2nd Lt. Jacques Vaughan Merrifield

    Jack, with his sister and two brothers, was raised at 1113 South Fifth Avenue in Maywood, Illinois.  His father, the Rev. Roy Merrifield,  was the pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church.  

    Jack graduated from Proviso Township High School, as a member of the Class of 1938, with 2nd Lts. Ben Morin and Richard Danca.  After high school, he worked for a paint and varnish manufacturer while attending the University of Chicago.   

    On September 23, 1940, Jack enlisted in the Illinois National Guard.  His reason for doing this was that a federal draft act had been passed, and he wanted to complete his military obligation before he was drafted into the army.  

    Jack was called to federal service with the 33rd Tank Company from Maywood, Illinois, as a member of B Company, 192nd Tank Battalion. The battalion trained at Fort Knox, Kentucky.  During this time, he rose in rank from private first class to sergeant.   

    While Jack was at Fort Knox, he was transferred to the Headquarters Company of the 192nd Tank Battalion when the company was created in January, 1941.  After nearly ten months of training at Ft. Knox, the battalion went on maneuvers in Louisiana.  When the maneuvers ended, the battalion was stationed at Camp Polk, Louisiana.  This was done so that it could be refitted with new equipment for overseas duty.   During this time, he rose in rank to technical sergeant.

    On November 20, 1941, Jack arrived in the Philippine Islands, with the battalion, just two weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor.  With the Japanese attack on the Philippine Islands, Jack was involved in the fight against the Japanese invasion force when he was sent north to Lingayen Gulf. 

    While involved in the Battle of Bataan, Jack had his first brush with death.  The Bren Gun Carrier he was riding in was approaching a bridge when a Japanese shell exploded next to it.  The gun carrier missed the bridge and went into the river.  Jack was rescued by Dr. Alvin C. Powleit, of the 192nd Tank Battalion Medical Staff.  Dr. Powleit dove into the river and, after a struggle to extract Jack, pulled him from the wreckage.  The results of this accident was that Jack developed bronchitis and would suffer from it throughout his time as a prisoner of war.  He also would have problems with his neck the rest of his life.

    Sometime during this event, Jack lost his dog tags.  It would be this event which would result in his parents believing that he had been Killed in Action.  As it turned out, one of his dog tags was found on the body of a dead American soldier.  Jack's parents were notified of his death.  During his sermon on a Sunday morning, his father announced Jack's death to his congregation.  It would be a year before his family learned that Jack was alive in a Japanese prisoner of war camp.

    On March 22, 1942, Jack was given a battlefield commision.  Jack's job with Headquarters Company was that of communications officer.  In this role, he witnessed the Japanese bomb and strafe the rail yard at Pampanga.   

    When Bataan was surrendered to the Japanese, Jack became a Prisoner of War.  According to his diary, he surrendered somewhere between kilometer markers 188 to 121 when he ran into Japanese.  After making contact with the Japanese, he continued to Mariveles. 

    From April 9th through the 16th,Jack took part in the death march.  In his diary, he stated that he was suffering from dysentery as he made his way to San Fernando.  On the march.  At San Fernando, he boarded a small wooden boxcar.  The boxcars were used to haul sugarcane.  At Caps, he left the boxcar and walked to Camp O'Donnell.

    As a POW, Jack was held at Camp O'Donnell until June 7, 1942 when he was then transferred to Cabanatuan.  At some point Jack left Cabanatuan and built runways.  Doing this work aggravated his neck injury.

    Jack was later returned to Cabanatuan.  It was while he was a prisoner there that Jack's parents received a postcard stating that he was alive and being held in the POW camp.  This was the first time his parents heard that he had not been killed during the Battle of Bataan.

    While a POW at Cabanatuan, Jack and other officers of the 192nd scrounged seeds to start a garden.  The vegetables they grew were eaten to supplement their meals.  He also served in the camp kitchen.  Since the prisoners on this detail ate better than the average prisoner, this was a coveted job.

