by James Scott
“When we realized”: Tang Report of Fifth War Patrol, Sept. 10, 1945, including Report of the Loss of the U.S.S. Tang (SS-306).
Chapter 19. Drum
“We did not care”: Testimony of Philip Brodsky, Sept. 5, 1946, Box 1431, RG 153, Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Army), War Crimes Branch, Case Files, 1944–1949, NARA.
Sergeant Calvin Graef: Background on Calvin Graef is drawn from the following sources: Calvin Robert Graef with Harry T. Brundidge, “We Prayed to Die,” Cosmopolitan, vol. 118, no. 4, April 1945, pp. 52–55, 177–80; Calvin Graef, Jr., interview with author, April 21, 2011.
Graef’s experience: Details of the conditions aboard Arisan Maru are drawn from the following sources: depositions of Martin Binder (Nov. 8, 1946), Glenn Oliver (Dec. 3, 1946), Anton Cichy (April 30, 1946), Philip Brodsky (Jan. 25, 1946, and Sept. 5, 1946), Avery Wilber (May 1, 1946) Donald Meyer (May 22, 1946), Calvin Graef (Dec. 6, 1944, and April 27, 1946), and Robert Overbeck (June 13, 1946), Box 1431, RG 153, Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Army), War Crimes Branch, Case Files, 1944–1949, NARA; Joint Statement of Calvin Graef, Donald Meyer, Robert Overbeck, Anthony Cichy, and Avery Wilber, Dec. 6, 1944, ibid.; Escape in the China Sea, Mr. Robert S. Overbeck, Report No. 483, Dec. 26, 1944, ibid.; Oral Reminiscences of Master Sergeant Calvin R. Graef, U.S. Army, Oct. 1, 1971, RG 49, D. James Clayton Collection, General Douglas MacArthur Memorial Archives and Library, Norfolk, Virginia; Donald Meyer, “Five Came Back,” personal narrative, American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Museum, Brooke County Public Library, Wellsburg, West Virginia; Robert Overbeck, “Voyage to China,” unpublished article.
“To try and describe”: Oral Reminiscences of Master Sergeant Calvin R. Graef, Oct. 1, 1971.
“The oil and coal dust”: Donald Meyer, “Five Came Back,” personal narrative.
“Food was lowered”: Deposition of Philip Brodsky, Jan. 25, 1946.
“We waded”: Calvin Robert Graef with Harry T. Brundidge, “We Prayed to Die,” Cosmopolitan, vol. 118, no. 4, April 1945, p. 177.
“If you fell down”: Oral Reminiscences of Master Sergeant Calvin R. Graef, Oct. 1, 1971.
“While men were dying”: Calvin Robert Graef with Harry T. Brundidge, “We Prayed to Die,” Cosmopolitan, vol. 118, no. 4, April 1945, p. 177.
Crammed and filthy hellships: Michno, Death on the Hellships, pp. 280–82.
In the bowels: Review of the Staff Judge Advocate in the case of The United States of America vs. Junsaburo Toshino, Headquarters Eighth Army, United States Army, Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, Yokohama, Japan, May 4, 1948.
When temperatures topped: Ibid.
“As a guy goes crazy”: Donald L. Miller, The Story of World War II (New York: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, 2001), p. 596.
In the days since: Calvin Graef as told to Melissa Masterson, Ride the Waves to Freedom (Kearney, Nebr.: Morris Publishing, 1999), p. 72.
Twelve ships: Senji Yuso Sendan Shi; Alden and McDonald, p. 221.
Graef and other captives: Oral Reminiscences of Master Sergeant Calvin R. Graef, Oct. 1, 1971.
killing by some estimates: Michno, Death on the Hellships, pp. 225–44, 280.
Sealion had torpedoed: Ibid., pp. 202–21; James E. Wise and Scott Baron, Soldiers Lost at Sea: A Chronicle of Troopship Disasters (Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 2004), pp. 162–65.
