Captain William Neil Foster
Legion of Merit / Bronze Star
William Neil Foster was born on July 12, 1911 to William N and Frances B Foster. He was raised in Deming NM by his mother. Records indicate his father was no longer in the home in 1920. After graduating from Deming HS he enrolled at NMAMC in the fall of 1929, eventually earning his BS in Chemical Engineering in 1933. He then worked for the highway department while supporting his mother at her home in Deming. He was called to active duty in 1940 and assigned to the 22nd Infantry Regiment, 21st Philippine Division.
As part of the southern Luzon forces he participated in the defense of the Philippines, eventually falling back to the Bataan Peninsula. The 21st was an effective force and fought well in the campaign. It was during this period that he earned the Bronze Star.
After the surrender of allied forces on Bataan on April 8, 1942 he was forced to participate in the Bataan Death march. Imprisoned as a POW for years, he was picked in December of 1944 to be transported to Japan for slave labor.
On the morning of December 13, 1,619 POWs boarded the Oryoku Maru, bound for Takao, Formosa, and Moji, Japan. On the morning of December 14, the convoy was attacked by US warplanes. The POWs endured seventeen such attacks before sunset. Only Oryoku Maru remained afloat. On the morning of December 15, U.S. Navy aircraft sank the Oryoku Maru near Olongapo Naval Station, Subic Bay, Luzon. Surviving prisoners were assembled nearby at some tennis courts. Of the 1,619 POWs aboard the "hell ship," as they termed it, only 1,290 answered roll call.
On December 27, the surviving prisoners boarded the Brazil Maru and Enoura Maru and sailed for Takao, Formosa. The ships docked there on New Year's Day 1945, and the prisoners received their first food since leaving San Fernando, On January 9, MacArthur's forces invaded Luzon. A simultaneous attack was made on Takao. It was during this attack by US planes that the Enoura Maru came under heavy bombing. Many of the US prisoners held in the hold of the ship died as a result of direct hits.
Captain William Neil Foster’s death is reported as January 9, 1945. He was buried at sea and is memorialized on the Manila American Cemetery Tablet of the Missing. He was 34 years of age at the time of his death.
Prime Source: http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/winter/hell-ships-2.html