Rank and Name,Private First Class Robert S. Ainsworth.

Unit/Placed in,192nd Tank Battalion.

Arisan Maru

For transportation, he was held at POW Camps O’Donnell, Cabanatuan.

The Arisan Maru was a Hell Ship (POW-Transport) sunk on Oct. 24, 1944.

The Arisan Maru, sailed from Manila on October 10, 1944 for Japan. This ship was sunk by the American submarine,USS Snook (Shark?) with three torpedoes, east of Hong Kong, on October 24, 1944. There were 1800 POWs aboard – 1793 died. Eight men survived this sinking. Two days later, five of the survivors were rescued by a Chinese fishing junk. The Chinese helped them reach American Air Corps forces. Other survivors were recaptured by a Japanese destroyer and taken to Formosa.

This Hell Ship sank in the South China Sea making it the worst naval disaster in the history of the United States.

Robert is born in 1919 in Franklin Township, Ohio.

Father, David W. Ainswort.

Mother, Virgie Ainswort.

Brother, Harold Ainsworth.

Robert enlisted the U.S.Army in Ohio with service number # 35031373.

Robert died on-board the Hell Ship Arisan Maru on Oct. 24, 1944.he is honored with a Purple Heart, POW Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal and the WWII Victory Medal.

Robert is buried/mentioned at Manila American Cemetery and Memorial  Manila, Metro Manila, National Capital Region, Philippines.

Wall of the missing.

Thanks to Jean Louis Vijgen, ABMC,  https://abmc.gov Info P.O.W.

Wes Injerd, Dwight Rider: http://www.mansell.com/pow-index.html

NavyLog, http://navylog.navymemorial.org Philippine Scouts Heritage Society, Sean Conjenos, http://www.philippine-scouts.org/

Familysearch.com, https://www.familysearch.org Navy Marines Info Geoffrey Roecker, https://missingmarines.com/ Medals Info, http://www.honorstates.org Website, https://hendrikswebdesign.nl/ 

http://bataanproject.com/Ainsworth.html

http://bataanproject.com/