North of Subic Bay: Michno, Death on the Hellships, pp. 242–44.
But the worst such attack: Ibid., pp. 235–41; Wise and Baron, Soldiers Lost at Sea, pp. 165–67.
“If the Navy”: Calvin Robert Graef with Harry T. Brundidge, “We Prayed to Die,” Cosmopolitan, vol. 118, no. 4, April 1945, p. 178.
Maurice Rindskopf scanned: Drum Report of Eleventh War Patrol, Oct. 26, 1944.
American troops had invaded: USSBS, The Campaigns of the Pacific War, pp. 210–20.
Allied bombers: Sydney Gruson, “New Records Set in Air in October,” New York Times, Nov. 4, 1944, p. 4.
The importance of the Marianas: Potter, ed., Sea Power, pp. 769–70; USSBS, The Campaigns of the Pacific War, p. 220.
“Hell is on us”: Interrogation of Fleet Admiral Osami Nagano, Nov. 20, 1946, in USSBS, Interrogations of Japanese Officials, vol. 2, pp. 352–56.
Three days earlier: Morison, History of the United States Naval Operations in World War II, vol. 12, Leyte, June 1944–January 1945, pp. 113–38.
The fall of the Philippines: “MacArthur Marks Fall of Bataan by New Vow to Retake Philippines,” New York Times, April 9, 1943, p. 1; “M’Arthur Renews Philippines Pledge,” New York Times, March 18, 1944, p. 7; William B. Dickinson, “Bataan Torturers Trapped on Leyte,” New York Times, Oct. 21, 1944, p. 3; Eric Larrabee, Commander in Chief: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, His Lieutenants, and Their War (Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1987), p. 321.
“Bataan is like a child”: “MacArthur Marks Fall of Bataan by New Vow to Retake Philippines,” New York Times, April 9, 1943, p. 1.
Two years, seven months: “Beachheads Won,” New York Times, Oct. 20, 1944, p. 1; Morison, History of the United States Naval Operations in World War II, vol. 12 Leyte, June 1944–January 1945, pp. 136–37.
“People of the Philippines”: “M’Arthur Appeals for Filipinos’ Aid,” New York Times, Oct. 21, 1944, p. 3.
Captured airfields: USSBS, The Effects of Strategic Bombing on Japan’s War Economy, pp. 41–42.
Skippers like: Ibid.
As stockpiles: USSBS, The War Against Japanese Transportation, 1941–1945, p. 112; USSBS, The Effects of Strategic Bombing on Japan’s War Economy, p. 24.
Workers collected: USSBS, The War Against Japanese Transportation, 1941–1945, pp. 108, 112–13.
With scrap aluminum: Ibid., p. 112.
More than any other import: USSBS, Oil in Japan’s War, opening page, pp. 50–57.
The Japanese would grow: Ibid., pp. 6, 61–62.
While military trucks: Ibid., pp. 1, 6.
Japan struggled to keep: Ibid., pp. 6, 85–87.
“There was no prospect”: Ibid., p. 86.
The vast Pacific gains: Roscoe, United States Submarine Operations in World War II, pp. 324, 432–33.
So heavy was the concentration: Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, Submarine Operational History World War II, vol. 4, pp. 1353–55.
many of the warships: JANAC, pp. 19–25, 78–87.
“These were the”: Drum Report of Eleventh War Patrol, Oct. 26, 1944.
One of the empire’s last: Roscoe, United States Submarine Operations in World War II, pp. 410–11; Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, Submarine Operational History World War II, vol. 1, pp. 72–75.
The seas throughout: Operational Order No. 304–44, Sept. 8, 1944, Box 299, RG 38, Records of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Plans, Orders and Related Documents, NARA.
Rindskopf’s orders: Ibid.; Maurice Rindskopf unpublished memoir, p. 85.
a fact confirmed: Senji Yuso Sendan Shi.
Sawfish first picked up: Sawfish Report of Eighth War Patrol, Nov. 8, 1944.
