 2002].

Michael Kallenbach, "MPs demand payouts for all held in Japan War prisoners," The
Daily Telegraph (London), November 27, 2001, p. 14. Also Available [Online]
Academic Universe [Accessed 4 February 2002].

Tracey Lawson, "Ex-POWs Welcome Film Plans," The Scotsman, September 25, 2001,
p. 8. Also Available [Online} Academic Universe [Accessed 4 February 2002].

Walter F. Mondale, Thomas S. Foley and Michael H. Armacost, "Pacific Deal," The
Washington Post, September 25, 2001, Editorial; p. A23. Also Available
[Online] Academic Universe [Accessed 4 February 2002].

Section IV:
Title of Web Page: Gregory Michno: Death on the Hellships, Prisoners at Sea in the Pacific War
Web Address: http://www.danford.net/michno.htm
Brief Descritption: This web site offers a review of the Gregory Michno book, Death on the Hellships, that I found in my Davis search. This would be useful in helping to determine how accurate Michno's description of the hellships was, along with more information on Michno as an author. The site is from the "Warbirds' Forum," so, while it appears to be a personal book review, the individual writing the review is obviously interested and knowledgeable of World War II history. Judging from the information on the rest of the web site, this book review can be understood to have come from a person with much knowledge of the Pacific War.
Source of Web Site: The Warbirds' Forum

Title of Web Page: Oryokumara Online
Web Address: http://www.oryokumaruonline.org/index2.html
Brief Description: This offers both general information on hellships during World War Ii and detailed information on the Oryoku Mara. This Japanese POW ship had the highest number of American officers on board and is important because of the violence by Americans against other Americans on board. This web page includes the story of the ship, photographs of the ship, and personal stories.
Source of Web Page: unclear, but looks like non-profit organization interested in the Oryoku Mara

Title of Web Page: Fukuoka POW Camp #1
Web Address: http://www2.gol.com/users/winjerd/Pwcmp1_a.htm
Brief Description: This web site has some amazing links to other information on prisoners of war and hellships. These links include photographs of hellships being attacked and affidavits of prisoners of war.
Source of Web Page: Wes Injerd, a personal page but with well-cited information

Title of Web Page: Japan: Remembering Japan's Determination to Evade Its Past
Web Address: http://www.ahrchk.net/hrsolid/mainfile.php/2001vol11no09/2138/
Brief Description: This article looks at Japan's efforts to evade its past, specifically dealing with its mistreatment of prisoners of war during World War II. The article discusses the lessons a nation can learn from its past, depending on how it chooses to interpret and deal with its past actions.
Source of Web Page: Asian Human Rights Commission

Title of Web Page: Prisoners of War: World War II
Web Address: http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq41-1.htm
Brief Description: This page offers an extensive bibliography of books written by or about prisoners of war during World War II. The list is based on U.S. Navy POWs and includes the Michno book I found in my Davis Library search.
Source of Web Page: Department of the Navy - Naval Historical Center

Section V:
Between 1942 and 1945, Japan moved approximately 40,000 American and Allied prisoners of war via prison ships that the POW's called hellships. Japan used the ships in convoys of war ships, tankers, freighters, and other crafts, leaving them unmarked, legitimate targets for American forces. The conditions on these ships were worse than in prison camps, and the reason for the use of hellships remains unclear.
In December of 1942, the War Ministry in Tokyo issued an order that "prisoners should arrive at their intended destinations in suitable condition to immediately perform their assigned duties"(1). But these orders seemed to have little affect on life aboard the hellships. Prisoners on board were given little to no water, often resorting to seawater and urine for survival. Men were stored in cramped conditions that some men described as what they imagined a slave ship to be. Emerging from these experiences are stories of men who maintained their values and morals despite great misery, but also stories of men who became numb to the misery of others due to their own suffering.
In the accounts of the hellship Oryoku Mara, prisoners described being crammed in holds with over 200 other men with no portholes or windows to circulate air. The temperatures in these holds climbed to at 120 degrees, with men fainting frequently due to the heat and lack of oxygen. Requests to empty buckets of human waste were ignored by the Japanese, leaving waste to accumulate on the floor of the holds. Disease spread quickly among the men, who were weakened also by a lack of food and water. As the men became desperate for water, they also lost all sense of order, leaving men screaming and violent in the holds (2).
American forces fired upon the Oryoku Mara, along with other hellships. Of 56 Japanese transport ships, nineteen, or about thirty percent, were sunk by the United States. Only about 20,920 of 68,063 men survived their transports aboard the hellships (3). Of those, more than 19,000 were the result of Allied bullets, bombs, or torpedoes (4).

NOTES
(1) Van Waterford, Prisoners of the Japanese in World War II (Jefferson, NC:
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 1994), p. 150.
(2) Oryoku Mara Story - Compiled by Charles M. Brown, Lt. Cl. AUS Ret. Available
Online http://www.oryokumaruonline.org/oryoku_maru_storyp4.html (Accessed
2 February 2002)
(3) Van Waterford, Prisoners of the Japanese in World War II (Jefferson, NC:
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 1994), p. 151.
(4) Gregory F. Michno, Death on the Hellships: Prisoners at Sea in the Pacific War
(Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2001), p. 292.

Web Sites:

Oryokumara Online

Fukuoka POW Camp #1

Japan: Remembering Japan's Determination to Evade Its Past

Prisoners of War: World War II