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Sgt. Hugh P. Kissinger was the son of Marion Kissinger & Anna Daughterty-Kissinger. He was born on April 20, 1914, and with his five brothers and sister, he grew up in Kansas City, Kansas.

On April 18, 1941, Hugh was inducted into the U. S. Army at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He was sent to Ft. Lewis, Washington, where he joined the 194th Tank Battalion.

In September 1941, the 194th was sent to San Francisco, there they were inoculated and boarded onto a transport for the Philippine Islands. Arriving in the Philippines, the soldiers were sent to Ft. Stostenburg. They would spend the next several months training.

On December 8, 1941, just ten hours after Pearl Harbor, Hugh lived through the Japanese attack on Clark Airfield. He would spend the next four months attempting to keep the tanks of his battalion supplied.

The evening of April 8, 1942, the tankers were informed that Bataan would be surrendered the next morning. It was on April 9th that Hugh became a Prisoner of War.

He took part in the death march and was packed into small wooden box cars that were used to haul sugarcane. At Capas, the POWs climbed out of the cars and walked the last ten miles to Camp O'Donnell.

The conditions in the camp were so bad, that the as many as 50 men died each day. There was only one water faucet for the entire camp. The situation was so bad, the Japanese opened a new camp at Cabanatuan. Hugh was one of the healthier POWs, so he was sent there.

At some point, Hugh was sent out on a work detail to Manila that repaired trucks and other equipment for the Japanese. The detail was known as the Bachrach Garage Detail. This was the name of a cab company in Manila. Hugh would remain on this detail until 1944.

In early October the detail was ended. On October 11, 1944 the POWs were marched to Pier 7. Once there, they were boarded onto the Arisan Maru. They were put on this ship because the ship they were scheduled to sail on had sailed earlier with other POWs on it. This was because not all the POWs in Hugh's detachment had arrived at the pier.

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 while laying down. Those standing also 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 but 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.

While in the cove, the POWs discovered that the Japanese had removed the light bulbs from the hold's lighting system, but that they had not turned off the power to the system. The POWs managed to hot wire the hold's ventilation system into the lights. For two days, the POWs had fresh air. When the Japanese discovered what the POWs had done, they turned off the power.

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 in front of the ship. The Japanese next ran to the stern of the ship and watched a second torpedo pass behind 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.

Sgt Hugh P. Kissinger 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, Sgt Hugh P. Kissinger's name is inscribed on the Tablets of the Missing at the American Military Cemetery outside of Manila.