The thirty-nine-year-old: Alan Banister Navy Bio, March 4, 1971, NDL.
the Kimikawa Maru: Alden and McDonald, pp. 213, 221; Senji Yuso Sendan Shi.
The sonar operator: Drum Report of Eleventh War Patrol, Oct. 26, 1944.
Icefish sailors: Icefish Report of First War Patrol, Nov. 13, 1944.
The submarine Snook: Snook Report of Seventh War Patrol, Nov. 18, 1944; Operational Order No. 326-44, Sept. 24, 1944, Box 299, RG 38, Records of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Plans, Orders and Related Documents, NARA.
Wolf pack commander Banister: Sawfish Report of Eighth War Patrol, Nov. 8, 1944.
“Attacking from port flank”: Ibid.
“Attack completed”: Ibid.
Commander Richard Peterson: Icefish Report of First War Patrol, Nov. 13, 1944.
His one hit: Alden and McDonald, pp. 221–22; Senji Yuso Sendan Shi.
The tightly clustered convoy: Senji Yuso Sendan Shi.
Rindskopf, now operating: Drum Report of Eleventh War Patrol, Oct. 26, 1944.
Snook roared in: Snook Report of Seventh War Patrol, Nov. 18, 1944.
Lookouts on the 3,887-ton tanker: Alden and McDonald, pp. 221–22; Senji Yuso Sendan Shi; JANAC, p. 45 of the appendix.
“The resulting explosion”: Snook Report of Seventh War Patrol, Nov. 18, 1944.
The tenacious skipper: Ibid.; Alden and McDonald, p. 222; Senji Yuso Sendan Shi; JANAC gives Hoe credit for the sinking of Tenshin Maru; however, Snook is the more likely submarine.
Out of torpedoes: Sawfish Report of Eighth War Patrol, Nov. 8, 1944; Icefish Report of First War Patrol, Nov. 13, 1944; Snook Report of Seventh War Patrol, Nov. 18, 1944.
He scanned the horizon: Drum Report of Eleventh War Patrol, Oct. 26, 1944; Alden and McDonald, p. 222; Senji Yuso Sendan Shi; JANAC, p. 12 of the appendix.
The submarines Shark: Roscoe, United States Submarine Operations in World War II, p. 411; Seadragon Report of Eleventh War Patrol, Nov. 8, 1944.
Seadragon skipper: Seadragon Report of Eleventh War Patrol, Nov. 8, 1944; Alden and McDonald, pp. 222–23; Senji Yuso Sendan Shi; JANAC, p. 40 of the appendix.
the 6,886-ton Taisho Maru: JANAC, p. 12 of the appendix; Alden and McDonald, pp. 224–25; Senji Yuso Sendan Shi.
Rindskopf would relinquish command: Drum Report of Twelfth War Patrol, Jan. 17, 1945; Maurice Rindskopf unpublished memoir, p. 86.
Drum would make: Harold P. Deeley, Jr., et al., eds., Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, vol. 2 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1963), pp. 301–2; JANAC, p. 12 of the appendix.
Like the Silver Lady: Maurice Rindskopf unpublished memoir, p. 86.
He would return: Maurice Rindskopf Navy Bio, Nov. 15, 1972, NDL.
Some of the prisoners: Deposition of Calvin Graef, April 27, 1946.
Half of the prisoners: Calvin Robert Graef with Harry T. Brundidge, “We Prayed to Die,” Cosmopolitan, vol. 118, no. 4, April 1945, p. 178.
“What gives?”: Ibid.
Shark’s thirty-two-year-old: Edward Blakely Navy Bio, Feb. 5, 1958, NDL, JANAC, p. 43 of the appendix.
“Sink us, Navy!”: Calvin Robert Graef with Harry T. Brundidge, “We Prayed to Die,” Cosmopolitan, vol. 118, no. 4, April 1945, p. 178.
A one-and-a-half-ton: Alden and McDonald, p. 223; Senji Yuso Sendan Shi.
