Rank and Name, Private First Class Thomas Ching Arnold.
Unit/Placed in, 59th Coast Artillery Regiment.
Camp Pasay
Pasay School [Nichols Field]
The Camp, from 100 to 450 men were levied from Bilibid Prison at various times. The vast majority were survivors of Corregidor. The Camp known as the Pasay School on Park Avenue, 1mile from the actual digging site. Were build a runway expansion at Nichols field by tearing through an entire mountain by hand Nihols Field was a primary labor use.
Japanese Camp Staff, they were known as Cherry Blossom, Pistol Pete, The Fox, Saki Sam, The Wolf, The Fox and the most evil, The White Angel.
Arisan Maru
The Arisan Maru was a Hell Ships (former Cargo, used for Transport POW’s to other Camps) sunk on Nov. 24, 1944.
The Arisan Maru, sailed from Manila on October 11, 1944 for Japan. This ship was sunk by the American submarine, USS Shark with three torpedoes, on November 24, 1944. There were 1800 POWs aboard – nine 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.
Thomas is born approx. on 27 April, 1911 in Hermosa, South Dakota.
Father, Ching W. Arnold.
Mother, Elanor (Grass) Arnold.
Sister(s), Glenda M. Gladys O. and Eleanor Arnold.
Thomas enlisted the service in South Dakota with service number # 17005507.
Thomas was KIA when the Arisan Maru was Torpedoed, he tried to escape and the Japanese guards shot him on Oct 24, 1944 he is honored with a Purple Heart, POW Medal, Good Conduct Medal, American Campaign Medal, Army Presidential Unit Citation, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, WW II Victory Medal.
Thomas is buried/mentioned at Manila American Cemetery and Memorial Manila, Metro Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines.
Walls of the missing.
He also has a Memorial Grave at Black Hills National Cemetery,
Sturgis, Meade County, South Dakota, USA.
Thanks to,
Jean Louis Vijgen, WW2-Pacific Website.
Air Force Info, Rolland Swank.
ABMC Website, https://abmc.gov
Navy Info, http://navylog.navymemorial.org
POW Info, http://www.mansell.com Dwight Rider and Wes injerd.
Family Info, https://www.familysearch.org
Marines Info, https://missingmarines.com/ Geoffrey Roecker
Info, https://www.pacificwrecks.com/
Medals Info, https://www.honorstates.org
Philippine Info, http://www.philippine-scouts.org/
Find a Grave, https://www.findagrave.com
