Cary McClure ABNEY III

M, b. 2 April 1910, d. 15 December 1944
Relationship
4th cousin 1 time removed of John Kennedy BROWN Jr.
Capt. Cary McClure Abney
     Cary McClure ABNEY III, son of Cary McClure ABNEY Jr. and Katherine Young, was born on 2 April 1910 in Marshall, Harrison County, Texas.1 He graduated in 1934 from Texas A&M University with a degree in Agricultural Administration. After college he was the owner of an insurance agency in Marshall, Texas.

Cary began military service at age 30 on 26 March 1941 in Fort McIntosh, Laredo, Texas, captain in the U. S. Army field artillery. He was taken prisoner by the Japanese 9 Apr 1942 on the Bataan Peninsula. Before capture he survived a bomb strike on his quarters that killed six of the nine occupants. He was in the infamous Bataan Death March to the Japanese prisoner of war Camp O'Donnell. He was later moved to Cabanatuan, Davao City Penal Colony and then to the old prison of Billbid on Manilla Bay.

Despite the horrific conditions he faced each day, Abney kept a notebook that detailed the fate of some 221 officers and men, including 20 Texas Aggies, who were killed or captured by the Japanese. Just before boarding a Japanese transport in December 1944, Abney gave his notebook to a fellow American officer with instructions to send it to back to Texas where it arrived in September 1945. Protected only by a crudely fashioned canvas cover, Abney’s journal is in remarkably good condition. Of the 221 officers and men he lists in the book, 135 were killed in battle or died when they were prisoners. Of those, 99 perished on Japanese “Hell Ships.” There were 86 men who survived the war, with six escaping from Japanese ships and 80 being rescued or liberated from POW camps in the Philippines, Korea, Manchuria and Japan.1,2

In October 1944, the Japanese began moving the remaining prisoners (taken on Bataan and Corregidor) to Manila for shipment to Japan. Many were moved to Bilibid at Manila for processing before boarding ships with no markings to indicate they were carrying prisoners of war. Because life aboard these small steamers and freighters was “a living Hell,” they became known as “Hell Ships,” at least eight of which were sunk by submarines or planes from U. S. carriers.

Shortly after leaving with 750 American POWs that had been on work details near Lasang, Mindanao, the Shinyo Maru (an antiquated freighter) was torpedoed off the coast of Mindanao by the USS Paddlefish September 7, 1944. Japanese guards shot many prisoners as they struggled from the holds or were in the water. Of the POWs aboard, 668 died, including 24 listed in Captain Abney’s notebook. Five listed in the notebook survived. Unknown to those aboard the Paddlefish, 82 survivors made it to shore where they were helped by friendly Filipinos and made it inland to a Guerrilla group commanded by a Lieutenant Colonel John H. McGee who had been confined at Davao, had escaped by jumping overboard from the Yashu Maru June 15, 1944, and joined the Guerrilla forces. After McGee’s group sent a radio message to U. S. forces, the USS Narhal was assigned to pick up the survivors and did so on October 29.

The Arisan Maru, a freighter, left Manila for Japan October 11, 1944, with 1,800 prisoners, and was torpedoed by the USS Shark October 24. At least 28 of the men listed in Captain Abney’s notebook lost their lives on that ship and no more than eight of the 1,800 prisoners survived.

Late in the afternoon of December 13, 1944, after receiving about 30 letters from home, Captain Abney and 67 of his friends were put on the Oryoku Maru, which left Manila the following morning, with 1619 American POWs packed in its holds. U.S. Navy planes from the USS Hornet attacked the unmarked ship, causing it to sink the following day in Subic Bay. Two hundred eighty-six prisone rs were killed or shot in the water as they tried to escape.

Nine of his friends were killed in the attack on the Oryoku Maru The survivors were placed on the Enoura Maru, which left Luzon December 27 with 1,070 prisoners and was bombed by planes from the Hornet January 9, 1945, in Takao Harbor, Formosa. Three hundred sixteen POWs were killed in that attack. Captain Abney was injured and many of his friends were killed. Captain Abney and 37 of his friends were then placed on board the Brazil Maru, on which Captain Abney and 11 of his friends died before reaching Japan. Of the 68 that left Manila on the Oryoku Maru, 25 were alive when the Brazil reached Japan. A number of those died within a month.

A letter dated July 24, 1945, from the Adjutant General of the Army to Cary M. Abney, Sr., stated 1619 prisoners of war embarked December 13, 1944, at Manila on a Japanese vessel, presumably for transfer to Japan and that ship was bombed and sunk in Subic Bay, Luzon, December 15. The letter said partial official lists of those lost and the survivors had been received from the Japanese government and 942 of the prisoners, including Cary M. Abney, Jr., are officially reported by the Japanese to have lost their lives at the time and of the survivors remaining in the hands of the Japanese, 59 are reported to have died and others to have been later transferred to Japan. The letter said only 2 of the prisoners of war aboard are known to have evaded recapture and returned to our forces.

A later letter, dated January 12, 1948, from the Adjutant General to Cary M. Abney, Sr. stated information recently received indicates "your son survived the bombing and sinking of the Oryoku Maru on 15 December 1944 and was transferred to the Enoura Maru which was bombed 9 January 1945 in Takao Harbor, Formosa. He was then placed on board the Brazil Maru and died 28 January 1945 at sea between Formosa and Japan of wounds incurred in the bombing of the Enoura Maru."

Published reports state the survivors of the Oryoku Maru were loaded on the Enoura Maru, which took a direct hit by a U.S. Navy bomber, killing over half of the 500 POWs, and the survivors were put aboard the Brazil Maru and arrived in Moji, Japan on January 29, 1945. Only 450 of the original 1619 on the Oryoku were still alive. Included in those killed on the Oryoku were a son, Major T. N Powell, Jr. (listed in Captain Abney’s notebook) and his father, Lieutenant Colonel T. N. Powell.3

Cary McClure ABNEY III died on 15 December 1944 in Philippines at age 34.
Last Edited=22 Feb 2019

Citations

  1. [S842] William M. Huffman, "Cary M. Abney."
  2. [S851] Texas A&M Division of Marketing and Communications, "Aggie's Bataan Journal."
  3. [S981] Julie, "Re: Captain Nathaniel Abney - News Article - June 25, 1916," listserve message 12 Sep 2011.

Information on this site has been gathered over many years from many sources. Although great care has been taken, inaccuracies may exist. Please contact [email protected] with corrections or questions..