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I would like to pay tribute to my father, Frederick Marion Fullerton, Jr.; and have his name added to the “Book of Honor.”  Thank you for this opportunity.  He has written a book about his 42 month life as a prisoner of war.  However, he never spoke or wrote much about the Hellships since it was such a horrible and painful memory for him.  When asked, he simply said “I don’t want to talk about it.” 

Frederick Marion Fullerton, Jr. (Fred) was born in Taylor, Texas on February 14, 1920.  In September, 1941, he enlisted in the United States Army in the Ordnance Department.  He was sent to the Philippines, to the 75^th Ordnance Company at the Ordnance Depot in Santiago, Manila.  A short time later, he was assigned to the 81^st Division of the newly organized Philippine Army as an instructor.  He was on the island of Bohol when Pearl Harbor was bombed.  A few weeks later, the 81^st Division was moved to Negros Island.  On New Year’s Eve, he left Negros for Mindanao Island, and then on New Year’s Day, 1942, he landed at Illigan, in the province of Lanao. 

He also kept himself attached to the 73^rd Infantry Regiment in case of a landing in their sector so he could fight with them against the Japanese.  Fred’s time spent before surrender was searching for and buying materials and food for the 81^st Division of the Philippino Army.  On the last day or two in April, he went to Colonel Hale Vesey, the commander of the 73^rd Infantry Regiment.  They were moving two battalions of his regiment over to Malabang to support Colonel Mitchell, who was fighting the Japanese there.  He went with Colonel Vesey and his regiment to Ganassi.  From that point on, it was just a matter of retreat, retreat, and retreat. 

Fred was captured by the Japanese at Dansalan, Lanao.  He and Captain Gary Lane had gone to the village of Solomon, where a group of about 35 or 40 civilians (mostly missionaries) was staying.  The intent was to move these people farther up into the mountain in order to protect them.  General Guy O. Fort had planned to move what was left of his command back into the mountains and start a guerrilla unit.  However; while there, General Fort received written orders from General Sharp to surrender.  Apparently, they were very anxious for them to surrender because the men on Corregidor were still being held hostage, and they were trying to get all the rest of the units in the Philippines to surrender.  They surrendered on the 27^th of May, 1942.  They were taken to Dansalan and moved to a prison and later moved to Camp Keithley.  While at the camp, four American prisoners escaped.  In retaliation, three Americans were executed—Colonel Robert Hale Vesey, Captain A.H. Price, and 1^st Sergeant John Chandler. 

My father survived a Death March on July 4,1942 to Iligan, Lanao which is a distance of 26 or 27 miles.  Along the way, those who could not keep up were executed (shot or bayoneted).  Fred eventually was put in the Davao Penal Colony and stayed there for two and a half years.  During that time, they were forced to work in the rice paddies and saw mills. 

In June 1944, the 1200 to 1400 men that were left were loaded on a ship and taken to Luzon and on to Manila.  Then from Manila, he went to Cabanatuan and stayed there for just about a month.  He then was taken back to Manila to be put on a ship to Japan.  The following is an excerpt from his memoirs: 

“The next day, August 24, 1944, we were marched again to the dock and this time onto the ship, the Noto Maru, across the deck, to a hatch and down the stairs to the first deck below the top or main deck.  We were in the after deck part of the ship. 

We marched into the hole and then in single file from the center of the deck to the side of the ship standing against the man in front of you.  We then turned around and sat down pulling our knees as close to us as we could.  This continued until more than one thousand two hundred men were in this one hole, which measured approximately sixty feet by forty feet.  The space problem improved as large numbers of men, using blankets and shelter halves, made hammocks for themselves.  Sometimes, two or more men would go together in making a hammock and then would take turns sleeping in it.  It usually took several men to get all the ropes needed to make a hammock.  But, the more men we could get into the hammocks, the more room for those of us on the deck.  Even after the hammocks were made, there still wasn’t enough room for every man to lie down, so we slept in shifts, but we were never able to stretch out. 

Soon after we were on board, we heard activity on deck that told us that the crew was getting ready to cast off and sail.  This was a relief after the Cebu to Manila trip, but our relief was short lived, for the ship moved only a short distance before it began to slow to a stop, and we heard the anchor being dropped.  There we sat day after day, in the sweltering heat and humidity of the tropical Philippine Islands.  The steel deck above our heads must have been hot enough to boil water.  We sat in Manila Bay waiting for seven days, and then upon arriving in Japan, we spent three days waiting before going ashore. 

After what seemed like forever, the ship finally sailed.  They were, I suppose, waiting for other ships to make convoy with us to Japan.  One night during the trip, we could hear explosions and assumed an American submarine had been detected and the escort vessels were firing depth charges.  We were greatly concerned, for if a torpedo hit us, it would be almost impossible to get out.  The Japanese had fastened the door leading out of the hatch from the outside, and I am sure that they had stationed guards, with machine guns, on the deck to stop us from coming out, if we had succeeded in getting the door open.  Our only chance would be a hole being blown in the side of the ship that we could get through, but that was not likely, for we were well above the water line and any torpedo damage would have been at, or below the water line.  There really wasn’t much chance of our getting out if the ship was hit or went down. 

The total time on the ship from the Philippine Islands to Japan was fourteen days.  We were one of the last ships that made it to Japan without being sunk or damaged in some way.  The convoy our ship was in was attacked by an American submarine and one ship was sunk.  Our ship got through.  The next ship behind us lost 1795 men.” 

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In a separate letter to the La Porte, Texas Junior High School on April 9, 1989 he wrote, “Transportation between the islands in the Philippines and from the Philippines to Japan were soon called by all who were on them ‘Hellships’.  Hardships accompanied prisoners traveling on any Japanese prisoner of war vessel.  It was overcrowded.  It had no sanitary accommodations, and no provisions for air and light.  The prisoners received almost no food and little water.  The ship I went to Japan on took over 3 weeks to make the trip.  There were over 1600 men in a hold that was 40 by 60 feet.” 

He concluded the letter to the Junior High students by stating, “I am glad you are interested in this historical event.  It was a small area of involvement in World War II, but for the Pacific Theater of Operation, it was important.  There was never a time during the 3½ years I was a prisoner that I and the other POWs thought there would be any outcome to the war other than the complete defeat of Japan by the United States.” 

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When my father arrived in Japan, he was taken to Tokyo and forced to work in a steel mill, from September, 1944 until June, 1945.  He was then moved to Ashio, Japan to work in a copper recovery plant.  He worked there until the war was over in September. 

Upon gaining freedom, he went through Tokyo, Okinawa, and Manila before arriving back home in the United States.  His ship docked in San Francisco on October 24, 1945, four years and one month after he had left. 

The above picture is from September 13, 1945 when Cpl. Fred Fullerton was greeted by Army Nurse Lt. Margaret Terepka as she was passing out cigarettes to liberated POWs in Japan at a train station. 

After the war, Fred attended Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas and graduated with a degree in Physics.  He was a communications engineer for RCA and worked on the NASA Space Program and later at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio on defense programs.  He married Nila Mae Gamblin from Brady, Texas and they had one daughter.  Fred and Nila retired in Tyler, Texas where she passed away in 1989.  Fred passed away on November 6, 2004 in Southlake, Texas.

 

Joan Burckle - Daughter

 burckle@att.net