Hellships
"I saw the bombs drop
Tiny specks which grew as they fell
Twinkling like silver coins
Falling through clear water
I felt neither fear nor hatred
Only desire to have it over quickly"
- Lieutenant Henry Lee, 1941
Throughout the war, the Japanese used ships to transport men to Japan and the rest of its territories to labor within its industries due to the fact that the Japanese working force had been greatly decimated because of the war. The prisoners imprisoned within the ships called them "hellships" due to the hot temperatures and harsh conditions inside the ships. The prisoners were cramped inside and many died within hours of being aboard due to the lack of air.
The Oryoku Maru was one of the first ships to leave, but without proper markings. During the Geneva Convention prior to the war, it was stated that all ships containing POWs were to be marked to show that they were on that ship. Because of this, American planes bombed them from up above, and the Oryoko Maru was not an exception. Not many POWs made it off the ship.
Chaplain Robert Taylor was one of the men onboard the ship. Having faced torture and the other atrocities by the Japanese soldiers of the time, it was only fitting that he was one of the men who made it back to shore after the bombing of the Oryoko Maru. He happened to be on an area of the ship that was bombarded by the planes. He and all the other survivors of the Oryoko were kept in the Philippines for a short amount of time. Soon after, the POWs were loaded onto the Enoura Maru. The same fate met the Enoura, bombed again by Americans. Once again, Taylor survived the ordeal, but many of his friends aboard the ship did not.
Amongst the dead was Lieutenant Henry Lee. He was nicknamed the poet of Bataan by friends and later the press, after they had discovered his work under his bed in Cabanatuan. He was also part of the 31st Infantry alongside Sergeant Abie Abraham and Dr. Ralph Hibbs. He was killed instantly after the blast.
The survivors of the Enoura Maru would be placed aboard a third ship named the Brazil Maru, were they would land safely at Takao harbor to work for the Japanese.
Tiny specks which grew as they fell
Twinkling like silver coins
Falling through clear water
I felt neither fear nor hatred
Only desire to have it over quickly"
- Lieutenant Henry Lee, 1941
Throughout the war, the Japanese used ships to transport men to Japan and the rest of its territories to labor within its industries due to the fact that the Japanese working force had been greatly decimated because of the war. The prisoners imprisoned within the ships called them "hellships" due to the hot temperatures and harsh conditions inside the ships. The prisoners were cramped inside and many died within hours of being aboard due to the lack of air.
The Oryoku Maru was one of the first ships to leave, but without proper markings. During the Geneva Convention prior to the war, it was stated that all ships containing POWs were to be marked to show that they were on that ship. Because of this, American planes bombed them from up above, and the Oryoko Maru was not an exception. Not many POWs made it off the ship.
Chaplain Robert Taylor was one of the men onboard the ship. Having faced torture and the other atrocities by the Japanese soldiers of the time, it was only fitting that he was one of the men who made it back to shore after the bombing of the Oryoko Maru. He happened to be on an area of the ship that was bombarded by the planes. He and all the other survivors of the Oryoko were kept in the Philippines for a short amount of time. Soon after, the POWs were loaded onto the Enoura Maru. The same fate met the Enoura, bombed again by Americans. Once again, Taylor survived the ordeal, but many of his friends aboard the ship did not.
Amongst the dead was Lieutenant Henry Lee. He was nicknamed the poet of Bataan by friends and later the press, after they had discovered his work under his bed in Cabanatuan. He was also part of the 31st Infantry alongside Sergeant Abie Abraham and Dr. Ralph Hibbs. He was killed instantly after the blast.
The survivors of the Enoura Maru would be placed aboard a third ship named the Brazil Maru, were they would land safely at Takao harbor to work for the Japanese.
As Lieutenant Henry Lee once wrote before his tragic death on the Enoura Maru:
"Westward we came across the smiling waves,
West to the outpost of our country's might
"Romantic land of brilliant tropic light"
Our land of broken memories and graves
Eastward we go and home, so few
Wrapped in their beds of clay our comrades sleep
The memories of this land are branded deep
And lost is the youth we knew."
"Westward we came across the smiling waves,
West to the outpost of our country's might
"Romantic land of brilliant tropic light"
Our land of broken memories and graves
Eastward we go and home, so few
Wrapped in their beds of clay our comrades sleep
The memories of this land are branded deep
And lost is the youth we knew."