Hello

[JoniSchildgen]

Hello,

My name is Joni Schildgen. I am the niece of 2 brothers that fought in WWII. They had different last names but that is another story in itself. Their names were Pvt. Ray E Biddle who was a POW and was on the ship Shinyo Maru when it was torpedoed by the submarine USS Paddle. He didn't survive. We haven't known alot about what happened until I started researching my family and especially looking into my 2 Uncles. My other Uncle was Jay Bittle. His military record has him as J H Bittle. He was MIA. And when that law came out (I am not sure of the name) they gave him the designation of Finding of Death.

My father was very young and was their half brother so he only remembered them until they were in their teens when they left.

I know there is information out there about the Hellships and would love any information about the Shinyo Maru. I recently found the article from the Prologue Magazine called "American POWs on Japanese Ships Take a Voyage into Hell." I also found this website.

Thank you,

Joni

[Nostalgair]

Hi Joni,

Welcome aboard.

I hope this forum can be of assistance to your research.

Cheers

Owen

[Kyt]

Welcome Joni

Losing two Uncles as POWs of the Japanese is very sad. As members of 680th Ordnance Company and 803rd Engineer Battalion respectively, they seem to have both been captured very early in the war.

I don't now whether you have already found this information:

Shinyo Maru – On August 20, 1944, 750 American POWs who had been on work details near Lasang, Mindanao were loaded into the cargo holds of a freighter marked only as "86" for transport to Manila. The 3,801 gross ton Japanese Army transport No. 86, Tateishi Maru, made a slow and devious trip arriving at Zamboanga, Mindanao on September 5, 1944. The POWs remained in the holds of transport No. 86 for two more days. On September 7th, the POWs were moved to the Shinyo Maru. The Shinyo Maru left Zamboanga in convoy on September 7, 1944; however, the USS Paddle was waiting near Sindangan Point, Mindanao where it torpedoed the Shinyo Maru late on the same day. The ship sank quickly, trapping most prisoners in the holds. Others were executed by the guards during the scramble to evacuate the ship or while in the water awaiting rescue. Eventually 82 survivors swam to shore to be rescued by Filipino civilians and hidden onshore until they could be evacuated by submarine. (See Rice and Salt by John McGee for details of the sinking and the evacuation of the 82 survivors.)
The Shinyo Maru was an antiquated freighter pressed into Japanese service after its capture at Shanghai in 1941. It was built as the Clan MacKay in Glasgow, Scotland in 1894, and was much smaller than the ships listed in paragraph 1 above (312 ft. long by 40.2 ft. wide and only 2,600 tons). The following photograph shows the Shinyo Maru when it was still the Clan MacKay.

http://www.west-point.org/family/jap...pow/photos.htm

American POWs Rescued After Shinyo Maru Sinking by USS Paddle: SubmarineSailor.com

I have a couple of books on the hellships, mentioned in the other thread, and will have look through them a little later.

[Kyt]

Joni

have you read the two interviews with members of the 803rd?

Oral History Interviews: Military Branch Index: Army: Pacific Theater

[morse1001]

Hi Jonni,

Welcome to the forum, hope you find the info that you are seeking.

[Kitty]

welcome to the forum Joni. We have a lot of Aussies here into the Pacific war, I'm sure they'll help.

[JoniSchildgen]

Thank you for replying and for the information. I am just now finding out information about them. About 6 years ago I asked my cousin to go through my Grandma's (their mother) old trunk. I found some of their military papers that got me started. Even the letters sent to my Grandmother didn't give her alot of information about what had happened to Uncle Ray. You wouldn't believe the letters she had to write to prove that she was Uncle Jay's mother because of him changing his name. They both lied about their age to get into the Army because of a situation with my Grandfather and another Uncle. My Grandfather was their step father.

Thank you again. You helped me alot with the information you gave.

Joni

Originally Posted by Kyt

Welcome Joni

Losing two Uncles as POWs of the Japanese is very sad. As members of 680th Ordnance Company and 803rd Engineer Battalion respectively, they seem to have both been captured very early in the war.

I don't now whether you have already found this information:





Photographs and Memorabilia

American POWs Rescued After Shinyo Maru Sinking by USS Paddle: SubmarineSailor.com

I have a couple of books on the hellships, mentioned in the other thread, and will have look through them a little later.

[JoniSchildgen]

Owen,

Thank you for your welcome.

I have already found information from the site I didn't know about.

Thanks again,

Joni

Originally Posted by Nostalgair

Hi Joni,

Welcome aboard.

I hope this forum can be of assistance to your research.

Cheers

Owen

[JoniSchildgen]

Kitty,

Thank you for your reply. I can use all the help I can get.

Joni

Originally Posted by Kitty

welcome to the forum Joni. We have a lot of Aussies here into the Pacific war, I'm sure they'll help.

[Kyt]

Hi Joni

interesting you should say that they lied about their ages as they both appear to have joined up before the US entry into the war, at ages 18 and 20.

ARMY SERIAL NUMBER 18051734
NAME BIDDLE#RAY#E
RESIDENCE: STATE OKLAHOMA
RESIDENCE: COUNTY TULSA
PLACE OF ENLISTMENT OKLAHOMA CITY OKLAHOMA
DATE OF ENLISTMENT DAY 03
DATE OF ENLISTMENT MONTH 07
DATE OF ENLISTMENT YEAR 41
GRADE: CODE Private
BRANCH: ALPHA DESIGNATION Ordnance Department
BRANCH: CODE Ordnance Department
TERM OF ENLISTMENT 0 Undefined Code
LONGEVITY ###
SOURCE OF ARMY PERSONNEL Civil Life
NATIVITY OKLAHOMA
YEAR OF BIRTH 23
RACE AND CITIZENSHIP White, citizen
EDUCATION Grammar school
CIVILIAN OCCUPATION Farm hands, general farms
MARITAL STATUS Single, without dependents
COMPONENT OF THE ARMY Regular Army (including Officers, Nurses, Warrant Officers, and Enlisted Men)
CARD NUMBER #
BOX NUMBER 0272
FILM REEL NUMBER 2.129

ARMY SERIAL NUMBER 18050247
NAME BITTLE#J#H
RESIDENCE: STATE OKLAHOMA
RESIDENCE: COUNTY TULSA
PLACE OF ENLISTMENT OKLAHOMA CITY OKLAHOMA
DATE OF ENLISTMENT DAY 25
DATE OF ENLISTMENT MONTH 02
DATE OF ENLISTMENT YEAR 41
GRADE: ALPHA DESIGNATION Private
GRADE: CODE Private
BRANCH: ALPHA DESIGNATION Corps of Engineers
BRANCH: CODE Corps of Engineers
FIELD USE AS DESIRED #
TERM OF ENLISTMENT Enlistment for Hawaiian Department
LONGEVITY ###
SOURCE OF ARMY PERSONNEL Civil Life
NATIVITY OKLAHOMA
YEAR OF BIRTH 21
RACE AND CITIZENSHIP White, citizen
EDUCATION Grammar school
CIVILIAN OCCUPATION Farm hands, general farms
MARITAL STATUS Single, without dependents
COMPONENT OF THE ARMY Regular Army (including Officers, Nurses, Warrant Officers, and Enlisted Men)
CARD NUMBER #
BOX NUMBER 0272
FILM REEL NUMBER 2.129