    As part of his duties, Jack would chop firewood to for the cooks.  One day on this detail, the ax slipped hitting Jack's foot and almost cutting off his big toe.  Since there was a lack of medicine, Jack was lucky that he did not lose his toe.  The one result of this injury was that he had severe lacerations on his left foot and part of the second toe on his foot was removed.  The injured toe bothered him for the rest of his life.

    Jack also recalled an incident with the Japanese, and the camp band, that took place while he was at Cabanatuan.  The band always tried to learn new songs to play for the POWs.  One of the songs the band learned to play was "Paper Moon".  The only problem was that the song had not become popular until after the soldiers had become POWs.  When the Japanese realized this, they knew the the POWs had a radio hidden in the camp.  The Japanese searched the camp vigorously to find the radio and tortured many men.  They never did find the radio.

     Jack's health suffered while he was a prisoner.  He developed a calcium deposit on his right knee at one point.  Surgery was performed on the knee, and he later developed an infection and gangrene set in.  The doctors performed an emergency appendectomy to save his life.  

    It is known that on at least three occasions, Jack was beaten.  At this time, the reasons for the beatings are not known.  The beatings would affect his health the remainder of his life.

    Jack remained at Cabanatuan until September 25, 1944.  He was sent to Bilibid Prison as the Japanese prepared to send him and other prisoners to Japan.  This was the processing center for POWs being sent to Japan or other occupied countries.  He was given a physical and declared healthy enough to be sent to Japan.  

    During his time in Cabanatuan, Jack wrote down this poem.  It is not known if he wrote it or if it was written by another POW.

Them Things

There were strangest things done under the tropic sun

by men in khaki drill

These tropical nites held strange sights

that would make your heart stand still

Those mountain trails could spin some tails

that no man could ever like

But worst of all was after the fall when tehy started on the hike.

Twas the eight of December in '41

when they hit Hawaii as the day begun

Twas Sunday morning and all was calm

when out of nowhere came the bombs*!?

It didn't last long but the damage was done

America was at war with the Rising Sun

Now over the Philippines we heard the news

It shook every man clean down to his shoes

It seemed like a dream to begin

But soon every soldier was fighting man

Each branch was ready to do its part

Artillery, infantry  -- Nichols and Clark

But they came on that Monday noon

They hit Clark Field like a typhoon

That Monday nite the moon was clear

They razed Nichols Field from front to rear

As days went by more bombers came

until only a few P-40s remained

The day before Christmas they said retreat

and no more soldiers could be seen on the street

So across the bay we moved at night

away from Manila and out of sight

deep in the jungle of Bataan,

were fifteen hundred to make the stand

Here we fought like a soldier should

As the day went by we spilled our blood

Tho' the runners came and went by night

that convoy never came in sight.

April the seventh was the fatal day

when word went around that we could stay

that the front line was due to fall

and troops moved back one and all.

The very next day the surrender came

and then we were men without a name

You may thin that here's where the story ends

but here is where it actually begins

Tho' we fought and didn't see victory

The story of that march will go down in history.

We marched in columns of four

sweating, living the the horrors of war.

When a man fell along the way

A-C-B would make him pay

For those four months he fought on Bataan

and they killed him because he couldn't stand

The tropic sun would sweat us dry

For the wells were few that we passed by.

On we marched for a place unknown,

a place to rest, a place to call home.

Home that you might know

but home to a man who suffered the blow

On to camp O'Donnell in a mass

some never again through the gates to pass

In Nipa Huts we lived like beasts

and rice and camotes were called a feast

Our minds wondered of days gone by

when our throats were never dry

of our wives, mothers and friends

Of bygone days, and of many sins.

About four thousand passed away

And how many more no one can say

For no grave stones mark the spot

where thirty to fifty were buried in a lot

Piled together like a rubbish heap

The remains of the men who were forced to retreat.

So I want to state and my words are stright

And I bet you think they are true

If you got to die it's better to try

to take them along with you too.

