Rank and Name, Private First Class Wilby Alton Abernathy.

Unit/Placed in on, Ordanance Department (Develop/Clean up for weaponry).

Arisan Maru

The Arisan Maru was a Hell Ship (POW-Transport) sunk on Oct. 24, 1944.

The Arisan Maru, sailed from Manila on October 10, 1944 for Japan. This ship was sunk by the American submarine,USS Snook (Shark?) with three torpedoes, east of Hong Kong, on October 24, 1944. There were 1800 POWs aboard – 1793 died. Eight men survived this sinking. Two days later, five of the survivors were rescued by a Chinese fishing junk. The Chinese helped them reach American Air Corps forces. Other survivors were recaptured by a Japanese destroyer and taken to Formosa.

This Hell Ship sank in the South China Sea making it the worst naval disaster in the history of the United States.

Wilby is born in 1919 in North Carolina.

Father, John W. Abernathy Sr.

Mother, Julie A. (Lahm) Abernathy.

Wilby enlisted the U.S.Army in North Carolina with service number # 14050615.

Wilby was KIA on Sep. 7, 1944 when the  ‘Hellship “Shinyo Maru sunk after it was torpedoed, Private First Class Wilby A. Abernathy is honored with a Purple Heart, POW Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the WWII Victory Medal.

Wilby is buried/mentioned at Manila American Cemetery and Memorial  Manila, Metro Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines.

Wall of the missing.

Thanks to Jean Louis Vijgen, ABMC,  https://abmc.gov Info P.O.W.

Wes Injerd, Dwight Rider: http://www.mansell.com/pow-index.html

NavyLog, http://navylog.navymemorial.org Philippine Scouts Heritage Society, Sean Conjenos, http://www.philippine-scouts.org/

Familysearch.com, https://www.familysearch.org Navy Marines Info Geoffrey Roecker, https://missingmarines.com/ Medals Info, http://www.honorstates.org Website, https://hendrikswebdesign.nl/