MCDIARMID, VINCENT Sept 7, 1944 age 30 POW/MIA/KIA Pacific Lost at Sea

VINCENT COLL MCDIARMID, b. 1914 Redford Twp d. Sept 7, 1944  Killed in Action Aboard a torpedoed Japanese prison ship ‘Shinyo Maru’

Pfc 313823 USMC L Co 3^rd Bn 4^th Mar Reg

Buried Manila American Cemetery, Tablets of the Missing

Parents: Coll 1891- 1963 & Jessie A. b. 1892

SS California

Both parents were born in Scotland, Coll in Dunbartonshire. Coll initially came in 1911 on the SS California to New York to join his father Arch. Jessie and little Vincent came in 1916 on the same ship to join Coll in Detroit at 205 Seabolt Ave. Passenger list have the parents blue eyed, but 10 mo old Vincent they apparently couldn’t tell his eye color. Coll worked various construction jobs: mason, plasterer. He also registered for the draft as a alien in both World Wars.

Soon the family reunited they were in the house at 22212 Karl where they lived till about 1940. When they moved in they it was Redford Twp, then in 1926 it became Detroit.  Township was original the basic 36 sq miles extending east to Greenfield. But residents wanted better schools and decent roads so opted to be annexed by Detroit in 1926.  Detroit incorporated many schools, including Redford, built by the township. It left the township having to pay for students to attend high school Detroit until they could get their own.
Vincent is the oldest of the students memorialized. Likely was a Redford student in the mid 1930’s. His military service starts normal, no inklings of the horrors ahead.
He registered for the Marines in California and did boot camp in California. Odd irony that the ship on which he came to America and where he entered the service are the same. July 1941 he is in the 4^th Recruit Btln San Diego.  Jan 1942 redesignated to the 3^rd Btln, 4^th Marines, Corregidor, P.I. The 4^th Marine Reg participated in the Battle of Corregidor from January to May 1942.  The unit was captured by enemy forces on May 6, 1942.
Captured by the Japanese after the fall of Corregidor, Vincent was held as a Prisoner of War. What follows is an unimaginable tale and tragedy.

“Following the conquest of the Philippines in 1942 and the surrender of the United States Army, thousands of Allied prisoners of war, mostly American, were being held on the islands which by 1944 were soon to be invaded by  General MacArthur. In order to prevent the liberation of the prisoners in the Philippines, the Japanese established a system of transportation called "Hell Ships " by those being transported. These Hell Ships were ordinary merchant vessels used to transport the Allied prisoners from the Philippines to elsewhere in the Japanese empire. These vessels were called so because several of them were destroyed in friendly fire incidents. SS Shinyo Maru was one of these vessels; she was built as a tramp cargo steamer in 1941 and crewed by both merchant sailors as well as Imperial Japanese Army soldiers. The soldiers manned the ship's machine gun and guarded 750 to 800 Allied prisoners in the holds, many of whom were survivors of the Bataan Death March. The Japanese commander is said to have been extremely ruthless. Expecting an attack by the Allies, he told the prisoners that if the ship was fired on he would order the guards to begin killing them.

On September 7, the Shinyo Maru was sailing for Manila in convoy C-076 with seven other vessels, including two  torpedo boats, two tankers, and four other medium and small cargo ships. They were sailing two or three miles off the Zamboanga Peninsula on the island of Mindanao, when the USS Paddle found them. A few days previously, American intelligence had reported that the Shinyo Maru was carrying Japanese soldiers so they assigned Paddle to search for it. The Paddle, under the command of Captain Byron Nowell, was ten miles away when the Japanese were first spotted so Nowell maneuvered forward to attack with torpedoes. A spread of four were then released in the direction of the Shinyo Maru, which was the leading ship in the convoy. Two of the torpedoes struck, both in the hold and a few moments later the Paddle was lined up against one of the cargo ships. It too was struck by two torpedoes so her commander grounded her on the nearby shore to prevent the ship from sinking. Just after the Shinyo Maru was hit the guards opened fire on the prisoners with captured Thompson submachine guns though several of the men fought their way out of the hold, with their fists and improvised weapons, and abandoned ship.

The men of the convoy then began launching boats to pick up Japanese survivors and kill all of the remaining prisoners. A machine gun mounted on the grounded cargo ship and a second on the Shinyo Maru were also opened up on the Allied personnel. Marine Sergeant Onnie Clem later reported the following; "Up on the bridge there was a machine gun spraying the hatch. A burst of machine-gun fire caught all three of us and knocked us back down in the hold. We'd all been hit. I got plowed in the skull. Another bullet chipped out my chin. Nevertheless, I was able to work myself back up on deck, and I was eyeing that bridge when I came out that time. The gun was still there, but the gunner was laying out on deck. Somebody had apparently got up there and killed him. At this time I found out that we were out in the ocean about two or three miles from shore. All I had was a loincloth." Fifteen or twenty others were recaptured and taken aboard one of the torpedo boats where they were executed by firing squad as punishment for trying to escape. One of those men was able to free his hands which had been tied behind his back and he successfully escaped by jumping over board again. The Japanese dropped forty-five depth charges and other explosives on the American submarine over the course of two hours and the ship sustained some light damage but nobody was hurt. After that she surfaced and began patrolling the area again.

Of almost 800 Allied prisoners of war, 687 were killed, most of whom were American, Filipino, and Dutch servicemen. At least forty-seven Japanese personnel were killed as well, only three men of the Shinyo Maru's crew survived. Eighty-three Americans made it to the shores of Sindangan Bay and they received aid from friendly Filipino guerrillas who radioed headquarters about the situation. One man died the following day on September 8, the remaining survivors were eventually rescued by the submarine  USS Narwhal save First Sergeant Joseph P. Coe Jr  who remained on Mindanao to continue fighting, for which he later received a Bronze Star. The crew of USS Paddle did not know they were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Allies until 1946.” Wikipedia

Marine Muster Roll: “Evidence of death received in CasDiv 29 Jan 45”

Vincent McDiarmid received the Purple Heart Medal.
 
Addendum: in 1946 Lt. Gen. Shiyoku Kuo was sentenced to be hanged by a U.S. military tribunal for mistreatment of POWs and civilian internees. He was responsible for the deaths of  more than 1,800 American POWs on the prison ships Shinyo Maru and Oryoku Maru

News Palladium, Benton Harbor 15 Mar 1946