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How Marine POWs Hung ToughBy Gregory J. W. Urwin | World War II | 10 comments | Print This Post | Email This Post
 POWs at Fengtai, China Subscribe Today
“The Marine Corps had a lot of discipline,” agreed Onnie Clem, a corporal in Hawkins’s regiment. “We followed orders and instructions from our officers. There wasn’t anybody who fussed with what the officers told them to do.” It would be tempting to dismiss the claims of Hawkins and Clem as so much marine chest-thumping. But their testimony is borne out by many other anecdotal accounts—and the testimony of disinterested sources. Lt. Samuel C. Grashio, an army pursuit pilot who escaped with Hawkins from Davao Penal Colony in 1943, readily conceded, “As a group, the marines stood up better than most others under the burdens, humiliations, deprivations, and temptations of camp life.” What happened at Cabanatuan, a large POW camp complex in the Philippines, was a striking illustration of marine determination. Cabanatuan was one of the most deplorable POW facilities in the Philippines, with an inmate population that had been decimated by more than two thousand deaths from June to October 1942. Deprived of leadership and inspiration, American soldiers turned on each other. The strong preyed on the weak, stealing the rations of those too sick to prevent it. Second Lt. Charles W. Burris, a fighter pilot with the U.S. Army Air Forces, witnessed unbelievable callousness at Cabanatuan: “That was one place where I learned that a human being is a marauder. You couldn’t keep food around because they’d steal it. They didn’t mind seeing a guy die. They just wanted his food. Everybody was concerned about themselves.” In late October 1942, Lt. Col. Curtis Beecher of the 4th Marines was transferred to Cabanatuan No. 1. Beecher took one look at the overflowing latrines and the mud-choked paths linking the barracks and sprang into action. He organized clean-up, maintenance, and sanitary squads to install dry walkways, dig deeper drainage ditches, and increase the number of latrines. It took a while, but Beecher’s efforts bore unmistakable fruit. Cabanatuan experienced its first day without a POW death on January 18, 1943. By February, the camp death rate had shrunk to ten men per month. On June 21, 1943, Capt. William H. Owen Jr. of the Army Coast Artillery pulled out his secret diary to praise Colonel Beecher and his marine staff for their “high sense of duty and long hours of work.” Whenever the Japanese permitted them the slightest freedom of action, marine officers would assume control of the interior management of their camps, reestablishing order and directing their subordinates to work for group survival. At Shanghai War Prisoner Camp, the marines certainly benefited from the vastly superior treatment and climate enjoyed in that camp, but even there, the officers’ adamant insistence on maintaining discipline saved many lives within the ranks. Col. W. W. Ashurst of the North China marines ranked as the senior POW officer, but arthritis and a heart condition rendered the forty-eight-year-old Ashurst too sickly for active leadership. He had the good judgment to delegate much of his authority to his executive officer, Maj. Luther A. Brown. Pages: 1 2 3 4 5Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to
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10 Comments to “How Marine POWs Hung Tough”
SEMPER FI, BROTHERS .
By otto11 on Jun 17, 2008 at 7:37 pm
What more is there to say?
The Few, The Proud, The Marines.
I hope my son grows up to be a Marine.
By Tim on Jun 27, 2008 at 4:32 pm
I want to thank all the amreicans at that time for their hardwork in liberating our
country…
By Unknown on Jul 1, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Thank GOD for our “Greatest” generation! My personal belief is that the entire generation was 10 times tougher than the present group of wusses that call themselves Americans. As far as the Mairines losing less men they are just some bad men………
By rsmith68 on Jan 3, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Just read ghost soldiers about the US prisoners liberated by the rangers on luzon.
What a shame macarthur vetoed a similar jailbreak for 2400 australian soldiers at sandakan,north borneo.
And shameful that we executed general homma but the man probably most responsible for the death march general tsuji escaped punsihment,later served in the parliament and was unrepentant about his crimes.
Shame macarthur,shame.
But a great book.
By humphrey on Jan 20, 2009 at 4:36 am
how didnt they survuve were they in the way
By domonique bazemore on Jan 27, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Read about the Marines who were sent to Mukden Manchuria. Arriving on Nov 11, 1942, these great American Heroes- Marines, AirCorps and Sailors stood in freezing weather in this infamous POW slave labor camp. A recently published story entitle Undaunted Valor details the horrendous activities of these abandoned and forgotten National Treasures. They survived the Death March, the slopes of Corregidor and Cabanatuan and O’Donnell. They survivied the Tottori Maru. Arrivivng in tattered threads from their worn uniforms, they were provided with Japanese summer uniforms where the thermometer seldom moved above minus 22 until March. They had to walk 6 miles in this tundra like weather. Performing slave labor tasks, they fought back the only way possible. Sabotague. In the summer of 43, they were relocated to the new camp in Mukden, (now the city of Shenyang. Two hundred of these heroes died during the first 90 days. In June of 43, three men, two Marines and one Sailor escaped and evaded capture for a couple of weeks. Betrayed by the Chinese, they were brought back to camp and executed in July 43. The men continued their frugal existence. Most weighed below 100 – but didnt realize how bad they looked – why- they all appeared the same.
On Dec 7, 1944, American B29’s bombed the camp and killed 19 men and wounding 54. Bob Brown an Air Corp PFC and medic helped save the lives of those wounded in this tragic error. ByJan 45, the war in Europe was coming to a conclusion, and FDR allowed the3 Russians to sing treaties that would enable them to declare war against the Japanese. By May of 45,with the war over, our focus was back in the Pacific. This area abandoned initially by Marshall and FDR was now the last bastion againt fascism. In May, Gen wainright and other senior officers were in the Mukden area camps. Early that month, most of the seniors were sent to the main amp in Mukden and in August, the OSS team Cardinal was assigned to parachute into the camp area and liberate these men. Hours from execution, their lives were saved on the 16th of Aug and on Aug 20, 1945, the men were freed by the Russian Army. Over the next few weeks, the camp survivors were on their way home. Marines like Roy Weaver, Glenn Stewart had survived. tragically on the way home, SGt Wm Frisier 4th Marines was killed when his ship hit a Japanese mine.
These men have never told their story until the narrative Undaunted Valor was published this past Sept 08.
These men although surrendered and captured were never defeated,. Many returned to serve in Korea and a few in Viet Nam. Today, they meet annually as the Mukden Survivors and Edescendants Group. They along with their fellow service men and woman changed the course of the war. They had given our nation the time to keep the enemy from invading Austraila and allowed MacArthur and our country to reinforce Australia. Most importantly halted the Japanese advance. Yes, they had been surrendered by their officers, but had stopped the Japanese in the Philippines. They were invaded hours after Pearl Harbor- but no one celebrates nor commemorates their great courage and sacrifice.
God Bless these great American Heroes-
By Shelly Zimbler on Jan 29, 2009 at 4:52 pm
thank you allyou brave men. thanks to you i live in freedom today.
By mike cox on Apr 13, 2009 at 4:28 pm
“Not one of the 650 Americans who died on the Death March was a member of the U.S. Marine Corps.” Need I say more?
By Matthew Harper on Apr 24, 2009 at 3:52 pm
All the best from the son of Captive 1210
By Maurice A Christie on Oct 2, 2009 at 4:11 pm