Hell Ships

Over a period of time, most of the captured Americans were sent to labor camps in Japan, packed into filthy cargo holds where many died on route.

The ship that Uncle Warren was on happened to be bombed by American planes after it left Manila Bay and rounded the Bataan Peninsula into Subic Bay to the naval base there (used by the Japanese during the war).  The ship was sunk, but a thousand or so of the prisoners managed to get out and swim about a mile to shore, where they were herded up again.

The photo above shows roughly the spot where the ship sank.  I took the photo from the Hell Ship Memorial site, which is located at what was formerly the large U.S. Naval Base in Subic.  The photos below show the memorial and a close up of the inscription.