forced to kneel on the afterdeck while the Japanese crew was exhorted by their captain to beat the captives with pipes, chains and knives. The captain, who spoke to the Americans through a Hawaiian-born interpreter, taunted and harangued the captives from the bridge. After several hours of this, the submarine crew formed a gauntlet of 16 men on the forward deck. Harold R. Lee was the third man chosen to run the gauntlet. Marched around the conning tower, he saw the two men chosen ahead of him laying in a pool of blood halfway through. Had he survived the gauntlet, he would have faced a Japanese sailor with a fixed bayonet, whose task was to kill anyone who got that far and toss his body into the sea. Lee knew that his only possibility of escape was in the water. In spite of his hands being tied, and receiving a clubbing by a Japanese officer, he broke free and jumped over the side. He was to remain in the water for the next 12 hours before being rescued.

Sixty men were killed in running the violent gauntlet, but 30 more were still tied up on the afterdeck when a British patrol plane appeared on the submarine’s air warning radar at daybreak. Captain Ariizume ordered an emergency dive and his crew quickly abandoned the Americans to their fate and rushed to their duty stations below. As the I-8 submerged, half of the men on the afterdeck drowned. Those who had survived to that point tried to return to the burning hulk of the Jean Nicolet. 2nd Lieutenant Miller, who had broken his arm in abandoning the ship, was with this group, but his injury prevented him from keeping up with the others. He was never seen again. When Indian Navy vessels appeared later in the day, only 24 of the original 100 men were alive. The survivors were taken to Colombo.

Captain Nilsson, Gus Tilden and Francis O’Gara were taken to the Japanese naval base at Penang. O’Gara was later

repatriated from the Ofuma Prison Camp in Japan and told of Captain Nilsson being taken to Japan aboard another submarine. This submarine was apparently sunk en route, as Captain Nilsson was never heard from again. Tilden also was never seen again.

Commander Ariizume’s fate remains a mystery, but he and his crew were aggressively pursued by a war crimes tribunal after the war. On March, 26, 1944, the I-8 sank a Dutch merchant ship, SS Tjisalak. Some 98 of the 103 men aboard were murdered at Ariizume’s direction. A flotilla commander by war’s end, Ariizume reportedly committed ritual suicide rather than surrender to the United States Navy. A war crimes investigation raised the possibility that he escaped and swam ashore as his boat entered harbor. In any case, he was never found to face justice. Eighteen of his crew from the I=8 were, however, convicted of war crimes in this case. The I-8 itself was sunk near Okinawa on March 30, 1945, by

USS Morrison (DD-560) and USS Stockton (DD-646).

Oswald S. Wright was a 34-year-old cook aboard the Jean Nicolet. He would not survive the atrocity

WAR SHIPPING ADMINISTRATION

ItAS BEEN A\VARDEI) ’FILE

Atlantic War Zone bar

Figure 3: Author&ation Card for the Atlantic War Zone Bar with the Atlantic War Zone

Bar (left) and Pacific War Zone Bar (right) above it.

20 JOMSA

perpetrated by Commander Ariizume and the crew of the I-8. For his sacrifice, his family received the Mariner’s Medal (Figure 1) and the War Zone Bars for the Atlantic and Pacific. He would have also received a citation for the Mariner’s Medal and Authorization Card for the Combat Zone Bars. Unfortunately, only the Authorization Card for the Atlantic War Zone Bar (Figure 2) has survived the years, pinned inside the black leatherette issue case of the Mariner’s Medal.

The Mariner’s Medal was established in May 1943. The Administrator of the War Shipping Administration, Admiral Emory S. Land, was authorized to award the medal "to any person who, while serving on any vessel in the American Merchant Marine during the war period, is wounded, suffers physical injury, or suffers through dangerous exposure as a result of an act of an enemy of the United States." The Mariner’s Medal differs in one basic respect from the Purple Heart in that its criteria do not require a wound. This recognized the physical danger inherent in operating merchant ships and the possibility that a seaman who survived a sinking uninjured could still face days, if not weeks, of exposure to the elements.

The Mariner’s Medal itself was designed by Paul Manship, a noted sculptor. It is a gilt four-armed cross, with the arms making it almost square. In the center of the cross is a sterling silver disc bearing an eagle perched on a diagonal anchor. The reverse depicts a flaming torch before a wreath and stylized waves. This design is surrounded by "United States" and "Merchant Marine." The ribbon is composed of one red and one blue stripe separated by a narrow white stripe. The medal was awarded over 6,600 times during World War II.

2nd Lieutenant Morrison Miller, an Army Air Forces officer, was on his way to Calcutta for assignment. His injury in abandoning the ship was reported by survivors, who also reported that he had disappeared while attempting to swim back to the Jean Nicolet after the submarine submerged. A Board of Review issued a "finding of death" based on available evidence. His Purple Heart (Figure 4) was sent to his mother in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Oswald S. Wright and Morrison Miller are linked by circumstance in one of the most notorious atrocity cases of World War II. The Mariner’s Medal and Purple Heart awarded to them represent the thousands who died at sea.

Merchant Mariners killed in the incident were (31):

Beeson, Harold E. (Cook)

Vol. 57, No. 3

Bird, Sterling L. (Utility) Brandon, Willis L. (Oiler) Butler, Ermal (Utility) Carlin, Clement (Chief Mate) Carstairs, Jack E., Jr. (Ordinary Seaman) Christen, Walter A. (Able Seaman) Downing, Howard R. (Oiler) Harding, Dexter, Jr. (Steward) Horgersheimer, Russell E. (Oiler) Husten, James A. (Ordinary Seaman) Kagy, Donald L. (Purser)

[,lILLE R

Figure 4: Reverse of the Purple Heart awarded to 2nd Lieutenant Morrison Miller, Army Air Forces.

