Massey

S/Sgt. Howard I. Massey Sr. was born in January 3, 1911, in Farmersburg, Sullivan County, Indiana. He was the son Albert & Gertrude Massey and was one of the couple's four children. In the early 1930's he joined the U. S. Army.

Howard married Margaret Gilmore in 1932 and was the father of three sons, Richard and Howard, Jr. The couple divorced in 1937. Howard married a second time to Ruby Beavers. The couple had another son, Morris.

In 1941 while stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky, Howard became a member of medical detachment of the 192nd Tank Battalion. After the Louisiana maneuvers of 1941, Howard with the other members of the battalion learned that the 192nd was being sent overseas. He received a leave home to say his goodbyes and returned to Camp Polk. Louisiana.

Sailing from Angel Island is San Francisco Bay, Howard and the other members of the battalion left the United States for the Philippine Islands. Upon arrival, they were rushed to Ft. Stotsenburg. For the next two weeks he and the other medics worked to acquire the necessary supplies they needed.

On December 8, 1941, just ten hours after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Howard lived through the Japanese attack on Clark Field. After the attack, he and the other members of worked to give aid to the wounded and dying.

During the Battle of the Philippines, Howard, with the other members of the medical detachment, worked to provide medical care to the members of the letter companies of the battalion.

On one occasion Howard was with Capt. Alvin Poweleit, M.D., Pfc. Curtis Massey and Cpl. John Reynolds of the medical detachment making the rounds to the aid stations in an ambulance. As night was falling, they came under heavy fire from Japanese artillery. To get out of the line of fire, they pulled off the road and camouflaged the ambulance.

Howard went down a slope to the bed of a creek. While there, he heard the sound of twigs cracking. He ran to the ambulance and told the other soldiers what he had heard. Each man gave their opinion of the situation. Just in case the noise was caused by the Japanese, the soldiers readied their guns. Soon they saw eight camouflaged men approaching. The men were Japanese soldiers.

Howard planned the method of attack. Capt. Poweleit would take the first man, he would take the second, Cpl. Reynolds the third and Pvt. Massey the fourth. They would do the same with the remaining Japanese soldiers. The four men opened fired and wiped out the patrol. Knowing that more Japanese were in the area, they got in the ambulance and out of the area as fast as they could.

On another occasion, Howard and Capt. Poweleit came to a stream to get water. While filling their canteens with water they noticed gold colored rocks in the creek. They collected some but never told anyone of what they had found. Howard and Poweleit never did learn if the rocks were gold.

On April 9, 1942, the order to surrender was given. Howard and the other medics made their way to Mariveles at the southern tip of Bataan. From there, Howard started what became known as the death march.

At San Fernando, Howard and the other Prisoners Of War were boarded into boxcars. Those who died remained standing until the POWs disembarked at Capas. From Capas, Howard and the other prisoners walked the last few miles to Camp O'Donnell.

Howard was held at Camp O'Donnell and Cabanatuan. In June 1942, he was sent to Ft. McKinley on a work detail. The POWs on the detail built runways at Nichols Airfield. Being a medic, he cared for the men on the detail who were too ill to work. Howard remained on the detail until November 1944.

The POWs at Ft. McKinley were used as laborers in the Japanese expansion of Nichols Airfield. The Japanese commander of this detail was extremely cruel and was known for killing POWs just because he could.

As the American military forces advanced on the Philippine Islands, the Japanese military made the decision to send the POWs to Japan or other more secure occupied territories. It was at that time that Howard was sent to Bilibid Prison outside Manila.

S/Sgt. Howard Massey was boarded onto the Oryoku Maru on December 13, 1944. Howard and the other POWs were encouraged to hurry their climb down the ladder into the ship's holds by the bayonets of the guards. The final POW was boarded around 8:00 pm. Around 3:00 in the morning the ship sailed as a part of a convoy.

Around 8:00 am the next morning, the ship was attacked by American Naval planes off the coast of Olongapo, Luzon in Subic Bay. The planes strafed the ship resulting in the deaths of POWs. The attack continued on and off for most of the day.

The night of the 14th and 15th the planes continued attacking in waves. By the next morning the Japanese had already abandoned ship when a guard came to the hold and told the POWs that they could abandon ship. Upon seeing large numbers of men coming out of the ship's holds, the pilots of the American planes halted the attack. It was at that time that the pilots realized that the ship was carrying POWs.

Howard survived the attack and swam to shore. As he swam, the Japanese fired upon the POWs with machine guns. Once on land, he and the other POWs were herded onto tennis courts. Those POWs who said that they could not go on were put on trucks and taken into the mountains and executed.

The surviving POWs remained on tennis courts until December 20th. On that day they were taken by train to San Fernando, La Union. On December 25th, they boarded the Enoura Maru and set sail for Formosa.

It was after arriving at Takao, Formosa that S/Sgt. Howard I. Massey died on January 9, 1945. According to U.S. Army records, Massey died when the Enoura Maru was attacked by American planes in Takao Harbor. He was buried on Formosa in a mass grave for 300 POWs. After the war, his remains and those of other POWs were recovered and reburied in the American Military Cemetery at Manila, Philippine Islands.

According to the record kept by 2nd Lt. Jack Merrifield, Howard survived the attack and died from dysentery on January 15, 1945.

Since S/Sgt. Howard I. Massey's remains were not identified, his name appears on The Tablets of the Missing at the American Military Cemetery outside Manila. Above his name is the name of Pfc. Curtis Massey who was also a medic with his battalion.

It should be noted that while Howard was a Japanese POW, his second wife filed for divorce so that she could remarry. His two sons, by his first wife, ended up being raised by his relatives.