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I would like to take this opportunity to add a letter to this page in honor of my uncle. Who was killed in WWII. Four Christmases in Hell for Bud Hausam's family, was the title of a newspaper article written by Paul Fridland in Dec. 1984. A letter from Bud Hausam reads, "Dear Mother, I am still in very good health. I hope this finds you and all the folks in the best of spirits. Tell everyone hello for me. Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. As ever, Bud." Bud was writing from a Japanese prisoner of war camp in the Philippines. During his two and ½ year imprisonment, Bud was only aloud to send a few short post cards. Another card arrived on Christmas day 1944. In it Bud wrote. "Hope this finds you in good health. Try and answer. Give my regards to everyone". That card was a cruel irony. It arrived two months after his death on Oct. 24, 1944. Alfred William Hausam was born February 9, 1913 to Clifford William Hausam and Edna May Myers Hausam of Fort Scott Kansas. Alfred was known to his family and friends as Bud. In 1934 Bud enlisted in the U.S. Navy, in 1938 he was sent to the Philippines on the Marblehead # C1-12 and stationed at the navel base at Cavite. He was a torpedo man first class and may have worked at the military post office at Cavite. It is not known if Bud was captured at Cavite or Corregidor. If he was captured at Cavite then he was on the Bataan Death March and if he was captured on Corregidor then he was not on the Bataan Death March. Below is information leading up to the capture of Corregidor. On Saturday, February 28, 1942 the submarine Permit (SS-178) delivers ammunition to Corregidor, and evacuates certain military personnel. On March 11, 1942 Douglas MacArthur, ordered by Franklin D. Roosevelt leaves Corregidor with his wife, Gene and son, Arthur age 4, for Mindanao. On April 5, 1942, the submarine Snapper (SS-185) delivers food to Corregidor, and evacuates certain military personnel. On April 8, 1942, the submarine Seadragon (SS194) delivers food to Corregidor, and evacuates certain military personnel. On April 9, 1942, the US and Philippine forces on Bataan surrender to the Japanese. On April 9, 1942, Luzon- At 0330, emissaries of Gen. King start to the Japanese lines under a white flag to arrange for surrender. Gen., King surrenders the Luzon Force unconditionally at 1230, and a grim march of prisoners from Balanga to San Fernando follows. The fall of Bataan permits Japanese aircraft previously employed against it to devote their full attention to Corregidor. For the first time since the end of March, Japanese planes attack in force. Japanese artillery emplaced at Cabcaben, south Bataan, opens fire on Corregidor. On April 12, 1942 the Japanese, employing guns on Bataan and Cavite, intensify the artillery bombardment of Corregidor. On April 29, 1942 the pre-invasion air and artillery bombardment of Corregidor became intense. On May 3, 1942, the submarine Spearfish (SS-19) evacuates certain military personnel from Corregidor. On May 4, 1942, US Navel vessel sunk mine sweeper Tanager (AM-5) by coastal guns, Corregidor. On May 5, 1942, Japanese forces land on the island of Corregidor. When Corregidor fell on May 6, 1942, the last of the Death Marchers had already entered the hellhole called Camp O'Donnell on April 24, 1942, twelve days before the surrender of Corregidor. The POWs, from the Death March, arrived in Camp O'Donnell everyday from April 12, 1942 up to April 24, 1942. Captives on Corregidor did not leave the island for two weeks' time, pending the surrender of Fil-American forces in the southern islands of the Philippines. The captured POW's were sent to Manila, where they were forced to march through the streets of that city to impress the Filipino with the might of the Japanese military forces. On May 13, 1942, Bud was listed as missing in action. On October 6, 1943, Bud was listed as a prisoner of war. One account has Bud at Cabanataun and another has him at camp #8. Camp #8 may be a misprint because I'm told that there were only camps #1 at Cabanatuan and all other camps had names. Camp #3 at Cabanatuan was only inhabited at the beginning and thwe POW's were sent to camp #1. Bud survived the Japanese prison camps at Cabanatuan and camp # 8 only to be killed by friendly fire a few years later. On October 10, 1944, Bud was put on a transport ship headed for Japan. Buds prisoner number was 1-11782. Cabanatuan, for most prisoners, ended up being a temporary camp. The Japanese had a policy (which was a direct violation of the Geneva Convention) that prisoners were to be used as a source of labor. They sent most of the prisoners, from Cabanatuan, to various other camps in the Philippines, China, Japan, and Korea, where they were used as slave labor. Some worked in mines, others on farms, others in factories, and others unloading ships in port areas, for the remainder of the war. Most prisoners who left Cabanatuan in 1942, were sent to the other countries mentioned, in ships appropriately called,"Hell Ships". These "Hell Ships" sailed from Manila to their various destinations in Japan, Korea, or China. As mentioned earlier, the Japanese did not mark these ships as being prison ships, so they were targets for American planes and submarines. Thousands of Americans, who were passengers on these ships, met their deaths by drowning at sea. The Arisan Maru was a Hell Ships 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. Information states that Skipper Edward Noe Blakely (Annapolis, class of 1934) was in command of the U.S. submarine Shark ( second U.S. Navy sub of that name ) when it torpedoed a japanese freighter that was carrying about 1,800 POW's from the Philippines. All but eight POW's were lost. Five somehow got to China and made contact with friendly forces, reporting the tragedy. Counting the work of Paddle on September 7 and Sealion, Growler and Pampanito on September 12, this new loss meant that U.S. submarines had accidentally killed or drowned well over 4,000 Allied POW's within a period of six weeks. Perhaps more went unrecorded. Blakely reported to Ashley in Seadragon that that he was making this attack. That was the last word ever heard from Blakely. Japanese records revealed that on October 24 a submarine was attacked in Blakely's vicinity and that "bubbles, and heavy oil, clothes, cork, etc." came to the surface. The Shark was sunk by a depth charge attack, presumably by a Japanese warship. Only ten days after Bud was killed. Bud's younger brother Herb Hausam landed on the island of Leyte, on November the 4, 1944, only about four hundred miles from Corregidor. Four Christmases passed for the Hausam family without the joy of the holiday with their son. Two passed without their knowing weather Bud was alive or dead, one passed knowing he was a prisoner of war, and the fourth passed thinking he was alive when he had already been killed. May 24, 1999 Fivety four years and seven months to the day, Herberb Hausam received the medals that Alfred (Bud) Hausam had earned posthumously for his part in the fighting on the Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor Island near Manila during World War 11. The medals, a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star were awarded at the ceremony and there will be another medal sent to Herbert Hausam for Bud's service in the Philippines. Written In honor of Alfred William (Bud) Hausam  or would like to be added to my POW/Internee e-mail distribution list, please let the me know. Thanks! |