Douglas Fisher lived the good life of an attorney, amateur boxer, and bachelor in pre-war San Francisco.  Offered a commission, he joined the Naval Reserve and quickly volunteered for duty in the Philippines.  

Captured on Corregidor in May 1942, Doug was among those American captives taken by barge to Manila and then marched along Dewey Boulevard to Bilibid prison.  Soon they were moved by rail and by march to Cabanatuan, where they spent the next two and a half years.  As the American forces advanced into the Philippines in late 1944, most Cabanatuan internees were trucked back to Bilibid.  In mid-December Doug and more than 1600 others were crammed aboard the Oryoku Maru which sailed to its sinking in Subic Bay.  As the ship sank he swam to shore, and then was held briefly at the Subic Bay tennis court.  From there, the group was taken by truck to San Fernando Pampanga and then by rail to San Fernando La Union.  They then sailed on the Enoura Maru to its sinking in Takao harbor, Formosa.  In that bombing Doug was wounded and burned.  Medical help was unavailable, because the American doctors had neither equipment nor supplies and the Japanese medics were unconcerned.  Doug and all the other remaining surviving prisoners were then transferred to the Brazil Maru and sailed to Moji, Japan.  He was held at Fukuoka, then later taken by boat to Korea and held at Jinsen (Inchon)---where he was liberated in September 1945 by US forces. 

Doug left a manuscript of his wartime experiences.  It is on file at the Library of Congress (Naval Historical Foundation collection, LC Control Number: mm 92081492, Call Number 0536D NHF-Alpha).  Following is a brief excerpt which describes conditions as the Brazil Maru sailed north to Japan in the freezing weather of January 1945. 

“We had no blankets or clothing…only the cotton garments for the tropics which afforded little warmth.  We had, however, taken from the dead their clothing, and were wearing (most of us) a couple of these cotton jackets which were totally inadequate.  We were grouped in these bays (in the freighter’s hold)…up against the outer skin of the ship.  There were (in my bay) three enlisted men plus a major, an Army captain, and myself.  We had some straw, and at night we would get the straw around all of us, and we would put our arms around each other and try to keep warm in that fashion.  Each night or so, one of our group didn’t make it and we could feel him relax as he passed away.  This went on until I was the only one left of our six, the other five of them having passed away in this manner---leaving me alone.”   

Shortly after his return to the US and a stint as a patient at Oak Knoll Naval Hospital, Doug visited several families to deliver “last messages” from shipmates who had perished in the ordeal.  One of these was Bettina Littig, widow of John Cassell Littig, who had died after the Oryoku Maru sinking.  Doug and Bettina married in 1946.  Shortly thereafter, he was retired on full disability as a result of wounds received in the Enoura Maru sinking.   

On May 24, 1972, Bettina found that Commander Douglas R. Fisher had passed away in his sleep.   He is interred at the Presidio of San Francisco National Cemetery.

 (Tribute provided by John S. Littig, JSLittig@aol.com