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"Tribute To A True Hero"
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They had all these white haired Legionaires with their M1s and Flags, all in the  American Legion uniform. The third grade was there to sing America the Beautiful  and God Bless America, several speakers spoke, and my emotions were rampant. 

But the hardest thing for me to do, which God layed upon me was the poem I read  at the end of the program. I have added it at the end of this printing, Bill, your  brother in arms and in Christ. Lest we forget.

Bill McDonald, CW3 USA Ret., Korea and VN
Nephew of Joseph

Paul, Thank you so much for your kindness and thoughtfulness.   Bill.

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"Hell Ships"
Japanese prisoner of war transports.
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You are in hell!!
You are on board a Japanese
prisoner of war ship during World War II.

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	JOSEPH D. NELSON PFC U.S. ARMY 8 OCT 1916~24 OCT 1944
	A Defender Of  The Philippine Islands 7 DEC 1941~6 MAY 1942

Purple Heart Medal	Prisoner Of  War Medal	Combat Action Ribbon	American Defense Medal	American Campaign Medal
Asisatic-Pacific Campaign Medal	World War II Victory Medal	Philippine Presidential UnitCitation Ribbon	Philippine Defense Medal	Philippine Independence Medal

He grew up to be 5' 5 1/2 inches tall, 6 inches taller than his mother and two
sisters, and he weighed 121 pounds.  His mother and sisters weighed less than 100  pounds when they were adults. His oldest sister was my mother. Clara Elizabeth  (Nelson) McDonald. She met my father at John Brown School, where they fell in  love and left school and went to Tulsa and were married there. Ethel and Joseph  were divorced prior to 1920 and she went off to Tahlequah and married a man  named Davis and had one son named Jack. The family migrated to the San Diego  area in California and they found work in the ship building there.

When WW II came along, Joseph answered the call to duty and joined the Army,  from all I can find, on Jan 6, 1940. Odd that January 6 is his dads birthday and  mine. The next place we find him is the Southwest Pacific Area, in a Beleaguered  status from December 8, 1941, to and including May 6, 1942, and a missing in  action status on and subsequent to February 10, 1942 when the international Red  Cross informed the Department of Army that he was a Prisoner of War, and that  status was terminated  on 16 June 1945 when evidence concidered to be sufficient  to establishe the fact of death on October 14, 1944 was recieved by the Secretary  of War. Who just happened to be my cousin, Frank Pace, Jr, on my father's side.  Now, I have said all that to say this.

My uncle Joseph Nelson, a Madison County son, went through hell on earth.  And  his family did as well. If you can imagine what they went through from December  1941 to after June 16, 1945, not knowing anything about their son and brother?  The Army notified his younger sister Velma, as he had listed her as next of kin,
and my mother was there when the phone call came in. It devistated them, as you
can imagine. The younger sister went into shock and never fully recovered. My  mother fell into a trauma of hatred for the Army and the Japanese Army to such an  extent that she was discharged from the army and joined the Red Cross as a  uniformed participant. Her husband at the time was one of General Chenaults  Flying Tigers. It was so distressing that no one in the family ever brought up the  subject.

Joseph was an Infantry man, wounded, and serving as a clerk in the 2nd General  Hospital when he was captured. He was a POW in various camps in the Philipines,  the last one being in Manila, I believe. He was in the infamous Bataan Death  March. The last Prison Camp he was in, the prisoners were dieing from  malnutrition.They had to bury their own dead. One prisoner relates that they had
to carry the litters on their shoulders as their arms were not strong enough to hold  them. They did not even have strength enough to dig holes and cover them and  soon simply scraped dirt over them and the next rain would uncover them.. The  count was up to as many as 80 per day at the end. There was a staff of Chaplains  there who had better treatment as they were useful to the Japanese in that they  could keep peace amongst the prisoners. These Chaplains took over the duty of  burying the dead. They are to be commended.  There were three aboard the Arisan  Maru, the ship that our own submarine sank, which my uncle was on.

The International Red Cross had extablished rules of war which required all nations  to show the red flag on any transport vehicle of prisoners, but the Japanese  merchant ships refused to comply with that rule. The ship was hit slightly aft of
mid ships and folded slightly.  The prisoners were in the front of the ship and it
took 2 to 3 hours to sink. When the Crew abandoned ship, they cast off all life  boats, and cut the ropes that were the only way for the prisoners to climb out of
the hold or get back into it. But some prisoners that were atop managed to get most  out, but many could not swim.

There were about 8 US prisoners atop doing cleanup duty and a couple of civilians  and one or two Australians.  Out of 1805 prisoners, 7 Americans escaped alive and  2 managed to make it to Formosa and freedom. the rest were recaptured. 5  managed to reach China in a boat.  These figures vary from one report to another,  so it is not cut in stone.

There were other Japanese ships in the area and they refused to rescue any of the  prisoners that swam up to their ships.  a few were picked up by Japanese Navy
and sent to Formosa. (There was one ship that took on a few, but I am not aware  of it being more than 5 men.)

I would be terribly negligent if I didn't mention the inspirational dedication of
Father Tom, a Catholic Chaplain, who is a hero in the archives of history. He had  time to go around to every prisoner offering absolution, or seeking the prayer of  salvation, from every prisoner there. It gives me a great peace of mind knowing  this, as a dying man will very quickly call on God, as we all know. I shall read this  final story with Joseph in mind.

Rest in peace Private Joseph Nelson, United States Army, Prisoner of War, Killed  in Action, World War II, Purple Heart.

Requiescat in pace!

May they rest in Peace!

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This Web Page was created by and
is maintained by Paul D. Henriott
Last updated 25 March 2006