On April 22, 2023 the Associated Press carried a story of the discovery of the remains of the Montevideo Maru off the coast of the Philippines.
The Montevideo Maru was a Japanese POW ship carrying Prisoners of War from the Philippines to a transit camp in Formosa (Taiwan). It was torpedoed and sunk on July 1, 1942 by the American Submarine “Sturgeon”, (SS-187). It was carrying 1,080 people, of whom 979 were Australians. To this day, the sinking remains the largest loss of Australian lives in a maritime disaster. The site is to remain a War Grave.
The Sinking of Japanese POW Ships – Kenneth A. Dunlop
A large number of Japanese POW ships were sunk by American Submarines. Captains and crew of the Submarine never learned of the deaths of POWs until after the war.
And YES – there is a Moose Jaw connection.
The Moose Jaw Times Herald, on Tuesday, September 7, 1943 carried the following story.
“Prisoner in Philippines
“The news that her son, Kenneth A. Dunlop is safe and in good health though a prisoner of the Japanese in the Philippine Island Prison Camp No. 9 has been received by Mrs. Andrew Dunlop, 472 Stadacona Street West. A clipping from a Berkley, California newspaper sent to her by airmail by her son’s wife brought the joyful news.” (Full article not included)
Many of Ken’s relatives still live in Moose Jaw and Regina.
Ken had been working for the Richmond Kaiser Shipyards was part of the Contractors building or expanding Pacific Naval Air Bases (CPNAB) in the Pacific. He had been living in Berkley and working at the shipyards there before going to the Philippines.
Kenneth A. Dunlop remained in a POW camp in the Philippines until October 1944 when the demand for ‘slave’ labour in Japanese resulted in the transfer of Prisoners to Japan. More workers meant more Japanese men could go to war.
Death on the Arisan Maru
Convoy MATA-30, that included the Arisan Maru, left Manila October 21, 1944 for Takao, Formosa, today known as Kaohsiung, Taiwan,
On October 24, 1944, in the early evening, the Arisan Maru was hit by three torpedoes fired from the U.S. Submarine Sook. They hit an empty hold and the stern and the ship split in half and drifted apart.
Of the 1782 men on board, 1,773 died. Only 9 survived, five in a lifeboat they found at sea. They paddled to safety in China. Four were picked by the Haro Maru and taken to Taiwan.
Kenneth A. Dunlop was among those killed.
On Friday, July 20, 1945, the Moose Jaw Times Herald reported:
“Former Citizen Lost When “Sub” Sank Jap Ship
“One of 1,775 prisoners aboard a Japanese ship which was sunk by an American submarine on October 24, 1944, Kenneth Andrew Dunlop, who
was born near Moose Jaw on January 13, 1899, is now presumed to have lost his life.
“He is survived by his widow, living in Albany, California, his mother, Mrs. A. Dunlop of Moose Jaw, a brother, Edgar Dunlop of Baildon, and two sisters, Mrs. J. E. Lindsay of New Westminster, B.C. and Miss Gertrude M. Dunlop of Moose Jaw.”
