World War II Database

1. BILL THOMAS says:
10 Feb 2018 06:43:10 PM

MY UNCLE PAUL W PINKHAM WAS ON THIS SHIP AND WAS KILLED

2. Anonymous says:
17 Feb 2018 05:45:08 AM

DOE'S ANYONE HAVE ANY PRINTABLE PICS OF THE ARISAN MARU I WAS BORN OCT 25 1944 AND JOINED THE US NAVY AFTER BOOT CAMP MY ORDERS PUT ME ON THE USS SAINT PAUL. VERY STRANGE.

3. BILL tTHOMAS says:
17 Feb 2018 05:54:16 AM

MY UNCLE WAS A POW IN WW2 AND WAS KILLED WHEN ON THE ARISAN MARU ,CAN I FLY A POW FLAG AT MY HOME THANKS ALSO IS IT OK TO GET A POW HAT OR IS THAT NOT OK.

4. Monica Valles says:
17 Mar 2019 09:56:37 PM

My uncle Ignacio Castillo was on this ship and died. This is what were told but the roster has his name wrong?
I need more info please.

5. Anonymous says:
22 Oct 2019 06:29:07 PM

I had an uncle killed as well.

6. Nephew of POW Benjamin F Foster says:
16 Feb 2020 06:20:36 PM

My Uncle was Medic/ POW lost in sinking. Thanks to this info 3 of his brothers learned the truth about his death before they passed.In memory PFC Benjamin Franklin Foster Roebuck, SC

7. C.A. "Chuck" Fink says:
21 Mar 2021 12:36:52 AM

Doing some family research I find a local young man who perished aboard THIS "Hell ships" as they were called. Pharmacist's Mate Leslie Frank Bloomingdale (b.1921) of Elma Washington. His family built a monument in the local cemetery that says "In memory of our son and his buddies who were lost in the North China Sea". He must have survived the sinking of this ship as they listed him as shot trying to escape afterwards. Over 1750 souls were lost in that incident with this being the largest loss of American lives in a single disaster at sea ever...RIP You have never been forgotten...

8. Pam Verner says:
28 Jul 2021 05:21:30 PM

Has the wreckage of the Arisan Maru ever been found? My mother's cousin, Guy Wittrup Iversen perished in this sinking.

9. John Hein says:
27 May 2025 05:02:47 AM

Have you seen the WWII movie "Saving Private Ryan"? The story of the Garde Brothers of New Mexico is a real life story with many of the same elements. These men were my 1st cousins.

Pascual and Arthur Garde were members of the New Mexico National Guard when it was nationalized and sent to the Philippine Islands in 1941.

They were taken prisoner when the country was overrun by the Japanese forces in April,1942. While they both survived the Bataan Death march, Arthur died of dysentery at Camp O'Donnell on May 26, 1942. Pascual would remain a prisoner at the camp until Oct. 1944 when he was put on a ship bound for Japan or Korea. Pascual perished when the ship, the Arisan Maru, was sunk in the South China Sea near Taiwan.

With his brothers being held as POWs, a third brother, Sebastian Garde enlisted in the Marine Corps, while working in Arizona. Sebastian died on Nov 20th, 1943 during the assault on the Island of Tarawa. As Sebastian had enlisted in Arizona the War Department and veteran organizations did not realize the family relationship of the brothers.

A fourth brother Mariano Garde enlisted in the US Army and was on duty in New Guinea in 1944.

He would go on to participate in "The Great Raid". A raid, about 30 miles behind enemy lines, to free about 500 US prisoners from the on Cabanatuan Prison, one of the remaining POW camps left in the Philippines in early 1945. While the raid was a success, Mariano discovered that he was too late to rescue his brothers.

Mariano lived until his early 90's , never speaking of his exploits.

Hampton Sides authored the book "The Great Raid" and is was later made into a movie by the same name.