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Japanese guard helmet brought back by American Prisoner of War


SEABEE SON
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Very interesting story! my dad's Dallas high school friend, Lt. Charles Gaskell, was in the same unit, and was MIA, then POW. When Dad passed in 2001, I found the newspaper cuttings in his drawer from '42 telling that Charlie was MIA. I asked mom what ever happened to Charlie and she said they never found out. So I started researching and came up with about the same story you told above, except Charlie was killed when a U.S. sub torpedoed the hell ship Arisan Maru on 10/24/44. Over 1700 Americans died in that sinking. Gaskell was sent to Nichols Field, Manilla, in Nov, 1941, 10 days before WWII started, and saw duty in the Manila Bay and Bataan area. He served in the parent group V Interceptor Command, assigned unit 24th Pursuit Group, subordinate unit 34th Pursuit Squadron

 

And that helmet is killer! I have several Japanese helmets, but yours is a beauty!

 

Fantastic story. Imagine those poor souls crammed on those hell ships, being attacked by their own side. Unspeakably tragic. Oatman recounts the terror of the sub attacks in his book.

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Conditions were totally unbelievable, and they died in droves during the trip. Then, when the ships were sinking, guards would shoot anone trying to come topside. I believe that from the Arisan Maru only 4 or 5 Americans got away. They found a floating life boat, rigged a sail, and made it to the coast of unoccupied China.

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