When it rains, it is sure to pour!

Blue and Kathy will be visiting PAMPANITO tomorrow (Wed 03/11) and then - get this - on Tuesday, March 17th [A/K/A/Patrick's Day] we will be honored by another visitor -- an auspicious event to be sure.

Everyone is cordially invited to be at PAMPANITO on the morning of March 17 - exact time to be posted when it becomes known - to greet this Australian visitor as well ---

The visitor - Harold "Curly" Martin, the second survivor of 73 pulled aboard PAMPANITO from the waters of the Luzon Strait north of the Philippines! Mr. Martin is now 92 and this will be his first visit aboard PAMPANITO since 15 September, 1944 -- some 64 years, 5 months, and 17 days from his rescue.

Excerpted from PAMPANITO's website:

Pete Summers [the CO] celebrated his thirty-first birthday at sea on September 6, 1944 , the same day an ill-fated enemy convoy left Singapore bound through "Convoy College" to Japan. The convoy carried war production materials such as rubber and oil. It also carried over two thousand British and Australian prisoners of war being transported from Southeast Asia following the completion of the Burma-Thailand railroad. This particular railroad was featured in Hollywood's production The Bridge on the River Kwai.

This infamous "Railway of Death," as it became known, was used by the Japanese to move troops and supplies 250 miles through the mountainous jungles of Thailand and Burma connecting with other lines running through Southeast Asia and out to the South China Sea. The railway had been built at a huge cost of human life.

An estimated 12,000 British, Australian, and many times that number of Asian prisoners died from jungle diseases, lack of medical care, starvation, abuse and overwork. The fittest of the railway survivors, known as the "Japan Party," were being relocated to work as forced labor in the copper mines of Japan.

The POWs were openly worried about the likelihood of being torpedoed en route by American submarines and made what slim preparations they could for that strong possibility. Some formed teams and planned escape routes off the ship; others stockpiled meager rations or tested the effects of drinking small amounts of sea water. The Japanese could have requested safe passage for the transfer of prisoners, but no such request was received.

After diving to avoid a plane late in the afternoon of the 15th Pampanito surfaced to find much debris and floating wreckage.

"1605 A bridge lookout sighted some men on a raft, so stood by small arms, and closed to investigate. 1634 The men were covered with oil and filth and we could not make them out.... They were shouting but we couldn't understand what they were saying, except made out words "Pick us up please." Called rescue party on deck and took them off the raft. There were about fifteen (15) British and Australian Prisoner of War survivors on this raft from a ship sunk the night of 11-12 September 1944. We learned they were enroute from Singapore to Formosa and that there were over thirteen hundred on the sunken ship."

These men were survivors of Rakuyo Maru, sunk earlier by Sealion. After four days of drifting on makeshift rafts they were in extremely bad shape. Most were covered with oil from the sunken tanker, and had long since used up what little food and water they had with them. Slowly, the story of what had occurred was unveiled by the survivors brought aboard Pampanito. Summers radioed Sealion, and Reich also moved in to pick up survivors. Again from the patrol reports:

"1634 As men were received on board, we stripped them and removed most of the heavy coating of oil and muck. We cleared the after torpedo room and passed them below as quickly as possible. Gave all men a piece of cloth moistened with water to suck on. All of them were exhausted after four days on the raft and three years imprisonment. Many had lashed themselves to their makeshift rafts, which were slick with grease; and had nothing but lifebelts with them. All showed signs of pellagra, beri-beri, immersion, salt water sores, ringworm, malaria etc. All were very thin and showed the results of undernourishment. Some were in very bad shape.... A pitiful sight none of us will ever forget. All hands turned to with a will and the men were cared for as rapidly as possible. 1701 Sent message asking Sealion for help. 1712 Picked up a second raft with about nine men aboard.... 1721 Picked up another six men. 1730 Rescued another six men. 1753 Picked up... about eleven men.... 1824 ...about six men. 1832 ...about five men.... 1957 Light fading rapidly as we picked up a single survivor. 2005 Completely dark as we took aboard the last group of about ten men. Had made a thorough search of our vicinity with high periscope and kept true bearings of all rafts sighted. Felt we had everyone in sight and knew we had all we could care for if not more. When finally we obtained an exact count the number of survivors on board was 73. These together with 79 members of our crew plus 10 officers make us 'a little cramped for living space.' 2015 Made final search and finding no one else set course for Saipan at four engine speed."

The crew of Pampanito spent four hours rescuing as many survivors as could be found. Under the direction of torpedo officer Lt. Ted Swain, volunteer teams were formed to get the almost helpless men aboard. Some of Pampanito's crew dove into the water with lines to attach to the rafts so they could be brought in close enough for others, on deck and on the saddle tanks, to carefully lift the men aboard.

Among those crew members who swam out to rescue the former POWs, leaving the relative safety of the sub and risking being left behind if the boat had to dive, were Bob Bennett, Andrew Currier, Bill Yagemann, Gordon Hooper, Jim Behney, and Tony Hauptman.

It was a tense and emotional period as the shocked crew worked to save as many of the oil soaked survivors as possible. During the rescue many of the crew came topside to help. If a Japanese plane attacked at that time they would have been left on deck as Pampanito dove to avoid attack. Fortunately, there was no Japanese air attack and all 73 survivors were eventually moved below for care and treatment.