Coal dust: Robert Overbeck, “Voyage to China,” unpublished article.
Prisoners who only: Calvin Robert Graef with Harry T. Brundidge, “We Prayed to Die,” Cosmopolitan, vol. 118, no. 4, April 1945, p. 178.
“They ate like savages”: Deposition of Philip Brodsky, Sept. 5, 1946.
“Want a bite?”: Calvin Robert Graef with Harry T. Brundidge, “We Prayed to Die,” Cosmopolitan, vol. 118, no. 4, April 1945, p. 178.
“They took at least five pokes”: Deposition of Calvin Graef, April 27, 1946.
Corporal Donald Meyer: Donald Meyer, “Five Came Back,” personal narrative; Deposition of Donald Meyer, May 23, 1946.
“Some felt”: Donald Meyer, “Five Came Back,” personal narrative.
“There were still”: Deposition of Glenn Oliver, Dec. 3, 1946.
“Men were going down”: Donald Meyer, “Five Came Back,” personal narrative.
Graef, too: Calvin Robert Graef with Harry T. Brundidge, “We Prayed to Die,” Cosmopolitan, vol. 118, no. 4, April 1945, p. 179.
“Clinging to my”: Ibid.
“What kind of chance”: Donald Meyer, “Five Came Back,” personal narrative.
“The yelling”: Ibid.
“Say, bud”: Ibid.
“Hey boat!”: Calvin Robert Graef with Harry T. Brundidge, “We Prayed to Die,” Cosmopolitan, vol. 118, no. 4, April 1945, p. 180.
The Japanese had stripped: Ibid.; Robert Overbeck, “Voyage to China,” unpublished article.
Meyer contributed: Donald Meyer, “Five Came Back,” personal narrative.
The men unfurled: Ibid.; Calvin Robert Graef with Harry T. Brundidge, “We Prayed to Die,” Cosmopolitan, vol. 118, no. 4, April 1945, p. 180; Robert Overbeck, “Voyage to China,” unpublished article; Deposition of Calvin Graef, April 27, 1946.
“Where’s China?”: Calvin Robert Graef with Harry T. Brundidge, “We Prayed to Die,” Cosmopolitan, vol. 118, no. 4, April 1945, p. 180.
The five survivors: Robert Overbeck, “Voyage to China,” unpublished article.
The men picked up: Depositions of Martin Binder (Nov. 8, 1946), Glenn Oliver (Dec. 3, 1946), and Philip Brodsky (Jan. 25, 1946, and Sept. 5, 1946).
Another eighty-seven: Naval History Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, United States Submarine Losses, pp. 114–15.
“There was a lot of phosphorescence”: Robert Overbeck, “Voyage to China,” unpublished article.
“This was our country”: Donald Meyer, “Five Came Back,” personal narrative.
Chapter 20. Tang
“Dear All”: Gordon Cox undated postcard to family.
The October sun: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, pp. 459–60; William Leibold interview with author, July 10, 2009.
The cramped compartment: Details of the time aboard P-34 are drawn from the depositions of Henry James Flanagan (March 22, 1946), William Rudolph Leibold (Oct. 26, 1945), C. O. Decker (April 24, 1946), Floyd Murel Caverly (May 22, 1946), and J. N. DaSilva (April 26, 1946); Lawrence Savadkin oral history interview with the Navy, Jan. 30, 1946.
“When we would knock”: Deposition of William Rudolph Leibold, Oct. 26, 1945.
“I’ll be damned”: Floyd Caverly interview with author, July 30, 2009.
“Our men would pass out”: Deposition of Floyd Murel Caverly, May 22, 1946.
Postwar records: JANAC, p. 48 of the appendix; Blair, Silent Victory, p. 988.
“Anything that the Japs ask you”: Clay Decker video oral history interview with Dan Clayton, March 2002.
P-34 arrived: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, p. 460; Lawrence Savadkin oral history interview with the Navy, Jan. 30, 1946.
