2nd Lt. Benjamin Ryan Morin
2nd Lt. Ben R. Morin was born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, on August 15,
1920, to Benjamin & Josephine Morin. With his four sisters and four brothers,
he lived at 1301 South 9th Avenue in Maywood, Illinois.
On October 15, 1937, Ben enlisted in the Illinois National Guard's 33rd Tank
Company which was headquartered in the armory in Maywood. He graduated
from Proviso Township High School in 1938, and after high school worked as a
truck driver in the family's trucking company. When he was discharged from
the National Guard on October 14, 1940, as a sergeant, he reenlisted the next
day with the same rank.
In the fall of 1940, the Maywood Tank Company was called to federal service
as Company B, 192nd Tank Battalion and sent to Fort Knox, Kentucky, for
training. During his time at Ft. Knox, Ben was given the job of training the
"draftees" who had been assigned to the battalion to fill-out the rosters of each
company.
In the late summer of 1941, the 192nd was sent to Louisiana to take part in
maneuvers. It was after these maneuvers that the 192nd Tank Battalion
learned that they had been selected by Gen. George S. Patton for duty in the
Philippine Islands. Many of the soldiers were given leave to go home and get
their affairs in order. When they returned to Camp Polk, they were sent by
train to Angel Island. On the island, they were given physicals and
inoculated. It was at this time that Ben was made platoon sergeant of the
second platoon.
On Thanksgiving Day 1941, the 192nd Tank Battalion arrived in the
Philippines. At this time Ben held the tank of first sergeant. Two weeks later
on December 8, 1941, Ben and the other members of the battalion were under
attack by the Japanese.
During the night of December 7th, the officers of the 192nd were informed of
the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The tankers were ordered to the
perimeter of Clark Airfield to guard against Japanese paratroopers. Ten hours
after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Ben and the other members of his battalion
lived through the Japanese attack on Clark Field. During the attack, the
tankers could do little more than watch since they did not have weapons to use
against planes.
The tankers were ordered from Clark Field. It was sometime during this
period of time that Ben was discharged as an enlisted man and reenlisted as a
second lieutenant.
On December 21, 1941, the tanks of the 2nd Platoon of Company B were
bivouacked near Dau, Pampamga. At 12:00 noon, Capt. Donald Hanes ordered
the tanks to prepare to move north. Lt. Morin's detachment of tanks left Dau
at 1300 hours heading toward Rosario. With him were the tanks of S/Sgt. Al
Edwards, Sgt. Willard Von Bergen, Sgt. Larry Jordan, and Sgt. Ray
Vandenbroucke. The tanks were refueled at Tarlec, Genora, and continued on
their journey north.
Well after dark, the tanks stopped at Binalonan for an hour before
continuing their movement north in total darkness. At Manaog, the tanks were
met by a truck full of gasoline driven by Cpl. Russell Vertuno. After refueling,
the tank crews retired for the night. At six in the morning, the tanks continued
their journey through Pozurubio and on into Rosario. North of Pozurubio, the
tanks came under the observation of Japanese reconnaissance planes, which
observed them until they entered the town at about nine in the morning.
At Rosario, Ben's detachment was informed that the 26th Cavalry Philippine
Scouts was engaged with advanced Japanese patrols. At ten or ten-thirty in the
morning, Ben was given warning orders from Captain Hanes to attack the
Japanese. Ben met with General Weaver, who wanted him to attack the
Japanese at Agoo, 12 kilometers to the north and west of Damartis on the
coastal road. They were to proceed ten kilometers further north to the barrio
of Aringay and destroy the enemy forces there. It was believed that the
Japanese had not been able to bring in their artillery and tanks.
At about eleven in the morning, Ben's tanks left Rosario and were attacked
by Japanese planes. Bombs dropped by the planes exploded along side Ben's
tank. Since they were fragmentation bombs, they did no damage. At Damortis,
his tanks turned to the north and proceeded toward Agoo.
Just north of Damortis, a scout car of the 26th Cavalry was parked. An
American officer informed Ben that the Japanese were a half mile ahead. The
tanks proceeded north at a speed of fifteen miles an hour. At this time, Ben
tried a trial shot with the 37mm cannon. This resulted in the cannon locking in
recoil evidently locked out of battery. The gun would stay jammed throughout
the coming engagement.
The Japanese infantry had deployed off the road and hit the dirt very
fast. Pvt. Louis Zelis, Ben's tank driver, began to weave the tank so that the
stationary machine guns could fire upon the ditches more effectively. Cpl. John
Cahill's bow gun kept jamming, but he still went through several 100 round
belts of ammunition. Pvt. Steve Gados did a good job of keeping Pvt. Zelis's
guns loaded resulting with him going through 1000 rounds of ammunition. Ben
was manning the coaxially mounted machine gun in the turret. After awhile,
because of problems, Ben had to pull the bolt back by hand before each shot.
About two miles south of Agoo, Ben's tank was hit by a shell on the left side
of the hull. The hit knocked the door loose in front of his driver's, Pvt. Louis
Zelis, position. Within seconds, a second direct hit tore the door away and left it
dangling over the front slope plate of the hull. Ben signaled Pvt. Zelis to pull off
the road to the right to take them out of the line of fire. Ben did this to give his
crew the chance to put the door back in place before continuing the attack.
