Taikoku Maru Roster  - Revised 01/16/15

This web page provides information related to the POWs that were on the voyage of the Taikoku Maru.  It departed Manila on March 24, 1944, made a stop at Takao, Formosa and arrived at Osaka, Japan on April 9, 1944.  The POWs debarked on April 10, 1944 and were taken by train to Hitachi POW Camp, Arriving there on April 11, 1944.

The basic information for this roster comes from files obtained from the National Archives (NARA), College Park, MD.  The documents are from Box 89, Record Group 407.  In November 2014, they were scanned by Ed Burton, and translated and collated by John C. Bursley.  Bursley provided the file for use on this site and assisted in preparing this page of information.

In March 1944, there was a Japanese “requisition” for 300 POWs to be sent to Osaka, Japan for custody of the Eastern District Army.  That “requisition” resulted in a “draft” of 300 POWs at Cabanatuan #1 POW Camp.  The 300-man draft, headed by senior POW Maj. (later Lt. Col.) Arthur G. Christensen, left Cabanatuan on March 6, 1944 and was held in Bilibid, Manila until March 24, 1944 when they were marched to the Port of Manila and boarded the Taikoku Maru.

Click on this link to see the original 300-man draft as assembled from papers at NARA: 
                    NARA Files (This is a large file, so give it plenty of time to load.)

Click on this link to see a spreadsheet showing the POWs that were on the Taikoku Maru and additional information on each man, as available:
                    Taikoku Roster (See Note below)
                                Links to supporting documents for this roster:
                               Alphabetical locator - Taikoku-Alpha
                              Explanation of Abbreviations - Taikoku-Abbrev

            Click on this link to see the affidavit of Lt. Col. Christensen (Note – the link is long, be sure to get all of it):
                    http://www.mansell.com/pow_resources/camplists/tokyo/tok-08b-motoyama/taikoku_maru_voyage.htm

Click on this link to see Roy Mc Cotter’s diary:
                    http://philippine-defenders.lib.wv.us/html/mccotter_roy_bio.html

Greg Michno's book, Death on the Hellships, gives interesting information about the voyage of the Taikoku Maru.  If you have access to that book, or can read it in a library, see page 160 for comments by several POWs that were on this voyage,  Also, see page 314 in the Appendix.

Note:  Some spaces in the “Unit” column of this file are highlighted in yellow.  This indicates that needed information has not been located.  If you have information about the military unit a person was assigned to just prior the surrender, please contact the author of this web site, John Lewis, at redlegs6@comcast.net.  Please include the source of your information.