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| Ensign Arthur Barton Cross, shown here with his parents, survived three years as a POW until he was transported to Japan on the hell ship Brazil Maru. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14514372 http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/barton-cross-low-risk-wwii-post-descend-torture-death-article-1.3117422 http://www.west-point.org/family/japanese-pow/photos.htm |
Arthur Barton Cross, Jr. never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on April 12, 1918 in Massachusetts. His parents Arthur and Helen were born in England and New York, respectively. His father worked as a printing company foreman and later a textile plant general manager. Barton had a younger sister, and two older brothers from his mother's first marriage. Barton's family had the influence to get all three boys appointments to the US Naval Academy. Brothers Benny Mott and Bill Mott both graduated, but Barton had trouble with math and was forced to switch to a different school.
The story of Barton and his brothers is beautifully told by his niece Sally Mott Freeman in the recently published book The Jersey Brothers: A Missing Naval Officer in the Pacific and His Family's Quest to Bring Him Home. It is also available for Kindle or Audiobooks.
I have read a lot of books about World War 2 and this is definitely one of the very best. Ms. Freeman is a talented writer and she has a fascinating story to tell. This is a real-life War and Remembrance with each brother playing an active roll in historic events in the war. Brother Benny was a key anti-aircraft officer on the USS Enterprise at the time of Pearl Harbor, the Doolittle Tokyo Raid, the Battle of Midway, and the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. Brother Bill was in charge of President Roosevelt's White House Map Room where the president monitored the progress of the world wide war. Winston Churchill, while visiting in Washington DC, sent Bill's wife a bouquet of pink roses when he found out about the birth of their daughter. Later Bill was Admiral Kelly Turner's flag secretary and helped plan the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Late in the war he went on a special mission to take an important message to President Truman, sharing information to save hundreds of thousands of lives.
I am going to leave out some worthwhile details in this profile so as not to spoil the book for anyone. (Those who don't plan to read the book can read the first comment after this profile to learn more, but you really should consider reading the book - it's a five star read only because they don't do six stars.)
Barton did not pursue a career in the navy as his bothers did, however, as the prospects of war increased, his family was concerned that his navy training would ensure that he would be called to serve in harm's way. Bill made arrangements for Barton to accept a position as an ensign in the Navy's Supply Corps, where Barton would not be at risk of combat. Unfortunately he was assigned to serve in the Philippines, arriving right before the war started, where he was wounded, captured, and made a prisoner of war. He survived months of starvation conditions and multiple voyages in the hell ships the Japanese used to transport prisoners.
He survived until reaching Japan on January 30, 1945 but died on the dock before the prisoners were sent to a POW camp.
His grave is at Yokohama Cremation Memorial in Yokohama, Japan.
Read The Jersey Brothers!
For those of you who can't wait, ready the first comment after this profile for more of the Barton Cross story.
Thank you Barton for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Barton.
Last year on this date I profiled Thomas Roddy, who died when the USS Juneau was sunk. This was the same sinking that claimed the five Sullivan brothers. You can read about Thomas here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
Here are some further details about Barton Cross, for those who can't wait to read The Jersey Brothers.
ReplyDeleteEnsign Cross was wounded during a bombing attack on Manila in December 1941. He was sent to a hospital. With the arrival of the Japanese imminent, the Army ordered all of their wounded troops in the hospital evacuated to Australia. Unfortunately, there were no orders to move the Navy wounded, so they remained and were captured by the Japanese.
After a few short months in atrocious conditions in a Luzon prison camp, Ensign Cross was transferred to the Davao Penal Colony in Mindanao. The prisoners were put to work growing crops for the Japanese so they had better food themselves. It was in the middle of a jungle and the camp was lightly guarded because the Japanese did not think there was a possibility of escape, plus they threaten the prisoners by telling them that they would kill 10 prisoners for each one that escaped.
With the help of local Filipinos, seven prisons managed to escape and were evacuated by submarine to Australia and then back to the states. The Japanese did not follow up on their threats to kill prisoners in retaliation for the escapes, but they did cut back on food and privileges. The stories the escapees told of ill treatment of prisoners concerned the US military. Plans were drawn up to send in a special forces team to partner up with Filipino guerrillas to attack the camp and rescue the prisoners. Unfortunately, turf battles delayed the rescue and the prisoners were moved back to Luzon when the Japanese were worried the Americans would soon land on Mindanao.
It meant another atrocious hell ship trip. With inadequate food and water and men stuffed in holds with limited oxygen, the weakest died. The Japanese did not mark these ships as carrying prisoners so they were targets of US Navy submarines and planes.
When the American attack on Luzon seemed imminent, the Japanese decided to move Ensign Cross and the other prisoners to Japan. The ship they were on was attacked by Navy planes just as it left Manilla Bay. The Japanese guards ordered the prisoners to jump off the sinking ship and swim to the nearby beach. One of Cross's friends played dead and drifted away from the wreck. He was later rescued by fishermen who managed to get him to the American forces. Meanwhile, Cross, who was a good swimmer, kept swimming back to the ship to help those in worse shape to make it to shore.
Cross spent more time under horrendous prison conditions while the Japanese found other ships to transport the prisoners. He spent his final 49 days on two hell ships that took him from Luzon to Formosa, and then Japan. As with prior trips, food and water were entirely inadequate. Many men resorted to drinking blood. Both unmarked ships were attacked by US Navy planes. Only 400 of nearly 1,700 men survived the journey. Ensign Cross was unconscious for the last days of the journey and died on the Yokohama docks on January 30, 1945.
ReplyDeleteIt would not be until September 1945 that his brother Bill discovered that Barton had not survived the war. Cause of death was listed as acute enteritis.
One of the survivors of the 49 day hellacious journey told a newspaperman, "Yes, the Japs are as bad as you say. But we, the three hundred or so [that survived], we are devils too. If we had not been devils, we could not have survived. When you speak of the good and the heroic, don't talk about us. The generous men, the unselfish men, are the men we left behind."
After the war, one of the Mindanao escapees visited Cross's brother Bill Mott. He told him that Cross was originally part of the group that was to escape, but he backed out because of the threat the Japanese made to kill 10 prisoners for each that escaped.
While researching her book, Sally Mott Freeman discovered original Japanese documents that revealed that her uncle's cause of death was not completed revealed at the end of the war. The cause of death also listed a head injury due to a Navy war plane attack. Sadly most of the 21,000 plus POWs killed on the unmarked Japanese hell ships, were killed by torpedoes or war plane attacks.
The death of Barton Cross is especially tragic because of the many lost chances to save his life. First, he was not evacuated from Manila when the army patients were shipped out to Australia. Next, he declined to escape from Mindanao. After that, a planned rescue of the prison camp was thwarted when the Japanese closed the camp. Last of all, when the hell ship was sunk off of the Philippines, Cross was a good enough swimmer to have swam away from the wreck to be rescued by sympathetic Filipinos.
A common thread weaves through Ensign Cross's prison captivity. He always looked after the needs of others before himself. God bless Barton Cross, a true American hero.