This is the home page.
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Hellships Memorial Webpage is active again.
Rediscovered it in 2025, click here for the URL!
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It has a list of about 13 sunken Japanese ships with POWs and their history in individual web pages. Here are two!
-Oryoku Maru:
Hell Ships Memorial #2, Oryoku Maru
The Oryoku Maru was a Japanese passenger-cargo vessel used as a prison transport during the final months of World War II. On December 13, 1944, it embarked from Manila carrying over 1,620 Allied POWs—primarily Americans—bound for Japan. The ship was not marked as carrying prisoners, a deadly oversight during wartime sea lanes.
The Attack
While traversing Subic Bay, the Oryoku Maru was bombed by U.S. aircraft from the USS Hornet. Over two days of attacks, the ship was severely damaged and eventually sank just offshore at Olongapo, Luzon. Nearly 300 POWs died aboard or during the bombing. Survivors were forced to swim to shore under brutal conditions.
“We were trapped in the holds. Smoke, heat, fear. When it cracked open, we thought it was hell itself.” — Oryoku Maru Survivor
Aftermath
The survivors were herded into makeshift detention at San Fernando and later forced onto other hellships including the Enoura Maru and Brazil Maru. Many of the wounded died from lack of care. Those who continued the voyage faced frostbite, starvation, and ultimately, death at sea or in Japanese labor camps.
Legacy
The Oryoku Maru wreck lies just meters offshore at Subic Bay—a haunting monument to one of the worst atrocities of POW transport. The Hellships Memorial, situated nearby, honors the lives lost and those who survived. Their courage in the face of overwhelming suffering continues to inspire remembrance and justice.
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Montevideo Maru:
The Ship
The Montevideo Maru was a Japanese auxiliary ship used during World War II to transport prisoners of war and civilians. On 1 July 1942, it was sunk off the coast of Luzon in the Philippines by the American submarine USS Sturgeon. Unbeknownst to the submarine crew, the ship was carrying over 1,050 prisoners, most of them Australians captured during the fall of Rabaul in New Britain.
The Loss
The Montevideo Maru was unmarked, with no indication that it held POWs and civilians. When the submarine struck, the ship sank quickly, with all POWs and internees aboard lost. The victims included over 800 Australian soldiers and at least 200 civilians, making it the single greatest loss of Australian lives at sea.
“The ocean off Luzon became their grave. They were never meant to be forgotten.” — Australian War Memorial
Rediscovery and Memorial
For decades, the exact location of the wreck remained unknown. In 2023, after years of effort by researchers and families of the victims, the wreck of the Montevideo Maru was discovered at a depth of over 4,000 meters in the South China Sea. This discovery has helped bring closure to relatives and rekindled public awareness of this national tragedy.
Legacy
The Montevideo Maru represents a profound national loss for Australia and a stark reminder of the cost of war. It is commemorated at the Hellships Memorial alongside other vessels used to transport POWs under inhumane conditions. The story of its passengers—soldiers, missionaries, civilians—continues to be honored today.
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It has a separate webpage on the effort to find the shot down plane of Lt. Thompson in Subic Bay, click here!
Today was an extraordinary day out on Subic Bay, filled with excitement, discovery, and hope. Robbie Homan, owner of a boat manufacturing business based in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, graciously took our crew out on his beautifully crafted boat. Our mission? To conduct a detailed sonar search in a square-mile section near the mouth of Subic Bay, pinpointing the crash site of Lt. Thompson’s Hellcat F6F fighter, tragically downed by anti-aircraft fire from the infamous Japanese ship, Oryoku Maru, during World War II.
Hell Ships Memorial #3, Some Days, the Ocean Says No!
Hell Ships Memorial #4, An Extraordinary Day!
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URLs for Hell Ships, Oryoku Maru & Hell Ships Memorial
URLs That I have collected and updated as of Aug. 2025!
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The Hellships Memorial is Subic Bay, in the forum:
http://corregidor.proboards.com/thread/1203/hellships-memorial-subic-bay
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Naval Officer honored at Hell Ships Memorial, Lt. N. Minter Dial, CO of USS Napa AT-32, perished on the Oryoku Maru.
http://corregidor.proboards.com/thread/177/naval-officer-honored-hellships-memorial
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Father Found by Capt. Duane Heisinger, a thread about a book from Capt. Heisinger about his father who perished on the Oryoku Maru.
http://corregidor.proboards.com/thread/1698/father-capt-duane-heisinger
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Oryoku Maru and its gun at Subic Bay, a thread in our forum with links to albums about the gun:
http://corregidor.proboards.com/thread/390/oryoku-maru-gun-subic-bay
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Photos of the Oryoku Maru in sequence from Manila to Subic Bay from David Demetherell
http://corregidor.proboards.com/thread/1601/oryoku-maru
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The Hell Ship Montevideo Maru Plaque Unveiling Ceremony took place on 1st July 2009 at the Hellships Memorial in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, the former US Naval Base.
