Giddens

Pvt. Melvin S. Giddens was born on January 25, 1918, in Carbur, Florida. He was the oldest of three sons of Otis H. & Julia I. Giddens. He was married to Stella and the father of a daughter. He worked as a grocery store clerk. His family was living in Dixie, Florida, when he was inducted into the army on August 20, 1940 and sent to Fort Benning, Georgia for basic training. He was then assigned to the 753rd Tank Battalion. He volunteered to join the 192nd Tank Battalion at Camp Polk, Louisiana, and was assigned to C Company.

In October 1941, the 192nd was sent to the Philippine Islands as part of the Provisional Tank Group. On December 8, 1941, just ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Melvin lived through the Japanese attack on Clark Airfield. He spent the next four months fighting the Japanese.

On April 9, 1942, Melvin became a Prisoner of War when Bataan was surrendered to the Japanese. He took part in the death march from Mariveles to San Fernando. There, the POWs were boarded onto small wooden boxcars that could hold forty men. One hundred men were packed into each car. The dead remained standing until the living left the cars. He then walked the last ten miles to Camp O'Donnell.

Camp O'Donnell was an unfinished Filipino Army Camp which the Japanese pressed into service as a POW Camp. As many as fifty men died each day. There was only one water faucet for the entire camp. Fred was sent to Cabanatuan when the new camp opened to relieve the conditions at Camp O'Donnell.

On October 26, 1942, Melvin was selected for a work detail to be sent to Davao, Mindanao. The POWs were sent by train from Cabanatuan to Manila. They were held in Bilibid Prison for two days before being boarded onto the Erie Maru. The trip to Lasang took ten days because the ship made stops at Iloilo and Cebu, Mindanao. Melvin arrived on the Island of Mindanao on November 7th. Melvin was one of 650 POWs who built an airfield at Lasang, while 100 POWs built an airfield south of Davao.

One night the POWs heard the sound of a plane. It was the first American plane they had heard in over two years. As the plane dove on the airfield it dropped four bombs at the far end of the runway; the POWs celebrated silently. Some men had tears in their eyes.

On June 6, 1944, some of the POWs were sent to Manila, while the remainder of the men remained on the island until August 19, 1944. Over the next two weeks the atmosphere at the airfield changed. The Japanese posted guards with bayonets on their rifles by the POW barracks as air raids became daily. The Japanese camouflaged the airfield and hid their planes in revetments. The POWs heard rumors that the Americans had landed at Palau.

During this time, the POWs rations were cut to a single cup of rice a day. The POWs were now so hungry that they raided the Japanese garbage pile for remnants of vegetables. Many ate the weeds that grew inside the camp until it was bare.

Air raids soon were nightly events. Japanese planes flying out of the airfield were loaded with bombs and carried extra gasoline tanks. Finally, all work on the airfield was stopped.

On that day, the POWs were lined up by fours. The outside men had rope tied to their wrists to prevent escape. They were marched shoeless to the Tabunco Pier and arrived at noon. They were packed into the two holds of the Erie Maru. 400 POWs were in the first hold while the remaining 350 POWs were put in the second hold. In addition, several tons of Japanese baggage were packed into the hold. Around six that evening, the ship sailed.

As the ship made its way north it swayed in the waves. Many of the prisoners became seasick. They retched when they tried to throw up since there was no food in their stomachs. The next day, the POWs heard the sound of a plane. An American plane flew over the ship. Moments later bombs exploded near the ship. The sound of machinegun fire was heard by the POWs. The Japanese once again tied down the hatch covers cutting off the air. Over the next three days, there were several more alerts. Each time the hatch covers were battened down leaving the POWs in darkness.

The ship arrived in Zamboanga on August 24th where it waited for ten days until the Shinyo Maru arrived. The POWs were not allowed out of the holds and the conditions in the ship's holds were terrible. The holds were hot and steamy and the floors were covered with human waste. In addition, the longer the POWs were in the holds the stench became worse. During this time, the POWs were allowed on deck and sprayed with salt water.

