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| PFC William Eldredge drowned in the greatest American loss of life at sea from one sinking on the Arisan Maru. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56760108/william-e-eldredge http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/161921-one-pow-and-survivor-one-of-only-nine-of-the-arisan-maru-passes/ |
William E. Eldredge never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on September 16, 1919 in Massachusetts. His parents William and Mildred were also both born in Massachusetts. His father worked as a railroad clerk and later as a hospital intern and orderly. William had three younger brothers. By 1940 William had completed four years of high school and was a soldier in training at Fort Logan, Colorado.
He enlisted in the medical department of the army on April 3, 1941 and he was sent to serve in the Philippines where he had the rank of private first class. Once the Japanese attacked the Philippines, PFC Eldredge was assigned to do his medical duties on Corregidor Island. When Corregidor fell in May 1942, PFC Eldredge became a POW.
Because the Japanese never signed the Geneva Convention and they looked down on the Americans who surrendered, rather than commit suicide, they had no qualms to turn them into slave laborers. For the first couple of years, PFC Eldredge was a POW in the Philippines, but he was eventually picked for transport for slave labor in Manchuria or Japan.
On October 11, 1944 the former freighter and transport ship Arisan Maru embarked 1,782 Allied POWs in Manilla. Traveling north at only seven knots, the 6,800 ton ship was a tempting target for American submarines. Because the Japanese did not mark ships used to transport prisoners, there was no way for the US Navy submarine captains to know a ship carried fellow Americans.
On October 24, 1944 Arisan Maru was torpedoed by the submarine USS Shark. While Arisan Maru foundered, Japanese destroyers were able to find Shark and sink her. They returned to the sinking hell ship but only rescued the Japanese survivors. The POWs were left to drown. Only nine of the POWs survived by finding a lifeboat. PFC Eldredge was one of those who drowned. The loss of life was the most Americans lost in WW2 from a single ship sinking, exceeding Arizona (1,177), and HMT Rohna (1,015).
His cenotaph memorial is at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in Manilla, Philippines.
Last year on this date I profiled D-Day fallen Bedford Boy Frank Draper, 29th Infantry Division. You can read about Frank 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
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