USS Pampanito Rescuing Australian POWs

NOTE:
Video of this particular incident was shot on both the USS Pampanito, and the USS Sealion II, the video has kind of gotten mixed up thru the years. One thing is for sure, most of this was shot by Lt jg (ss) Joe "shorty" Bates. Many thanks to Joes son Bob Bates for providing me with this incredible video. The images shown here are some of the most dramatic I have ever seen. As a former Bubblehead myself, I am proud of all these men, and they are all heros in my book. Being at a dead stop in hostile enemy waters is something a submarine does not want to do. It is unfortunate that we actually sank these poor boys just 4 days previous, but the Japanese did not have the ships marked correctly, indicating that Allied POW's were aboard.

For a more complete understanding of this incident, please see the youtube channel I have made wich goes into much more detail.
http://www.youtube.com/SubRescue

This video is from the US Submarine "USS Pampanito" (SS-383) taken Sept 15, 1944, while rescuing British and Australian Soldiers, who are survivors of two Japanese Transport Ships the Rakuyo Maru, and the Kachidoki Maru, which were NOT MARKED as they should have been with any Red Cross Flag, and had been sunk 3 days earlier by American Submarines while the Japanese were hauling the POW's from Malaysia to the Japanese Mainland. The Americans were totally unaware of the precious cargo they had just sunk.

These men had all been Japanese Prisoners of war for 3 years on the Maylay Peninsula, used in forced labor to construct the Burma Railway. 73 Men were plucked from the water that day by Pampanito, and taken to Saipan, where they were transferred to the US Army Hospital at Tampag Harbor on the 20th of Sept.

The Submarines USS Sealion II, USS Barb and USS Queenfish combined, rescued another 85 men from these same ships, the same day.

You can see the men are all in very poor health, coated in oil, and are all malnourished suffering from numerous illnesses, scurvy, Malaria, BeriBeri, Dysentary, Immersion foot, and almost starved to death.

They all had tales of being beaten, starved and mis-treated by the Japanese. They had been abandoned on the ship after it was torpedoed. The Japanese took all of the life boats, so the men had a short time to tear off deck hatches and stuff to float on.

After 5 days on board the Submarine, most of the survivors were able to get around pretty well, thanks to the care and assistance of the crew of the USS Pampanito. At the end you can see them eating Ice Cream, being made right there on top of the boat, and I think it would be hard to wipe the smiles from their faces. They are also drinking "Bug Juice", wich is something you drink on a Boat. If you add sugar, you can drink it, if you leave the sugar out, you can use it to remove paint.. ha ha...

Unfortunately, out of a total of 2,200 men on the two un-marked tansports that were sunk, 1,400 Perished.
Most of the survivors were unfortunately picked up by the Japanese and remained prisoners/slaves on the Mainland untill being rescued by the American Occupation Forces at Karasaki POW camp, in Sept 1945.

For a first hand narrative from a Pampanito Crewmember go here:
http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/oral_history_davis.htm

To Read a 1st hand narrative of a Survivor who was picked up by the Japanese go here:
http://www.anzacday.org.au/history/ww2/anecdotes/survivors.html

For another account of the Sinking Go Here:
http://www.subvetpaul.com/SAGA_10_85.htm

Another good Narrative of the incident that includes names and adresses of Survivors:
http://www.submarinesailor.com/history/pow/AussieBritRescue/

Pampanitos WW2 War Record, 6 battle Stars:
http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/p1/pampanito.htm

This Mighty US Warship is now a US Maritime Museum in San Francisco teaching future Bubbleheads the perils, dangers, excitement and satisfaction of being a US Sub Sailor.
http://uss-pampanito.visit-san-francisco.com/

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