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HELL SHIPS-2
This second book in the two book series follows the survivors as they flee the Oryoku Maru and board a second ship; a vessel also destroyed by American aircraft while the ship lay docked on the island of Taiwan. The few prisoners still alive and able to move about on their own are packed into a third Hell ship and brought to Kyushu, Japan. Once ashore, and facing cold winds and snow flurries while wearing shorts and ragged shirts from the Philippine prison camps, they are separated and sent off to work in mines and factories in Japan and elsewhere as slave laborers. An eyewitness account and official court records of the Yokohama tribunal conclude this second segment.
This is a true story using literary license to fill voids where documentation appears not to exist. The names of the seven main characters of Hell Ships are fictitious and any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely circumstantial. The names of some of the survivors are displayed in order to make them known and forever remembered for their ordeals, their heroism, and their service to country.
The names of the Japanese officers and enlisted men in this book are all true names as provided by the eyewitnesses and confirmed by the official records of tribunal courts.
The events and their sequence comprising the story are true and they were provided by numerous sources. These sources included many living eyewitness interview accounts by survivors of the Hell Ships, Oryoku Maru, Brazil Maru, and the Enoura Maru. Other sources include the military tribunal records of the Japanese officers and men who were convicted of their crimes against humanity. The extensive records of the story period at the Military Records Section, U.S. National Archives, in Washington DC was used to verify much of what had been gained from the interviews with my 8 Hell Ships survivors.
The author notes here with great sadness that the vast majority of American prisoners entering the holds of the three transport ships had died or were dead prior to the end of the war in 1945.
The true names of the Prisoners of War around whom this book series is based are recognized here as heroes and survivors. Their names include: Curtis T. Beecher; Charles M. Brown Lloyd E. Mills; James W. Donaldson; Arthur C. Beale; Harold Ferrell; Earl D. Eggers; Bill Elliot; James M. McGrath; Harry M. Beck; Kenneth Wheeler; William Brewster; James E. Alsobrook; George Petritz; James Moran; Clyde R. Huddleson; Hugh McGowan; Frank Bridget; and Alan Gorsky.
This is a true story using literary license to fill voids where documentation appears not to exist. The names of the seven main characters of Hell Ships are fictitious and any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely circumstantial. The names of some of the survivors are displayed in order to make them known and forever remembered for their ordeals, their heroism, and their service to country.
The names of the Japanese officers and enlisted men in this book are all true names as provided by the eyewitnesses and confirmed by the official records of tribunal courts.
The events and their sequence comprising the story are true and they were provided by numerous sources. These sources included many living eyewitness interview accounts by survivors of the Hell Ships, Oryoku Maru, Brazil Maru, and the Enoura Maru. Other sources include the military tribunal records of the Japanese officers and men who were convicted of their crimes against humanity. The extensive records of the story period at the Military Records Section, U.S. National Archives, in Washington DC was used to verify much of what had been gained from the interviews with my 8 Hell Ships survivors.
The author notes here with great sadness that the vast majority of American prisoners entering the holds of the three transport ships had died or were dead prior to the end of the war in 1945.
The true names of the Prisoners of War around whom this book series is based are recognized here as heroes and survivors. Their names include: Curtis T. Beecher; Charles M. Brown Lloyd E. Mills; James W. Donaldson; Arthur C. Beale; Harold Ferrell; Earl D. Eggers; Bill Elliot; James M. McGrath; Harry M. Beck; Kenneth Wheeler; William Brewster; James E. Alsobrook; George Petritz; James Moran; Clyde R. Huddleson; Hugh McGowan; Frank Bridget; and Alan Gorsky.
255 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 31, 2011
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