OMINE Fukuoka Camp 05B-Omine

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Source: Description and Time line courtesy of Wes Injerd Fukuoka 5B Omine Furukawa Kogyo OMINE Kogyo-Sho) FUKUOKA-ken, TAGAWA-gun, SOEDA-machi Timeline: 22 Jan 1943: Established as OMINE Branch Camp 1 Mar1943: Renamed 5-B 1 Dec 1943: Renamed 8-D Aug 1945: Renamed 5-B Sep 1945: rescue effected Hell Ships: Most of the American POWS arrived after a 62 voyage on the hell ship, Canadian Inventor, that departed Manila with 1000+ POWS, 2 July 1944. The ship sat in port for a few days before sailing for 62 day- 6 deaths during passage. The second group arrived on the Noto Maru according to Edmond Babler. From the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society - this note: "In early March 1945 a group of British POWs entered the camp. They came from Taiwan on the hellship Taiko Maru and remained at Omine 5B until the end of the war. POW Albert William Martin, 80th Anti-Tank Reg't. R.A. (see below) was among this group of men." New Article about POW's rescue- Montreal Daily Star (no longer published) Men known to have been at Omine (Which "Omine" is not clear): (Simple web search) Boyd, Herbert Lee Corporal, 19th Bomb Group, 93rd Bomb Squadron Dowdy, Charlie W. Gross, John D. "Jack" (John C.?) Grow, Bernard Lyon - 59th CA, Died at Hir-06B-Mizumaki on 1 Dec 1944 Martin, Albert William - Gnr, 80th AntiTank, RA Marriott, John R.- Royal Engineers McKinley, Stirling - RC Rifles died 20 Apr 44 Palmer, George Thomas -RC Rifles Prosser, John Tasman - 2/40th AIF Ross, Lance - Canadian Turner, Gerald "Bud" - American Limited records of the camp activities can be found at the National Archives, Record Group 389 [Records of Provost Marshall General, American POW Info Bureau], Box 2123.

Fukuoka Camp: 5-B ,Kawasaki-machi, Fukuoka pref, Kyushu Island Location: Area Map (Soeda-lower right quadrant) See Detail MAP Caution: Fukuoka #5 is not Hiroshima #6. Though both were called "Omine camp", Fukuoka #5 was in Fukuoka Pref. and Hiroshima #6 was in Omine-machi, Yamaguchi Pref., Honshu (near UBE). It's very easy to confuse the two camps. In Fukuoka #5, 8 British, 1 Australian and 12 Canadians died. Slave Labor: Coal mining. See translation of Japanese provisions for handling (employment as slaves) of POWs in this mine.[Source: RG 331 Box 922, transcribed by Vince Lopata, Secretary, HKVA 'C' Force Project] Rosters: Americans Source: POW Ed DeGroot and the Proviso School Bataan Project - at least on man tried post war for treason Canadians Eternal link- excellent research on Fukuoka #6 on Honshu Island Deceased: British, Australian and Canadian as list in Japanese records- External link-pdf file American-Wallace, Oscar, Sgt,6275223,4th Chem. Mortar Battalion-died after transfer to Hir-06B-Mizumaki 45.07.07 from acute Pharyngitis The rosters are located in Record Group 407 [Records of the Adjutant General's Office] known as "The Philippine Collection". The rosters are listed by camp name, e.g. "Fukuoka #5- Omine". These records are multiple in nature and have to be correlated for each camp. There is a roster prepared by the "Rescue Teams", one by the ranking allied commander, and one supplied by the Japanese. If you attempt to correlate the three, we find it takes at least two man weeks of work to resolve "most" of the discrepancies. Would you care to volunteer? Books: "1220 Days in Hell" by Robert C. Daniels- tracks experiences of U.S. Marine Edmond Babler. Excellent description of hell ship Noto Maru and this camp. Worth price of purchase. Sole defect is major error in his description of Palawan massacre. External Link: George T. Palmer, Royal Canadian Rifles- Author of the remarkable memoir "Dark Side of the Sun"- worth twice its price just for the many illustrations and excellent reportage of the Canadian's experiences. Research Aid: Contact Ms Broadhead and share your information Web Page - Dedicated by son of Sgt Gerald "Bud" Turner, USMC. Special Pages for all Fukuoka Camps - A must see!