Anderson, Robert Louis

Rank and Name, Private First Class Robert Louis Anderson.

Unit/Placed in, 2^nd Battalion, 4^th Marines, United States Marine Corps.

Camp Bachrach#8

The Bachrach detail was in Manila.

It appears the POWs repaired trucks, cars, etc.

When it became clear to the Japanese that the Americans were about to invade the Philippines, the POWs were marched to the Port Area of Manila and boarded onto the “Hellship Arisan Maru”

Arisan Maru

The Arisan Maru was a Hell Ships (former Cargo, used for Transport POW’s to other Camps) sunk on Nov. 24, 1944.

The Arisan Maru, sailed from Manila on October 11, 1944 for Japan. This ship was sunk by the American submarine, USS Shark with three torpedoes, east of Hong Kong, on November 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 approx. on 1922 in Illinois.

Father, Edward C. Anderson.

Mother, Helen R. (Tance) Anderson.

Brother(s), Edward C. Anderson.

Robert enlisted the service in Illinois with service number # 293035.

Robert died as a POW onboard the Arisan Maru on Oct. 24, 1944, he is honored with a POW Medal, Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal, Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal, American Campaign Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, WW II Victory Medal.

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

Walls of the missing.

Thanks to,

Jean Louis Vijgen, WW2-Pacific Website.

Air Force Info, Rolland Swank.

ABMC Website, https://abmc.gov

Navy Info, http://navylog.navymemorial.org

POW Info, http://www.mansell.com Dwight Rider and Wes injerd.

Family Info, https://www.familysearch.org

Marines Info, https://missingmarines.com/ Geoffrey Roecker

Info, https://www.pacificwrecks.com/

Medals Info, https://www.honorstates.org