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John
Tillman Nelson
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60th
Coast Artillery(AA), Battery M, 3rd Platoon
John
Tillman Nelson was born in Jacksonville, Florida, on January 23, 1923. He grew up in the Titusville, Florida area
and joined the Army in December of 1940.
After spending time at Fort McDowell, he was transferred to the
Philippines aboard the USAT Republic.
After training on Corregidor he was seconded to the Navy to serve as a
cook on a minesweeper operating out of Shanghi and returned to his Battery a
month or so later. At
the start of the war his Battery was assigned to protect the Manila piers and
he manned a 50 Cal. machinegun on Pier One until December 26 when the unit left
Manila to return to Corregidor to defend Kindley Field. He remained at Kindly Field and participated
in the American effort to repulse the May 5 Japanese assault on the Island. Upon
General Wainright’s surrender on May 6, 1942, he was taken prisoner and
relocated to the 92nd garage area and then moved to Billibid prison
on May 23. He spent several months as a
POW stevedore on the Manila docks before being transferred to Cabanatuan,
spending time at Camps 1,2, and 3. On
October 1 he was transferred from Cabanatuan to Lipa (Camp #10) where he stayed
until June of 1943 when he was transferred back to Billibid with near fatal
cases of Dysentery and Beri Beri. On August 27, 1944 he sailed for Japan aboard
the HellShip Noto Maru. In
Japan he was assigned to Sendai Camp #6 in Hanawa and was used as a slave
laborer in the Mitsubishi Osarizawa Copper Mine. By the time he arrived in Japan he was rapidly losing his sight
due to malnutrition and by the time the camp was liberated he had lost his
sight completely after being forced to weld without eye protection in the mine. After
the War he married Marjorie M. Wallace of Hartford, Connecticut. Upon retirement from the Fuller Brush
Company he moved to Indialantic, Florida where he passed away on June 23,
2005. His wife and four children, James
Nelson of Burlingame Kansas, three daughters Austin and Marjorie Nelson both of
Melbourne, Florida, and Suzanne Andrews of Burlington, Connecticut, survive
him. For more information email: jlnelson@ospry.net His
Military awards include: The Bronze
Star, Purple Heart, Prisoner of War, Good Conduct, American Defense, Asiatic
Pacific Campaign, American Campaign, WWII Victory, National Defense Service,
WWII Philippine Defense, Liberation and Independence Medals.
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