Diary, Letters and Notes on the
Life and Service of
Chaplain Ralph W. D. Brown

Your are on Page 3 - Links Directly to Chapters
Page 1 of 3:
 Chapter 1 - Family History and Pre-War Service
 Chapter 2 - Pastor Brown Joins the Army Air Forces
 Chapter 3 - December 8, 1941 - Manila and the Philippine Islands Attacked
 Chapter 4 - "From The Battle Front" In the Field, Bataan, P. I. February 7, 1942
 Chapter 5 - A Letter From Prison Camp #1 Cabanatuan, November 6, 1942
Page 2 of 3:
 Chapter 6 - Easter and - - - - Surrender
 Chapter 7 - "THE MARCH OF DEATH"
 Chapter 8 - Cabanatuan - Corregidor Camp
 Chapter 9 - A letter written in Cabanatuan Prison Camp #1
 Chapter 10 - In Bilibid Prison, Manila
Page 3 of 3:
 Chapter 11 - The Cruise of Death - 50 Days in Hell
 Chapter 12 - Chaplin Ralph Brown is Called "Home"
 Chapter 13 - Letter From Chaplain Duffy to Mrs. Brown
 Chapter 14 - Letter From 2nd LT Frank Forni To Mr. Arthur Brown

(Start of PDF Page 7)

  December 13 1944, at Manila, with 1,200 U.S. Officers and 419 enlisted men, he was jammed into the black, dark hold of the Jap Prison ship, Oryoks Maru, and started on the trip to Japan. The heat, filth and deprivation of air, water, and food were inhuman. Many died of suffocation and thirst.

  December 14, at Olongapo in Subic Bay, the ship was spotted and attacked by American bombers and bombed all that day. On the morning of December 15, two very large bombs hit the ship and it sunk. Hundreds of prisoners began swimming for the shore which was 500 or 600 yards away. The Japs began firing at the prisoners on the deck and in the water, killing many of them.

  Without clothes or food and almost no water they were crowded into a tennis court and for days exposed to torrid heat by day and cold at night. Finally they were given some cast off Philippine rags for clothing, some of it so rotten they could not put it on. Some had one piece of clothing, some two, and some had none. Their first eats was a spoonful of raw rice on the 18th. The next day they got two spoonfuls.

  December 20, they were taken by truck to San Fernando, Pampanga, where they were held for 4 days. On December 24 they started by truck for San Fernando, LaUnion and arrived there on Christmas Day. The next day, December 26, they boarded another ship which was marked "2". This was a horse ship which had not been cleaned since a load of horses had been shipped on it. The stench and the flies were almost beyond endurance. They buried themselves in the manure at night for a little warmth. They ate the undigested barley to try to ease the gnawing of their hunger.

Oryoku Maru, shown burning after attack on 15 December 1944 about 11 AM. This photo was taken by a Hellcat from USS Hornet (CV-12) shows POWs swimming in the water. (US Navy Photo). [More information on the sinking of the Oryoku Maru can be found on this Wikipedia link: "Oryoku Maru."]

  December 31, 1944, they reached Takao, Formosa, having been attacked three times by torpedoes. On January 9, 1945, in Takao Harbor, they were heavily dive bombed and many more prisoners were killed or wounded.  [Information on the Wikipedia "Hell ship" link would indicate that this second ship was the Enoura Maru.]  The Japs laughed in high glee at the site of dismembered bodies. They allowed no medicine or bandages for the wounded, though both were available. When asked for food their reply was "We are not interested, we want you to die. But how many have died? We must keep record". Many died of starvation, suffocation and thirst.

  "Ralph distinguished himself by the assistance he rendered to the wounded, sick and dying. He said many prayers over the dead." [For his actions Chaplain Brown earned his second award of the Bronze Star Medal] (PDF Page 10)

  Chaplain (Major) Ralph W. D. Brown, rendered meritorious service, from 9 to 12 January, 1945, while a prisoner of war aboard a Japanese Ship enroute from the Philippines to Japan when the ship was attacked by planes with consequent death and injury to his fellow prisoners. He ministered final rites to the dying, and first aid to the wounded. After confinement in the hold for three days amidst the carnage wrought by the attack, he took a leading part in cleaning the wreckage and bodies of the dead, and with characteristic assurance, maintained hope among the survivors.

  January 14, 1945, they were loaded on a third ship, [It is likely that the third ship was the Brazil Maru.] which was marked with a big "I" and arrived at Moji, Japan on January 30, in a snow storm, with no shoes, and very little summer clothing. Their average weight was down to 80 pounds. One survivor said "I tried to think of some kind of torture that the fiendish Japs might have overlooked and I could think of none."

  Ralph had not been wounded but his closest buddy, Harry Packard, had died three days before and he had given the last bit of physical strength he possessed for his fellow sufferers. He had only enough left to go down the gang plank under his own power. He had arrived, but now his men were scattered to many different camps. His work was done. And "He just faded away." "he was not" for a loving Heavenly Father took him in His arms and Kissed him with the crown of LIFE. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13, King James Version

  Chaplain Ralph W. D. Brown died January 31, 1945.

  One of his fellow prisoners who survived said "When we were being tortured to a slow and horrible death, when many men were being driven stark mad and attacking the weakened fellows, when there was not a possible respite of any sort for the human mind, and when I could no longer see him, it was then that I heard his voice in his daily prayers and that meant everything to me, even life itself."

    

  The facts stated on this page were secured and carefully checked from "eye witnesses" who themselves were brought to the very gates of death but who managed to survive and granted us personal interviews.