US Submarine Rescue of Aussie and British POW's in WW2 (part 1)

This is part 1 of a 2 part video of the US Submarine Rescue of Australian POW's in the South China Sea on Sept 15, 1944

Please see youtube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/subrescue for a detailed description of this incident.

This Dramatic Video is Narrated by the Man who actually shot the video, the Communications Officer on the USS Sealion, Lt (jg) (ss) Joe (Shorty) Bates.

Special THANKS to Joes son, Bob Bates for providing me with this wonderful piece of history, that is so wonderfully narrated by his Dad.

Parts of the video are out of order, but, the rescue of these poor men, and the images captured here are some of the most dramatic I have ever seen....

This video is from the US Submarine "USS SeaLion II" (SS-315) 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 to Thailand Railway. 53 Men were plucked from the water that day by the SeaLion II, and taken to Saipan, where they were safely transferred to the US Army Hospital at Tampag Harbor on the 20th of Sept.

The Submarines USS Pampanito, USS Barb and USS Queenfish also rescued men, and combined with these 53 men totaled 150 men rescued.

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 SeaLion II.

Several members of the crew volunteered to act as "Nuses", even though they had no formal training in this. These men stood watch round the clock, and assisted the pharmacist mate in doctoring and caring for these poor men.

The crew donated chlothes and various other sundries to send them off to be repatriated.

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.

This DRAMATIC film footage was shot by the Boats Communications Officer, Navy Lt. Joe "shorty" Bates. Here is the Sealions webpage, with several pages dedicated to the remarkable Joe Bates.
All of the Sealion Crewmembers were hero's, but several men stood out. Joe was one of those men. Joe was presented with a Bronze and a Silver Star for his Heroism.
RIP Mr Bates........
http://www.usssealion.com/

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

Sid Mouser

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• wwii
• pacific
• uss
• sealion
• ss315
• ss-325
• rescue
• australian
• POW
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• Ship

[TigerDover]

i am Chinese and i want to thank you for your part in the fight against terror.

The Japanese committed terrible atrocities that were not as well known as Nazi Concentration camps.

[hayseed1957]

@TigerDover

Thanks for stoppping in and commenting. I know the Chinese suffered horribly during the war.

Take care,

Hayseed1957.

[TheJeffro85]

Thank you for being there to pick up our boys, we would have done the same for you , Brothers in arms !!!!!

[hayseed1957]

@TheJeffro85

You're welcome. And I am comfortable knowing, that if the shoe was on the other foot, you guys would have been there for us. Thanks.

[MrJimmyboy1972]

i love both the yanks and the aussies, you are just like us scots. being hard done to only makes you harder to deal with. no one, but no one. will ever get the better of us. the determination and joy on the faces of the usn guys and the rescued aussie pows was a joy to behold. i would like to think of myself as an honorary aussie as i lived and was educated in australia in the early 1960s. "rise australia fair" and "god bless america"

[hayseed1957]

@MrJimmyboy1972

Well said, and thanks for commenting.

Cheers, Mate.

[iainmac2]

Great video - thanks for sharing. Your commentary was excellent too.

[1947TonyF]

I break my heart watching these videos. My father was one of the men being taken out of the water, and he features in several of the shots. I've posted on these films on YouTube previously, I don't watch them for ages and then come back to them, so many of the British soldiers who returned were treated so badly by the government, for a good written account of this event read 'Return from the River Kwai' by Clay Blair, it lists all the survivors.

[Bronco46tube]

Amazing video! I'm glad these moments have been preserved. Hopefully future generations will see the price that's been paid for liberty; and that they will come to better appreciate it; and then do what's necessary to pass it on. Thank You for this footage.

[xxMapSyrxx]

@MrMonkeyman2121

There are always new things to learn.

There are so many things during WWII that were so much worse than concentration camps. Please take some time to read them.

[jeffrey19621]

Thank you for posting this.

[futuregodd]

@TheJeffro85

If you didn't know it was the Yanks that sunk the vessel these aussies were on., albeit in unmarked Japanese POW vessels.

[futuregodd]

@TheJeffro85

If you didn't know it was the Yanks that sunk the vessel these aussies were on.

[MrJimmyboy1972]

@hayseed1957 cheers! cobber, (still got it).....Haaa!