It should be noted that the United States had intercepted the order from Japanese command sending the Shinyo Maru to Zamboanga. The order was misinterpreted as saying the ship would be transporting "750 military personnel" instead of "750 military prisoners" to Manila. The U.S.S. Paddle was sent to the area to intercept the ship. The U.S. would acknowledge this mistake in December 1944.

On September 4th, the POWs were transferred onto the Shinyo Maru. 250 POWs were put iu the ship's smaller hold, while the 500 POWs were its larger hold. That night, bombs from American planes landed alongside of the ship rocking an shaking it. The POWs prayed for the ship would be hit.

The ship sailed on September 5th at 2:00 a.m. Before the ship sailed, the hatch covers were secured so that the POWs could not lift them from below. The ship headed north in a zigzag pattern in an attempt to avoid submarines. The POWs were no longer allowed on deck. Their lips and throats were covered with dust from cement that had previously been hauled by the ship. For the next two days the ship made good time. It was at this time that the Japanese guards threatened to kill the POWs if the ship came under attack by American planes. The ship was now part of a convoy designated as C-076. Since the POWs had not heard any air raid alerts, they assumed that they were safe.

At 7:37 p.m. the U.S.S Paddle spotted the convoy off the west coast of Mindanao at Sindangan Point. It fired two torpedoes at the ship. The first torpedo hit the ship in its main hold. Moments later, a second torpedo hit the ship. There was a gapping hole in the ship's side. Those POWs still alive saw the bodies of the dead floating in the water as the hold filled with water.

Those POWs who were still alive found that the hatch cover had been blown off the hold by the explosion. As the water level rose, they were able to climb out. Seven Japanese officers were on the bridge with rifles. As the POWs emerged from the hold, they picked them off. The lucky POWs made it through their fire and dove into the water.

The POWs in the smaller hold were also wounded from the torpedo hits. But, the hold remained dry. Many of these POWs also were able to make it onto the deck and attempted to swim to shore. As they swam, they were fired upon by the same seven Japanese officers.

According to the POWs in the water, the Shinyo Maru began to capsize. There was a tremendous crushing sound and the ship seemed to bend upward in the middle and split in two. It sank into the water.

Japanese seaplanes dropped depth charges in an attempt to sink the American submarine. When they spotted the POWs in the water, they strafed them. They stopped when they realized that there were Japanese in the water too. The good thing about the depth charges was that they kept sharks away from the POWs.

A Japanese tanker, the Eiyo Maru, had been hit by torpedoes and spilled oil and gasoline into the water. The ship was run aground. The Japanese quickly set up machineguns and fired on the POWs. Boats from the other ships in the convoy attempted to hunt down the POWs swimming in the water. If they found a man, they shot him. What saved many lives was that with dusk it became harder for the Japanese to see them.

The Japanese announced to the Americans that if they surrendered that they would be treated with compassion. About 30 men gave up after hearing this. They were taken aboard the Eiyo Maru. According to one man who escaped after surrendering, the POWs had their hands tied to the ship's rail, and the Japanese shot each POW in the back of the head. They then pushed the bodies overboard.

Of the 750 POWs who were boarded onto the ship, 82 POWs escaped. One man died on shore while the remainder were rescued by Filipino guerillas and returned to U.S. Forces in October 1944. Pvt. Melviny Giddens was not one of these men. Pvt. Melvin Giddens was not one of these men.

It is not known if Pvt. Melvin Giddens died when the Shinyo Maru was hit by the torpedoes or if he was shot while attempting to escape. What is known is that Pvt. Melvin S. Giddens died in the sinking of the Shinyo Maru on September 7, 1944.

Since Pvt. Melvin S. Giddens was lost at sea, his name appears on the Tablets of the Missing at the American Military Cemetery at Manila.