Now it's them that took you that fateful day

It's them that count you morning and nite

It's them again that you want to fight

It's them that make you as you are

But it is not them that will win this war

For the men in khaki will come some day

and take us back to the good old U.S.A.

    On December 12, 1944, the POWs heard rumors that a detail was being sent out.  The POWs went through what was a farce of an inspection.  They were told cigarettes, soap, and salt would be issued.  The POWs were also told that they would also receive a meal to eat and one to take with them.  The Japanese stated they would leave by 7:00 in the morning, so the lights were left on all night.  At 4:00 a.m. the morning of December 13th, Jack and the other POWs were awakened.

    By 8:00, the POWs were lined up roll call was taken and the names of the men selected for transport to Japan were called.  The prisoners were allowed to roam the compound until they were told to "fall-in".  The men were fed a meal and then marched to Pier 7 in Manila.  Jack was allowed to sit down and slept unitl 3:45 in the afternoon when he boarded the Oryoku Maru for transport to Japan. 

    Jack was put into the ship's rear hold.  800 POWs were put in the hold.  They were then fed fish and barley.  The sides of the hold had two tiers of bunks that went around its diameter.  The POWs near the hatch used anything they could find to fan the air to the POWs further away from it.   

    The ship left Manila on December 14th, at about 3:30 AM, as part of the MATA-37 a convoy bound for Takao, Formosa.  By the swells in the water, the POWs could tell that the ship was in open water. 

    The POWs received their first meal at about 3:30 that afternoon.  Meals on the ship consisted of a little rice, fish, and water.  The prisoners had just eaten when they heard the sounds of guns.  At first, they thought the gun crews were just drilling since they had not heard any planes.  It was only when the first bomb hit that they knew it was no drill.  The POWs heard the change in the planes' engines sound as they began their dive toward the ships in the convoy.  Explosions were taking place all around the POWs.  In all, the POWs would have to sweat out five air raids.  The one result of the raid was no evening meal.

    After the first raid, the ship was left alone by "playing possum" in the water.  The fighters went after the other ships in the convoy.  The moaning and muttering of men who were losing their minds kept the POWs up all night.  That night 25 POWs died in the hold.   The ship reached Subic Bay at 2:30 in the morning.  It was a suitable landing place.

The POWs heard the sound of noise on deck as personnel were unloaded.  During the night, the medics in the ship's hold were ordered out by a Japanese officer to tend to the Japanese wounded.  One of the medics recalled that the dead, dying and wounded were everywhere.

    The ship steamed in closer to the beach and its anchor was dropped.  The POWs were told that they would be diembarked after daybreak.  It was December 15th. 

    The POWs sat in the hold four hours after daybreak when the sound of planes was heard.  They would live through three more attacks.  U.S. Navy planes resumed the attack.  Again, the attacks came in waves.  A guard shouted into the holds that the prisoners were going ashore.  He also shouted that the wounded would be the first evacuated.  As the POWs were abandoning ship, the planes returned.  The pilots of the planes had no idea that the ship was carrying prisoners.  It was not until the pilots saw the POWs climbing out of the ship's holds that they realized it was a prison ship and stopped the attack. 

    In the hold the POWs crowded together.  Chips of rust fell on them from the ceiling.  After the raid, they took care of the wounded before the next attack started.  A Catholic priest, Fr. Duffy, began praying, "Father forgive them.  They know not what they do."  

    When the attack resumed, the ship bounced in the water from the explosions.  The POWs in the holds lived through seventeen attacks from American planes before sunset.  Overall, six bombs hit the ship.  One hit the stern of the ship killing many.

    About a half hour later, the ship's stern started to really burn.  Jack made his way on deck and went over the side.  He remembered how good the water felt.  Jack swan to shore near Olongoa, Subic Bay, Luzon.  Jack, seeing that a number of the other POWs could not swim, repeatedly swam out to the ship to tow them to shore.  He did this while under Japanese machine gun fire.  When he would not stop swimming out to save his fellow Americans, a Japanese soldier bayoneted him.  In spite of this wound, he continued to rescue other men.  This event wound lead to his having to have an appendix operation.   

