Private Francis Bert “Buster” Powell
Bronze Star
Francis Bert Powell was born in Springfield MO on May 9, 1919 to Mr. and Mrs. James Powell. He was raised in Nebraska, New Mexico and attended and graduated from Thayer HS in Missouri. He enrolled at NMAMC in the fall of 1939 in training under the CCC. He left NMAMC after one semester. He was working at Ben Jaffa’s Bar in Santa Fe when he entered the service in October 1941. He was assigned to the US 31st Infantry Regiment as a medical aid man and immediately shipped to the Philippines. He was to receive his training at his initial duty station.
As part of the 31st Infantry Regiment he participated in the defense of the Philippines, eventually falling back to the Bataan Peninsula. 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 and both ships again came under US fire. On January 14, 1945 the remaining survivors were placed in the holds of the Brazil Maru and sailed for Moji Japan.
Private Francis “Buster” Powell suffered, as did all his fellow prisoners, untold horrors and treatment at the hands of the Japanese prior to his death, which is reported as January 14, 1945. He was buried at sea and is memorialized on the Manila American Cemetery Tablet of the Missing. He was 25 years of age at the time of his death.