Peoples

Cpl. Raymond J. Peoples Jr. was born in Santa Clara, California, on June 13, 1917. He was the son of Raymond J. Peoples Sr. & Ellen Mills-Peoples. He was the oldest of the couple's two sons. Sometime during the 1920s, his father died, and his mother remarried. His step-father was William G. Potter.
Ray joined the California National Guard and was inducted into the U. S. Army on February 10, 1941, at Salinas Army Air Base. He traveled to Fort Lewis in Washington and trained with his company which was now C Company, 194th Tank Battalion.

On September 9, 1941, Ray's battalion sailed from San Francisco for the Philippine Islands. After arriving there, the members of the battalion worked to ready their tanks for maneuvers. On December 8, 1941, Ray watched as the Japanese planes bombed Clark Field. After the attack, Ray and the other tankers saw the devastation caused by the attack.

Ray with his battalion were sent south of Manila. After the Japanese landed troops at Lucban, the tanks withdrew slowly toward the Bataan Peninsula. Ray's company continued to fight on Bataan with little food, little medicine, and only the hope of help coming from the United States.

On April 9, 1942, Ray became a Prisoner of War. He took part in the death march from Mariveles to San Fernando. During the march, he and the other POWs received little food and almost no water. At San Fernando, the POWs were packed into small wooden boxcars and rode to Capas. There, the living climbed out of the cars while the bodies of the dead fell to the ground. The POWs then walked the last ten miles to Camp O'Donnell.

Camp O'Donnell was an unfinished Filipino training camp. There was only one water spigot for 12,000 POWs. Men died in line waiting for a drink. Since the death rate at the camp was extremely high, Ray with other members of the C Company volunteered to go out on a bridge building detail. This detail was also under the command of Lt. Col. Ted Wickord the commanding officer of the 192nd Tank Battalion.

The detail was composed of 150 Prisoners of War whose job it was to rebuild bridges that had been destroyed during the American retreat. Seventy-five of the POWs were selected to work at a sawmill to produce the lumber that would be needed to rebuild the bridges.

Ray 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.

Ray 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.

While working on the detail, a POW at the sawmill escaped. Since the Japanese had instituted the "blood brother" policy, ten POWs were selected to be executed. The Japanese picked the five POWs who slept on both sides of the escaped man. Lt. Col. Wickord was sent to the sawmill to watch the execution and then tell his men what he had seen.

The next bridge Ray 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, Ray was sent to Cabanatuan. This camp had been opened in an attempt by the Japanese to improve the conditions for the POWs. On the October 27th, Ray and other POWs were sent to Manila for transport to Davao, Mindano. The POWs were put on the Erie Maru. The ship sailed on October 28th for Iloilo and then Cabu City on Cebu Island. After these stops, the ship sailed for Lasang, Mindanao arriving there on November 7th. From there, the POWs were taken to Davao.

Ray and the other POWs on the detail farmed and constructed runways. He remained on this detail until June 6, 1944. On June 12th, the POWs were taken to Lasang and boarded onto the Yashu Maru. The ship sailed for Cebu City and arrived on June 17th. The POWs remained in the ship's holds for four days. On June 21st, Ray and the others were transferred to the Teiryu Maru and sailed for Manila arriving on June 24th. Upon arriving in Manila, the POWs were taken to Bilibid Prison. Ray remained there until he was selected for shipment to Japan.

Ray returned to Pier Seven in Manila and was boarded onto the Canadian Inventor. The ship sailed for Formosa on July 4th. After stopping at Takao and Keelung, Formosa, the ship sailed for Naha, Okinawa. It finally arrived at Moji, Japan on September 1, 1944. The POWs referred to the ship as the Mati Mati Maru. This was Japanese for "slow."

Ray was taken to Nagoya #5 which was also known as Yakkaichi Camp. The POWs in the camp were used to manufacture Sulphuric Acid. He remained in the camp until he was liberated in September 1945.

Ray returned home after the war. He would continue to reside in Santa Clara, California, where he died on April 22, 1979.