Ray LeClaire Makepeace's Account
of His Personal and Military Life

I, Ray LeClaire Makepeace was born in Northeast Minneapolis in 1915.   Graduated from DeLaSalle High School in 1932.   Tried out for professional baseball in the Northern League in Duluth, Minnesota.   Never signed a contract with them and then worked at part-time jobs for awhile.

Soon after joined the Civilian Conservation Corps and served 2 hitchs 1933-1934.   Worked in the woods in Northern Minnesota; after that sold magazines in Duluth for a year.   Returned to Minneapolis and got a letter from the St. Louis Cardinals Farm Team to go to Springfield, Missouri for Spring Training (1935).   Played in the Kitty League at Union City Tennessee, Class D Baseball.   They were sold to another Farm Team in Northeast Arkansas.   I was a pitcher who at some point wore my arm out.   Continued to play amateur ball for some time and also managed a ball club in the City League.   I gave my pitching arm another try in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in the Nebraska State League.   Next few years held jobs even though it was during the depression.   Just prior to WWII, I worked in a defense plant and saw the ad looking for men interested in going to the Philippines with the U.S. Army and enlisted in February, 1941 at Fort Snelling, MN.

First sent to Angel Island, San Francisco (Fort McDowell).   Left April 1st,1941 and arrived in the P.I. April 22nd   (Sailed on the U.S.A.T. Republic).   Landed in Manila and was then sent to Corregidor.   I was assigned to the 60th Coast Artillery.   Began 11 weeks of training and was then transferred to Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, Harbor Defenses of Manila and Subic Bay.   I worked in the Commanding General Section for General Moore.   I worked in S-3 and other Beach Defense duties.

It was Monday, December 8th and I had to forego my 3 Day pass to Manila.   Japanese planes continued to fly over but did not began heavy bombing until after Christmas. After Bataan fell on April 9th, we were continually bombed and strafed until our own surrender on the 6th of May.   We began our internment on Corregidor at the 92nd Garage Area  -  the misery began here.   We were transported  (after a couple weeks)  to Paranaque and got off the barges in waist deep water and were formed into ranks on shore and marched through Manila to Bilibid.   The conditions were bad and we joined about 7000 others there.   Drafts were being assembled and sent to Cabanatuan.   I evaded two drafts and then voluteered on a detail to get out of Bilibid.   The Santa Mesa detail was formed.   We were forced to repair some of the barges that had invaded Corregidor.   We became too friendly with the Filipino workers and were transferred to Port Area.   We worked as stevedores for the next two years.   In comparison the Port Area Camps were better then most other camps.  We worked hard and worked long hours with little time off.   We were in trouble often for looting cargo and sabotaging cargos.   We did what we could to make life miserable for the Japanese while trying to stay out of trouble with them.  

In July of 1944 the Japanese told us we were going to Japan.   The hardest part of imprisonment was beginning - the Hell Ships.   We left on July 17th on the Nissyo Maru and travelled for 21 days in most miserable conditions and eventually landed in Moji, Japan.   We lost about 200 men (estimated) of the 1600-1700 (mostly American Personal).  From Moji we were sent by rail North to Honshu and ended up in various mines and factories along the way.   We got off at Kamioka with about 100 of the original Port Area Detail.   We walked up the mountain to the camp and were welcomed by the Camp Commander   (we called him Onion Head)  with the usual hogwash "Be Happy in your Work and Guard your Health".   The work was difficult and hard in the Lead Mine (Mitsui Corporation).   That winter we had 33 feet of snow and temperatures were in the zero range and we had no heat.   Clothing was inadequate; the blankets were made from a paper fiber.   By the time we were liberated we had lost a number of men to starvation, pneumonia and overwork and exhaustion.   Those of us who were there at the end of the war (August 16th) were unemotional, yet happy in one way that we had made it.   B-29's began dropping food and medicine, clothing and encouragement.   An intelligence team dropped in by parachute and told us to stay put and they would try to get us out as soon as possible.   Our actual recovery was on about September 7th and I was flown out of Japan to Okinawa and then Manila.

I was transported home to the USA by the U.S. Navy Watertender the Yarmouth.   I spent some time at the Presidio in San Francisco then to Schick General in Clinton, Iowa.   After a 108 day furlough I was discharged as a Staff Sergeant in May of 1946.

Ray LeClaire Makepeace
E-Mail Address:   Ray9027@msn.com