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Major Charles S. Canby was born on July 23, 1895, in Saint Joseph, Missouri. He was the son of Charles B. Canby & Josephine Spencer-Canby and grew up in St. Joseph.

During World War I, Charles fought in France. After the war, he remained in the Missouri National Guard. He was the commanding officer of the 35th Tank Company of the Missouri National Guard.

On February 10, 1941, Canby's Missouri National Guard Tank Company was called to federal duty as B Company, 194th Tank Battalion. They were sent to Fort Lewis, Washington for training. He would be the battalion's executive officer.

In September 1941, the battalion was sent to San Francisco for transport to the Philippine Islands. Arriving there, they were the first unit to become part of the First Provisional Tank Group. When the commanding officer of the 194th was promoted to colonel, Canby was made a major.

On December 8th, December 7th in the United States, Canby lived through the Japanese attack on Clark Airfield. He spent the next four months fighting the Japanese. At one point, he was assigned the job of collecting ammunition and gasoline. His detail managed to bring 12,000 gallons of gasoline into Bataan for the tanks to use.

Canby became a Prisoner of War on April 9, 1942 and took part in the death march from Mariveles to San Fernando. There, he and the other POWs were packed into small wooden boxcars which could hold forty men or eight horses. The Japanese packed 100 men into each car. The POWs were packed in so tightly that the dead could not fall to the floor. At Capas, as the living left the cars those who had died during the trip fell to the ground.

Canby walked the last ten miles to Camp O'Donnell. He and other members of the 194th arrived in the camp on April 18, 1942. This camp was an unfinished Filipino army base that the Japanese pressed into service as a POW camp. There was only one water faucet for 12,000 men. Medicine was scarce so as many as fifty men died each day. The situation was so bad that the Japanese opened a new camp at Cabanatuan. Canby was sent to this camp.

It is known that Canby was sent to Davao, Mindano to work construction to build runways. He remained there until he was sent to Manila in June 1944. From there, he was sent to Bilibid Prison.

On October 10, 1944 the POWs were marched to Pier 7. The detachment was scheduled to sail on the Hokusen Maru, but since one group of POWs had not arrived their ship was switched since the ship was ready to sail.

On October 11th, they were boarded onto the Arisan Maru. With him were the other members of the 194th. The POWs who were packed into the ship's number one hold. Along the sides of the hold were shelves that served as bunks. These bunks were so close together that a man could not lift himself up if he was laying in one. Those standing in the hold had no room to lie down. The latrines for the prisoners were eight five gallon cans. Since the POWs were packed into the hold so tightly, many of the POWs could not get near the cans. The floor of the hold was covered with human waste.

The ship set sail and took a southerly route away from Formosa. It arrived at a cove off Palawan Island where it dropped anchor. This resulted in the ship missing an air attack by American planes.

Each day, each POW was received three ounces of water and two half mess kits of raw rice. Conditions in the hold were so bad, that the POWs began to develop heat blisters. Although the Japanese had removed the lights in the hold, they had not turned off the power. Some of the prisoners were able to hot-wire the ship's ventilation blowers into these power lines. This allowed fresh air into the hold. The blowers were disconnected two days later when the Japanese discovered what had been done. It was during this time that five POWs died.

The Japanese realized that if they did not do something, the ship would become a death ship. It was then that they transferred 600 POWs to the ship's number two hold. During this transfer, one POW was shot when he attempted to escape. The Arisan Maru returned to the Manila nine days later. There, it became part of a twelve ship convoy for Formosa.

On October 21st, the convoy left Manila and entered the South China Sea. The Japanese refused to mark POW ships with red crosses to indicate they were carrying POWs. This made the ships targets for submarines.

According to the survivors of the Arisan Maru, on October 24, 1944, around 5:00 pm, POWs were on deck preparing the meal for those in the ship's two holds. The ship was near Shoonan, off the coast of China. The POWs watched as the Japanese on deck ran to the bow of the ship. A torpedo from an American submarine passed the ship. The Japanese next ran to the stern of the ship and watched a second torpedo pass the ship. There was a sudden jar which was caused by the ship being hit by two torpedoes amidships. The ship stopped dead in the water. It is believed that the submarine that fired the torpedoes was the U. S. S Snook.

The Japanese guards fired their guns at the POWs on deck to drive them into the holds. After they were in the holds, the Japanese cut the rope ladders and put the hatch covers on the holds. They then abandoned ship. Some of the POWs in the first hold were able to climb out and attached and lowered the rope ladders to those in the first hold. They also dropped rope ladders down to the POWs in second hold.

Many of the POWs attempted to escape the ship by clinging to rafts, hatch covers, flotsam and jetsam. Others stuffed themselves with what was their last meal. Most of the POWs survived the attack but died because the Japanese refused to rescue them. The Japanese destroyers in the convoy deliberately pulled away from the POWs as they attempted to reach them. Other Japanese crews pushed the POWs away from their ships with long poles. Those who attempted to climb onto the ships were beaten with clubs.

According to the five POWs who had reached an abandoned lifeboat, the Arisan Maru sank slowly into the water. At some point the ship broke in two where it had been struck by the torpedoes. The exact time of the ship's sinking was not known since it occurred at night. The cries for help slowly ceased until there was silence.

Major Charles S. Canby lost his life when the Arisan Maru was torpedoed in the South China Sea. Of the 1803 POWs on the ship, only nine survived the sinking. Eight of the men survived the war. Since he was lost at sea, Maj. Charles S. Canby's name is inscribed on the Tablets of the Missing at the American Military Cemetery outside of Manila.