Kean, Richard L. (Ordinary Seaman)

McDonald, Douglas C. (Fireman/Wiper)

Martinez, Ernest E (Wiper)

Medlock, Troy (Cook)

Musser, William M. (Messman)

Nilsson, David M. (Master) Peshen, Stanley (Boatswain)

Reser, Paul (Messman)

Roach, Floyd W. (Second Engineer)

Rutan, George M. (Third Mate)

Selvaggi, Leo J. (Third Engineer)

Strong, William W. (Second Mate)

Sullivan, Edward M. (Messman)

Thurman, John W. (Chief Engineer)

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Tilden, Augustus (Radio Operator) Walker, Floyd M. (Ordinary~.Seaman) Walker, Robert W. (Fireman/Wiper) Weir, Robert O. (Ordinary Seaman) Wright, Oswald S. (Cook)

Other casualties (45):

Armont, Walter (S lc, Naval Armed Guard) Atchtey, Ernest E. (S 1 c, Naval Armed Guard) Bak, Alec E. (S lc, Naval Armed Guard) Bolton, Robert E. (Navy Technician) Cain, William R. (Technician 4, Medical Department) Cherndon, Thomas (Navy Technician) Church, Charles B., Jr. (Staff Sergeant, Quartermaster Corps) Coleman, Edward J. (Technical Sergeant, Quartermaster Corps) Cotten, James R (Warrant Officer, US Army Air Forces) Ferguson, Donald B. (Captain, Military Police) Floyd, David L. (S 1 c, Naval Armed Guard) Frank, John W. (Navy Technician) Gagnier, Patrick E. (Coxswain, Naval Armed Guard) Guthrie, Walter R. (Captain, Quartermaster Corps) Hardwick, Ralph (S lc, Naval Armed Guard) Herman, A. (Naval Armed Guard) Holmstrom, Terry W. (Slc, Naval Armed Guard) Inedemar, George M. (Navy Technician) Kolczynkski, Raymond R. (S lc, Naval Armed Guard) Konja, Farry D. (S lc, Naval Armed Guard) Krajewski, Richard J. (S lc, Naval Armed Guard) Kuhn, Charles, E. (Slc, Naval Armed Guard) Lallathin, Frank J. (Slc, Naval Armed Guard) Lasky, John E. (Slc, Naval Armed Guard) Lisner, J. (Naval Armed Guard) Littrell, George D., Jr. (Sergeant, US Army Air Forces) McCauley, George G. (Navy Technician) McCutcheon, Willard L. (Private, US Army Air Forces) Miller, Morrison R. (2Lt, US Army Air Forces) Morris, Wilbert O. (Private, US Army Air Forces) Mullin, Thomas J. (Civilian) Parker, A.T. (Civilian) Petterson, A.J. (Naval Armed Guard) Pierce, Newton C. (Private, US Army Air Forces) Pierrard, Marvin E. (Private, US Army Air Forces) Poe, Robert W. (Private, US Army Air Forces) Raten, Frank R. (GM3c, Naval Armed Guard) Salinas, Waldemar (Private, US Army Air Forces) Satterfield, Thomas R., Jr. (Private, US Army Air Forces) Shinman, Richard (Navy Technician) Snodgrass, Ralph (Captain, Medical Corps) Thorpe, Robert O. (Sergeant, US Army Air Forces) Viger, Leon J. (Navy Technician)

Webb, Thomas T. (Civilian) Wilson, Frank (Naval Armed Guard)

Survivors (24):

Applegate, Robert (S lc, Naval Armed Guard) Bevatori, Carl L. (S 1 c, Naval Armed Guard) Butler, Robert C. (Navy Technician) Deal, Gerald V. (LTjg, Naval Armed Guard) Flury, William B. (Second Cook) Gussak, John J. (Captain, US Army) Hess, George K. (Able Seaman) Howard, Archie L. (S lc, Naval Armed Guard) Lamb, Ora E. (S lc, Naval Armed Guard) Lee, Harold R. (Messman) Matyas, Harvey (Private, US Army) McDougall, John (Able Seaman) Mitchem, Paul L. (Deck Engineer) Nuvill, Robert L. (S 1 c, Naval Armed Guard) O’Gara, Francis J. (War Shipping Administration) Pyle, Charles E. (First Engineer) Rosenbaum, Carl (Fireman) Ruth, Lloyd B. (Wiper) Simons, William E. (RM3c, Naval Armed Guard) Stone, Collie C. (RM3c, Naval Armed Guard) Van Ness, Jack C. (Carpenter) Vanderhurst, Stuart R. (Able Seaman) Wheeler, Raymond M. (S 1 c, Naval Armed Guard) Wyrozumski, Teofils (GM3c, Naval Armed Guard)

Bibliography:

Abraham, Irwin R. U.S. Merchant Marine Decorations and Awards.

1966.

Moore, Captain Arthur R. A Careless Word...A Needless Sinking.

Kings Point, New York: United States Merchant Marine Academy,

1990.

Morrison, Samuel Eliot. History of United States Naval Operations

in World War II, Volume X, The Atlantic Battle Won, May 1943-

May 1945. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1956.

Riesenberg, Felix. Sea War: The Story of the US Merchant Marine

in World War II. New York: Rinehart & Company, 1956.

Correction

Tim Bartholow in his article on the 2005 OMSA Convention (JOMSA, v. 56, no. 6) in listing the awards given to members, failed to mention that Brandon Wiegand received a special A1 Gleim Award "in appreciation of his contribution to medal research and his sharing of the information with the collecting community." Tim apologizes for this omission.

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