Pfc. Roy L. Diaz

    On February 2, 1941, Roy's tank company was called into federal service as C Company, 194th Tank Battalion.  The battalion trained at Fort Lewis, Washington.  Roy and other members of the battalion who were training as mechanics were sent to Ft. Knox, Kentucky to attend mechanics school.

    On September 8, 1941, the 194th was sent to the Philippine Islands.  In the Philippines, the tankers continued their training for an additional seven weeks.

    The morning of December 8, 1941, the tankers were ordered to the perimeter of Clark Airfield to guard against Japanese paratroopers.  Earlier that morning, the tankers were informed of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  Around 12:45 in the afternoon, planes approached the airfield from the north.  The tankers thought the planes were American until bombs began exploding on the airfield.

    For the next four months Roy fought the Japanese by keeping the tanks of C Company running.  During the retreat toward Bataan, Roy and Frank Muther were going for chow.  A Japanese Zero spotted a Filipino convoy and dove on it.  Roy and Frank dove into the ditches on the side of the road.  A bomb hit the road and made huge hole in the road. Muther dove into the hole and yelled at Roy to get in it.  Roy ran and dove into the hole.  A bomb from a second Japanese Zero exploded where he had been lying.

    On April 9, 1942, Roy became a Prisoner of War when Bataan was surrendered to the Japanese.  Roy took part in the death march from Mariveles to Capas.  It took Roy ten days to complete the march.  At Capas, he boarded a wooden boxcar and rode to San Fernando.  At San Fernando, he and the surviving POWs climbed out of the cars. As they left the cars, the bodies of the dead fell to the ground.  Ray walked the last ten miles to Camp O'Donnell.  

    Camp O'Donnell was an unfinished Filipino Army Base.  There was only one water faucet for 12,000 men.  Men literally died for a drink.  The conditions in the camp were so bad that the POWs died at a rate of 50 men a day.  The burial detail worked both day and night to bury the dead.

    To get out of Camp O'Donnell Roy volunteered to go out on a work detail.  The detail was composed of 75 Prisoners of War whose job it was to rebuild bridges that had been destroyed during the American retreat.  This detail was also under the command of Lt. Col. Ted Wickord the commanding officer of the 192nd Tank Battalion.

     Roy first worked at Calaun.  There the POWs were amazed by the concern shown for them by the Filipino people. The townspeople arranged for their doctor and nurses to care for the POWs and give them medication.  They also arranged for the POWs to attend a meal in their honor.

     Roy was next sent to Batangas to rebuild another bridge.  Again, the Filipino people did all they could to see that the Americans got the food and care they needed.  Somehow the Filipinos convinced the Japanese to allow them to attend a meal to celebrate the completion of the new bridge.

    The next bridge Roy and the other POWs were sent to build was in Candelaria.  Once again, the people of the town did what ever they could to help the Americans.  An order of Roman Catholic sisters, who had been recently freed from custody, invited Lt. Col. Wickord and twelve POWs for a dinner.  Wickord selected the twelve sickest POWs to attend the meal.

    When the detail ended, Roy was sent to Cabanatuan.  This camp had opened in an attempt by the Japanese to improve the conditions for the POWs.  He remained in the camp until October 26, 1942, when he was selected to go out on a work detail to Davao, Mindanao.  The POWs were taken from the camp to the barrio of Cabanatuan.  They were boarded onto a train and taken to Manila.  Unlike the trip to Camp O'Donnell, the doors of the boxcars were left open.

    In Manila, the POWs were marched down Dewey Boulevard to Bilibid Prison.  They were housed in the prison for two days until they were marched to the Port Area.  Upon reaching the pier, the POWs were boarded onto the Erie Maru. The ship sailed the same day for Lasang, Mindanao.  The trip took 13 days since the ship made stops at Iloilo and Cebu.

    When the ship arrived at Lasang, they were taken to the POW camp outside of Davao.  There, they joined other POWs who were not very happy to see them.  The reason for the animosity was that with the arrival of the new POWs, the food ration each man was receiving was cut in half.  During his time at Davao, Roy worked on a farm and built runways.

    On June 6, 1944, Roy was selected to be sent back to Manila.  The POWs were taken to Lasang and boarded onto the Yashu Maru.  The ship sailed on June 12th for Cebu arriving there on June 17th.  The POWs were transferred to the Teiryu Maru which sailed for Manila on June 21st.

    Roy was held at Bilibid Prison for two weeks when he was selected to be sent to Japan on the Canadian Inventor.  The ship sailed for Formosa and made stops at Takao and Keelung.  From Formosa, the ship sailed to Okinawa and stopped at Naha.  It finally reached Moji, Japan on September 1st.

    It is not known if Roy was held in any other camps in Japan, but it is known he was held at Nagoya #5B.  The POWs in this camp worked in a plant manufacturing Sulphuric Acid.

   Roy remained in this camp until he was liberated September 1945.  He returned to Salinas and worked as a salesman.  He then owned a vegetable farm. He married and still resides in the Salinas area.

    The photo below was taken of Roy while he was POW in Japan.

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