Searching for Info on Great Uncle - POW on Tamahoko Maru

Discussion in 'Prisoners of War' started by jase1974, Sep 2, 2013.

  1. jase1974

    jase1974 New Member

    McMILLAN, John Phipps; Gnr; VX57833; 2/1st Heavy Battery, RAA. (Re-enlisted - 3/401100; Served KOREA)

    Was taken prisoner after the fall of Singapore. Sent to Nagasaki on the Tamahoko. Was torpedoed. Survived sinking by swimming out a hole in the cargo area.
    Saved a Japanese Sailor and was taken on board a Japanese vessel.
    Sent to Coal mines in Nagasaki and then survived the Bomb dropped on them.

    Heard that his seregant was killed when allies dropped food and supplies. A supply crate dropped on a hut he was in.

    Was repatriated by allied occupational forces. Re-enlisted for Korean War.

    Any other info on him would be great. He was a great survivor from what I have heard.
     
  2. DaveB

    DaveB Very Senior Member

    Hi Jase and welcome aboard

    It looks like you already have a good bunch of info thanks to the research you have done yourself using Aussie records.

    I see from the nominal roll that his post-war number has been placed without the / in it - making the entry read 3401100 (VX57833).

    Oddly enough I can't find his pers file at the NAA searching by his full name or his post-war service number (either layout) - his wartime number only produces one match which is a file held by the AWM of "[War Crimes and Trials - Affidavits and Sworn Statements}".

    Have you been to the AWM to view what his statement has to say - or is that what you have already done to get the above info?

    cheers & good luck in your research



    Dave
     
  3. jase1974

    jase1974 New Member

    Hi Dave,

    thankyou for the reply. I got the service number details from :
    http://www.australian-pow-ww2.com/tamahoko_maru_27.html

    I Hunted this information down after hearing stories retold on recent father's day.

    It is a very interesting story and one that begins when I was 7 and John Phipps Mcmillan (Aka Jack Mcmillan) stopped by my grandmother's house one day.

    My grandfather, Jim McMillan, served as a dentist aboard the Australian Navy during World War 2. Unknown to myself, he had an identical twin named Jack Mcmillan (John Phipps Mcmillan). I was sitting in the loungeroom at my grandmothers house when Jack unexpectantly walked through the door.

    Having never met Jack, I thought he was actually my grandfather as he is an identical twin. He had moved up into the hills east of Melbourne and was known to be a recluse. I actually live somewhere very close to where he went after the wars.

    Anyway, I soon realised this guy wasn't grandad when everyone started making a huge fuss. Jack started relaying stories to us, the one and only time he ever did. Being 7 at the time, my memory is fragmented and I only remember a few details.

    Jack told us that after Singapore fell, he was captured with many other Australian's and allied troops. He was sent to Nagasaki on the Tamahoko Maru.

    The Tamahoko was torpedoed by the USS Tang just outside of Nagasaki.

    Jack said that the place was chaos as the ship sank. Many prisoners tried escaping up ladders, but became trapped and caught up in each other. He managed to float up through a hole in the cargo area. I am assuming this was one of the holes that was caused as the torps hit and teh hatches were blown off. He managed to cling on to some debris. I have heard there were balsa rafts on deck and it may have been one of these or part of.

    The tale he told diverges slightly here. He said that he rescued a drowning sailor and pulled him up on the raft. Next he said that a Japanese navy ship pulled all of the japanese out of the water and that some of his comrades were shot in the water by them.

    He was in the sights of a Japanese rifle when the man he had rescued turned out to be Japanese. He told them how Jack had saved his life and so he was spared and pulled on board.

    He was sent to Nagasaki to a mine. (Coal mines apparently from my research). They were underground when the atom bomb dropped.

    The japanese captors told the prisoners that it was an earthquake in an attempt to keep them under control.

    Jack told us that a Japanese officer was in his hut, when he discovered a monkey going through his things. He cut the moneky's arm off with a machette and came out of his hut crying with laughter at the wounded animal. Since then, Jack said he despised the Japanese. He mentioned that he regrets saving the man's life in the water, even though it saved his.

    There were other stories and I knew he had re enlisted to fight in Korea. I believe he was captured again at some point. There was something about escaping by blowing a hole in the fence with a grenade. About the American food drops on Nagasaki accidently killing his sergeant. My memory fails me.

    I never saw Jack again after that day. It was almost like he was passing this tale on to some of the only family he had left.

    He lived an extroidinary life and appeared to us and then vanished like a ghost. My father barely knew him.

    I want to find out about Kokoda trail, about the fall of singapore and his life in the 2/1st Heavy Battery or his experiences in Korea.

    I always doubted these kind of stories growing up. Then I saw evidence on here:

    http://www.australian-pow-ww2.com/tamahoko_maru_27.html

    cheers.
     
  4. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    Hi Jase 1974,

    We have had a previous thread about the Tamahoko, here:
    http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/20294-fepow-died-aboard-tamahoko-maru/

    Not much for you there I realise, but I thought it might help.


    At the National Archives in London there have been various new file series released recently, one is WO361/775 found here:

    http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=C11603576

    I'm not sure if this would show all nationalities aboard the vessel or just the British casualties.

    Cheers

    Steve
     
  5. jase1974

    jase1974 New Member

    thanks for the links people. Not much that I don't already know, but great stuff anyway.
     
  6. DaveB

    DaveB Very Senior Member

    Not too sure which sites you have and haven't accessed. Have you tracked down a copy of his service docs?

    If not, I will try to help you with that.




    PS - I can't match "Jim McMillan, served as a dentist aboard the Australian Navy during World War 2" on the nominal roll. I'm guessing Jim is a nickname, but I can't find a James in the RAN..... (but no-one is saying that service nicknames are meant to make sense)


    PPS - have you used the nominal roll to produce a certificate of service for either your grandfather or his brother. I think they look pretty good.
     
  7. BCT

    BCT Member

  8. BCT

    BCT Member

    There is a James Edward McMillan (fits with him being called Jim) on the nominal roll with a service number of 41565 (RAAF) at 2 RAAF Hospital.

    It has his date of birth as 4 October 1921. John on the other hand has birth listed as 4 October 1920, so more than likely one is a typo. Both have the same NOK as Victoria McMillan.
     
  9. BCT

    BCT Member

  10. jase1974

    jase1974 New Member

    Wow thanks for all the responses here. I tracked him down to Sparrowforce via Theatre of War etc.

    John Phipps McMillan aka Jack McMillan as he was know was in 14b Fukuoaka. One of 24 Australians in that camp.
    Very close to the detonation, he is marked with an 'M' on a dutch document I translated that has the names of the prisoners in 14B. Saved by going down to the Coal Mines. 14b was run and owned by Mitsubishi motors. There are maps online of the camp layout and photos of the camp after detonation.

    Thanks for the Korea Info. I found this also and saw the details of the 2RARs engagement with the Chinese. As I said, he said something about being captured here as well. I cannot find any info on this at all and he is not listed pow in Korea.

    His identical twin brother, my grandfather James McMillan aka Jim McMillan was a mechanical dentist in the RAAF. He promised his mother not to be involved in direct combat. She didn't want to lose both twins. (She was Victoria McMillan, their mother, my great grandmother).

    My best source now is a couple of old audio tapes recorded in the 80's. They have written on them, Jack McMillan Changi and Japan 42-44. I only just discovered these. I'm hoping they have some good stories on them (he must have left them for us after he died). I also found photos of him in Sydney before and after the war.
     

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