http://corregidor.proboards.com/thread/490/ship-montevideo-maru-plaque-unveiled
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Tennis Court of the Oryoku Maru POWs in the Olongapo Naval Station 1944. The Fort Wint forum thread in our Corregidor Rorum has several pages that discuss the location of the tennis court. The member Chadhill really has done some great contributions with telling pictures! This thread has now 8 pages and substantial coverage of the tennis court start at this page 5:
http://corregidor.proboards.com/thread/987/fort-wint-subic-bay?page=5
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The massacre of hundreds of British prisoners of war by Japanese sailors during the Second World War was covered up by the Government, it has been claimed.
http://corregidor.proboards.com/thread/732/japanese-massacre-ship-survivors-cover
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Filipino American Memorial Endowment (FAME) Projects, including the Hellships/ Hell Ships Memorial in Subic:
http://filipino-americanmemorials.org/projects/
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The Oryoku Maru story compiled by 4 survivors in 1983
This is a dead URL, 23 Aug. 2025!
http://www.oryokumaruonline.org/oryoku_maru_story.html
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West Point Japanese-pow Home Page
http://www.west-point.org/family/japanese-pow/
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A web page from the US-Japan Dialogue on POWs webpage. It is a book about a son’s search for his father, perished on the Oryoku Maru tragedy:
This is a dead URL, 23 Aug. 2025!
http://www.us-japandialogueonpows.org/Heisinger.htm
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Celebrating the life of Duane Heisinger, a joint US Congress Resolution 2006, #5082
https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?062+ful+HJ5082ER+pdf
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List of Hell Ship Voyages in Chronological Sequence of Departure Date
http://www.west-point.org/family/japanese-pow/ShipsNum.htm
The album about the Hell Ships Memorial Dedication on the 22nd Jan 2006 with 50 images.
https://photobucket.com/share/b4904c60-6f26-430c-b719-e708939d2c34
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Album of plaque (32 images) for, Lt. N. Minter Dial, CO of USS Napa AT-32, perished on the Oryoku Maru in Karl’s Photobucket account.
https://photobucket.com/share/177a61dc-9da8-4ddb-969d-bb677d472270
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This is an album with pictures of Oryoku gun in Subic Bay, specifically in front of the American Legion Post #4 on Magsaysay Drive in Olongapo City.
https://photobucket.com/share/4c1d50de-e7c8-4efa-8ed1-5be5eb7bf302
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Two new plaques have been added and a friend asked me to take pictures. While I was there I took these pictures to show what the condition of the whole Memorial is now. It is still in good shape! The two new Plaques are for Major S.H. Heisinger who’s son dedicated this Memorial and Capt. W.C. Blackledge.
An album about two new plaques and the other ones at the Hellships memorial:
https://photobucket.com/share/b3a11272-37d4-41e9-8bec-7e17057c5883
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An album of the Hell Ship Montevideo Maru Plaque Unveiling Ceremony took place on 1st July 2009 at the Hellships Memorial in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone, the former US Naval Base.
I was able to attend and shot these 38 images:
https://photobucket.com/share/c0ffcf29-8ca4-4ab2-81e6-7afd135bfc83
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This Hell Ships/Hellships URL from Gerald Anderson does not exist anymore:
http://www.hellshipsmemorial.com/
2017-10-22 the above URL does not exist anymore. The best URL about the Hellships Memorial is now only available at our Corregidor Forum:
http://corregidor.proboards.com/thread/1203/hellships-memorial-subic-bay
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You Tube Video from Gerald Anderson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X0YT0SWmjE&t=633s
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Hell Ships Memorial Plaques in Subic Bay 2025-08-05
I noticed new plaques have been placed at the Hell Ships Memorial in Subic Bay and decided to document all of them. I believe the new plaques got initiated in connection with the 80th anniversary of the sinking of the Oryoku Maru on the 14th Dec. 1944 in Subic Bay. That 80th anniversary was organized by the Retiree Affairs Office (RAO) Subic Bay, the SBFZ and many other personalities. You may find more information in the www about these persons, events and units honored here!
Posted in thee venues.
Posted 32 pictures into a new Facebook album and shared with: Corr.-Hist. Society, NAVBASE SB, Battle of Bataan, Advocates of Heritage Preservation, WWII in PI, POWs missing in PI, Phil. Scouts
Facebook posting URL:
Facebook album URL: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10233528743354153&type=3
Posted 32 images into a new album, Karl’s webpage, Subic Bay Group, Hell Ships sub Group:
https://philippine-sailor.net/hell-ships-memorial-plaques-in-subic-bay-2025-08-05/
Started a new thread in the forum and posted 32 images in the POW/MIA Group:
https://corregidor.proboards.com/thread/2569/ships-memorial-plaques
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Hellships Memorial Webpage is active again.
Rediscovered it in 2025
https://www.hellshipsmemorial.org/