    After the POWs had abandoned ship, the Oryoku Maru was sunk by American planes.  The surviving POWs were herded onto a tennis court.  When roll was taken, it was discovered that 329 of the 1,619 POWs had been killed during the attack.  

    While the POWs were at Olongoa, a Japanese officer, Lt. Junsaburo Toshio, told the ranking American officer, Lt. Col. E. Carl Engelhart, that those too badly wounded to continue the trip would be returned to Bilibid.  Fifteen men were selected and loaded onto a truck.  They were taken into the mountains and never seen again.  They were buried at a cemetery nearby. 

    On December 24th, the remainder of the POWs were boarded onto trains at San Fernando, La Union.  The widows of the train were kept closed and the heat in the cars was terrible.  From December 24th to the 27th, the POWs were held in a school house and later on a beach at San Fernando, La Union.  During this time they were allowed one handful of rice and a canteen of water.  The heat from the sun was so bad that men drank seawater.   Many of these men died.

    The remaining prisoners at San Fernando La Union where they boarded onto another "Hell Ship" the Enoura Maru.   On this ship, the POWs were held in three different holds.  Men who attempted to get fresh air by climbing the ladders were shot by the guards. 

    The POWs on the ship were taken to Formosa.  There, Jack once again came close to death when the ship was bombed and sunk by American planes on January 9, 1945, while it was still docked.   During the attack, a bomb did explode in the hold Jack was in, but at the other end away from Jack. Unfortunately, his good friend, 2nd Lt. Leroy Scoville of A Company, was wounded by the bomb.

    In an attempt to repair the ship, the Japanese transferred the POWs to the undamaged hold of the ship.  The POWs watched as the Japanese attempted to patch the ship.  

    On January 14, 1945, Jack was boarded onto his third "hell ship" the Brazil Maru which left Formosa and arrived in Moji, Japan, on January 29, 1945.  Of the original 1619 men that boarded the Oryoku Maru, only 459 of the POWs had survived the trip to Japan.  His friend, Lt. Leroy Scoville, was not one of them.

    Jack was held at Fukuoka #3 and then was sent to Fukuoka  #22, Moji, Japan.  He was boarded onto anotther ship, the Otaro Maru.  He arrived in Pusan, Korea, on April 25, 1945, when he was sent to Mukden, Manchuria by train.  According to Jack's diary, he arrived at Mukden on April 29th.  There, he was held as a  POW at Hoton Camp.  One of the biggest problems facing Jack and the other new arrivals at the camp was the belief among the older residents that the new arrivals were stealing their food, supplies, and making their lives worse by being there. This belief caused friction among the members of the two groups.

    On August 20th, Jack wrote in a journal he kept, "Allied planes over camp about 12:30 P.  5:35 P. B-24 came over camp at retreat & dropped pamphlets. 7:35 P. Russian Commander arrived and declared us free men. 8:00 P. Nips disarmed and marched before Americans.  Russian Commander presents pistol to General Parker."  Jack remained at Mukden until September 29, 1945, when he was listed by the Russians for transport.  

    Jack returned to the United States and was promoted to 1st Lieutenant. As Aide-de-camp for the 192nd Tank Battalion, he wrote the official U. S. Army report on the men of the 192nd Tank Battalion.  It was his report that was basis for this project.

    While Jack was a POW, his father took a position at a Congregation Church in Urbana, Illinois.  When Jack returned home, he visited his parents at their new home.  Jack Merrifield married and raised a family.  He made a career as a government employee with the Internal Revenue Service as a Special Agent.  As an agent he resided in Colorado.  When he retired from the IRS, with his second wife, Grace, Jack moved to Arizona.  Jack Merrifield passed away on February 16, 1999, at a Phoenix Veterans Administration Hospital in Arizona.

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