S/O Cornelius D. Cummings and Bertha Allie (Brown) Cummings.
"Morse" Cummings was serving in the Army at the time of his death. He served in the South Pacific Theatre, Philippine Islands. "Morse" is said to have died in transit to Japan. Family reports that there is a memorial in the Philippines with his name that states, "KIA #0-363991".
In doing research of the Cummings family, I came across a website titled "Never Forgotten" of the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society which provided an article titled "The Story of the Bombing of the Enoura Maru" by Michael Hurse, MBE, Director, Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society. This article gave an accounting of what William Morse Cummings must have lived through after being captured.
On December 14, 1944 more than 1600 American POWs left the Philippines bound for Japan on a hellship called the Oryoku Maru. Morse was one of those 1600 American POWs. The next day aircraft from the USS Hornet bombed the ship [unknowing it held American POWs] but did not sink it. The following day they returned and sank the crippled ship, with the loss of more than 300 POW lives. Those POWs who survived the bombing were re-assembled and put aboard two other "hellships", the Enoura Maru and the Brazil Maru. The Enoura Maru, which Morse was said to be on, was docked at the Takao Harbor on January 9, 1945 when it was hit by the American USS Hornet aircraft (once again unknowingly bombing its fellow Americans). The surviving 890 POWs were then put aboard the Brazil Maru and taken on to Japan. By the time they reached Moji only 450 were alive, and within three months after arriving in Japan more than 100 more were dead. Of the more than 1600 POWs who had started their journey to Japan on the Oryoku Maru a month earlier, only about 400 survived the war.
There is much more to this story than I've recounted for the history of our cousin, Morse, and it can be found at:
http://www.powtaiwan.org/archives_detail.php?THE-STORY-OF-THE-BOMBING-OF-THE-ENOURA-MARU-17.
"Morse" Cummings was serving in the Army at the time of his death. He served in the South Pacific Theatre, Philippine Islands. "Morse" is said to have died in transit to Japan. Family reports that there is a memorial in the Philippines with his name that states, "KIA #0-363991".
In doing research of the Cummings family, I came across a website titled "Never Forgotten" of the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society which provided an article titled "The Story of the Bombing of the Enoura Maru" by Michael Hurse, MBE, Director, Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society. This article gave an accounting of what William Morse Cummings must have lived through after being captured.
On December 14, 1944 more than 1600 American POWs left the Philippines bound for Japan on a hellship called the Oryoku Maru. Morse was one of those 1600 American POWs. The next day aircraft from the USS Hornet bombed the ship [unknowing it held American POWs] but did not sink it. The following day they returned and sank the crippled ship, with the loss of more than 300 POW lives. Those POWs who survived the bombing were re-assembled and put aboard two other "hellships", the Enoura Maru and the Brazil Maru. The Enoura Maru, which Morse was said to be on, was docked at the Takao Harbor on January 9, 1945 when it was hit by the American USS Hornet aircraft (once again unknowingly bombing its fellow Americans). The surviving 890 POWs were then put aboard the Brazil Maru and taken on to Japan. By the time they reached Moji only 450 were alive, and within three months after arriving in Japan more than 100 more were dead. Of the more than 1600 POWs who had started their journey to Japan on the Oryoku Maru a month earlier, only about 400 survived the war.
There is much more to this story than I've recounted for the history of our cousin, Morse, and it can be found at:
http://www.powtaiwan.org/archives_detail.php?THE-STORY-OF-THE-BOMBING-OF-THE-ENOURA-MARU-17.
S/O Cornelius D. Cummings and Bertha Allie (Brown) Cummings.
"Morse" Cummings was serving in the Army at the time of his death. He served in the South Pacific Theatre, Philippine Islands. "Morse" is said to have died in transit to Japan. Family reports that there is a memorial in the Philippines with his name that states, "KIA #0-363991".
In doing research of the Cummings family, I came across a website titled "Never Forgotten" of the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society which provided an article titled "The Story of the Bombing of the Enoura Maru" by Michael Hurse, MBE, Director, Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society. This article gave an accounting of what William Morse Cummings must have lived through after being captured.
On December 14, 1944 more than 1600 American POWs left the Philippines bound for Japan on a hellship called the Oryoku Maru. Morse was one of those 1600 American POWs. The next day aircraft from the USS Hornet bombed the ship [unknowing it held American POWs] but did not sink it. The following day they returned and sank the crippled ship, with the loss of more than 300 POW lives. Those POWs who survived the bombing were re-assembled and put aboard two other "hellships", the Enoura Maru and the Brazil Maru. The Enoura Maru, which Morse was said to be on, was docked at the Takao Harbor on January 9, 1945 when it was hit by the American USS Hornet aircraft (once again unknowingly bombing its fellow Americans). The surviving 890 POWs were then put aboard the Brazil Maru and taken on to Japan. By the time they reached Moji only 450 were alive, and within three months after arriving in Japan more than 100 more were dead. Of the more than 1600 POWs who had started their journey to Japan on the Oryoku Maru a month earlier, only about 400 survived the war.
There is much more to this story than I've recounted for the history of our cousin, Morse, and it can be found at:
http://www.powtaiwan.org/archives_detail.php?THE-STORY-OF-THE-BOMBING-OF-THE-ENOURA-MARU-17.
"Morse" Cummings was serving in the Army at the time of his death. He served in the South Pacific Theatre, Philippine Islands. "Morse" is said to have died in transit to Japan. Family reports that there is a memorial in the Philippines with his name that states, "KIA #0-363991".
In doing research of the Cummings family, I came across a website titled "Never Forgotten" of the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society which provided an article titled "The Story of the Bombing of the Enoura Maru" by Michael Hurse, MBE, Director, Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society. This article gave an accounting of what William Morse Cummings must have lived through after being captured.
On December 14, 1944 more than 1600 American POWs left the Philippines bound for Japan on a hellship called the Oryoku Maru. Morse was one of those 1600 American POWs. The next day aircraft from the USS Hornet bombed the ship [unknowing it held American POWs] but did not sink it. The following day they returned and sank the crippled ship, with the loss of more than 300 POW lives. Those POWs who survived the bombing were re-assembled and put aboard two other "hellships", the Enoura Maru and the Brazil Maru. The Enoura Maru, which Morse was said to be on, was docked at the Takao Harbor on January 9, 1945 when it was hit by the American USS Hornet aircraft (once again unknowingly bombing its fellow Americans). The surviving 890 POWs were then put aboard the Brazil Maru and taken on to Japan. By the time they reached Moji only 450 were alive, and within three months after arriving in Japan more than 100 more were dead. Of the more than 1600 POWs who had started their journey to Japan on the Oryoku Maru a month earlier, only about 400 survived the war.
There is much more to this story than I've recounted for the history of our cousin, Morse, and it can be found at:
http://www.powtaiwan.org/archives_detail.php?THE-STORY-OF-THE-BOMBING-OF-THE-ENOURA-MARU-17.
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