The guards issued: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, p. 460; Lawrence Savadkin oral history interview with the Navy, Jan. 30, 1946; Jesse B. DaSilva, “Survivor of the Mighty Tang,” American Submariner, July–September 2001, pp. 16–18; “Saga of POWs,” All Hands, June 1946, pp. 18–19.
“We watched”: Lawrence Savadkin oral history interview with the Navy, Jan. 30, 1946.
The train ended: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, p. 460; Jesse B. DaSilva, “Survivor of the Mighty Tang,” American Submariner, July–September 2001, pp. 16–18.
“The cells are like the cages”: Lawrence Savadkin oral history interview with the Navy, Jan. 30, 1946.
The Japanese fed the prisoners: Ibid.; O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, p. 460.
“Hey, fellows!”: “Saga of POWs,” All Hands, June 1946, p. 18.
The guards returned: Lawrence Savadkin oral history interview with the Navy, Jan. 30, 1946.
The destroyer captain: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, p. 460–62.
“How is it”: Ibid., p. 461.
“I ate with the Japanese officers”: Lawrence Savadkin oral history interview with the Navy, Jan. 30, 1946.
Four days and three nights passed: Ibid.
“That ship”: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, p. 462.
“How old are you?”: Ibid.; William Leibold interview with author, July 10, 2009; Lawrence Savadkin oral history interview with the Navy, Jan. 30, 1946; William Tuohy, The Bravest Man: The Story of Richard O’Kane and U.S. Submariners in the Pacific War (Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing, 2002), pp. 355–56.
“The countryside”: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, p
. 462.
The Japanese built the secret camp: Descriptions of Ofuna are drawn from: Robert H. Dolder to HQ.XI Corps, Report of Recovery Team 56, Sept. 23, 1945; Louis Zamperini with David Rensin, Devil at My Heels: A World War II Hero’s Epic Saga of Torment, Survival, and Forgiveness (New York: William Morrow, 2003), pp. 134–35.
“The camp was built”: Zamperini, Devil at My Heels, p. 134.
“No heat of any description”: Affidavit of John Fitzgerald, July 11, 1946, Papers of Rear Admiral John A. Fitzgerald, 1943–1945, Naval History and Heritage Command, Washington, D.C.: Deposition of Donald Curry Stanley, April 12, 1947, Box 700, RG 153, Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Army), War Crimes Branch, NARA.
Nonregistered captives received: William Leibold interview with author, July 13, 2009; O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, p. 463; Gregory “Pappy” Boyington, Baa Baa Black Sheep (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1958), pp. 275, 296–97; John Fitzgerald introduction to diary; copies of Fitzgerald’s diary are on file with his papers at the Naval History and Heritage Command and in Box 17 of Charles Lockwood’s papers at the Library of Congress. Both copies appear to be missing pages. Author Stephen Moore graciously provided me with what appears to be a complete copy of Fitzgerald’s diary.
“One day I walked”: Notes of the deposition of Louis Zamperini, provided by Stephen Moore.
“Eat!”: Zamperini, Devil at My Heels, pp. 136–37.
Portion sizes fluctuated: Review of the Staff Judge Advocate in the case of The United States of America vs. Tatsumi Hata, Headquarters Eighth Army, United States Army, Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, Yokohama, Japan, Dec. 21, 1948.
Prisoners suffered: Deposition of Sage M. Johnston, March 18, 1948, Box 700, RG 153, Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Army), War Crimes Branch, NARA; John Fitzgerald introduction to diary; Jesse DaSilva oral history interview with Douglas E. Clanin, Sept. 4, 1992.
at least eight deaths: Review of the Staff Judge Advocate in the case of The United States of America vs. Yuzuru Sanematsu et al. Headquarters Eighth Army, United States Army, Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, Yokohama, Japan, Feb. 15, 1949. Records show that at least six confirmed prisoners died at Ofuna. At least two others died shortly after being transferred to other camps, those deaths a direct result of treatment received at Ofuna.