While the tank was stopped, a Japanese medium tank charged down on Ben's
crew from concealment. The Japanese tank struck Ben's tank full in the left
front at the driving sprocket. Pvt. Zelis backed onto the road again and tried to
go forward. Since the left driving sprocket was sprung out of line, it was
jammed in the track. The motive power of the right track pulled Ben's tank off
the road to the left. More shells struck the tank on the right side of the hull and
in the right rear. One shell pierced the armor and entered the battery case
causing the engines to stop. The radio and forward guns went dead, and the
engine caught fire resulting in smoke entering the fighting compartment. Ben
yelled "Gas!" to his men who put on their gas masks. Pvt. Zelis climbed out of
his seat and turned on the fire extinguishers. Within a few minutes the heat had
become unbearable but the fire was out.
Through the smoke Ben could see the remaining four tanks of his platoon
withdrawing to the south. He had hoped that Sgt. Al Edwards could have
broken through the Japanese guns on the road and the second platoon would
overrun the Japanese landing area at Agoo. After about fifteen minutes, the
Japanese ceased firing and four Japanese light tanks approached Ben's
tank. His tank was 50 to 75 yards off the road in a dry, hard rice field. To
prevent the Japanese from firing into the damaged right front of his tank, Ben
climbed out of his tank and surrendered his crew.
Ben and the members of his crew spent the first three months as Prisoners of
War in Agoo and Bauang. The Japanese would not acknowledge the Americans
as POWs but as "captives." They were joined by four other captured
Americans. A ninth prisoner, an officer, was not allowed to associate with
them. Ben believed he was later executed. As prisoners, Ben and the other men
refused to bow to the Japanese, but they would salute officers. The Japanese
were not happy about this, but they did not press the point.
During his time as a POW at Bauang, Ben and another American officer, Lt.
W. Robert Parks, of the 57th Infantry Regiment Philippine Scouts witnessed the
execution of two Filipino POWs by the Japanese. The two Americans watched
as a Japanese officer beat the men to death with a baseball bat.
In late March, 1942, Ben and the other prisoners were sent to Tarlac. It was
there that they came under the control of the Japanese military governor Capt.
Tsuneyoshi. He later became the commandant of Camp O'Donnell. The first
night at Tarlac, Capt. Tsuneyoshi sent two NCOs into the jail to persuade the
POWs to bow. Ben recalled being slugged and beaten. In response to this, the
POWs met and decided that it would be best to bow if they hoped to
survive. The next morning the POWs bowed to the Japanese. To them, they
had achieved a small victory because the Japanese had to use force to make
them bow.
In June, 1942, Ben was taken from Tarlac to Camp #1 at Cabanatuan which
had just opened. It was there that Ben was reunited with the survivors of the
Provisional Tank Group. Disease in the camp was rampant; Ben suffered like
everyone else from dengue fever, scurvy, pellagra, beriberi, and dysentery. The
thing that really shocked Ben about the camp was the "dog-eat-dog" mentality
of the American soldiers and some of the officers. In the camp, there was a
partial breakdown of authority. He found mistrust, selfishness, whining and
complaining.
It was at Cabanatuan that Ben also received a blanket. Up to this time, all
Ben had were the clothes on his back, his cavalry boots, a rag for a towel, which
he used to cover his face at night against the mosquitoes, and a burlap sack
which he used for bedding.
Ben was next selected to be sent to Japan. One of the worst experiences he
had as a POW was the trip from Cabanatuan to Manila in a steel boxcar. The
train crossed the Pampanga Plain in an all day trip. As the day went on, the
interior of the car grew hotter and hotter. Most of the time, Ben spent in a
semi-conscious or unconscious state. The doors had been left open about twelve
inches, but Ben was in the front of the car where there seemed to be no
air. When they arrived in Manila, the prisoners were paraded through the
streets down to the Port Area to Pier #7.
The POWs were boarded onto the ship Nagato Maru on November 4,
1942. They were driven into the bottom of the hold at bayonet-point. Ben
recalled that the heat and stench in the hold were terrific. This was his home
for the next three weeks.
In the hold, he was reunited with Lt. Col. Ted Wickord, Capt. Reuben
Schwass, Lts. Tom Savage and Richard Danca, and Sgt. Jack Griswold. Capt.
Schwass, Lt. Danca and Sgt. Griswold were in bad shape. Lt. Richard Danca
died while the ship was docked at Takao, Formosa, on November 11, 1942. His
body was taken ashore and cremated. Ben believed his ashes were given to Col.
Wickord for safe keeping.
The ship sailed on November 17th for the Pescadores Islands. Arriving there,
it dropped anchor for the night. The next day, it sailed for Keelung , Formosa,
arriving there the same day. On November 20th the ship sailed for Moji,
Japan.
On November 24, 1942, the ship arrived at Moji, Japan. The POWs
disembarked in bitter cold and wind wearing ragged thin cotton
uniforms. Then by ferry, the POWs were taken to Himoneski, Honshu. The
prisoners were next loaded onto a train and took a long ride along the northern
side of the Inland Sea to the Osaka-Kobe area. There the prisoners were
divided into two groups. Ben, along with 500 other POWs, was sent
to Tanagawa outside of Osaka.
"We marched into Tanagawa at nightfall. There were five new barracks very
flimsily constructed with dirt floors and paper thin walls coming to six inches off
the floor. The barracks were very cold. There were two decks of bunks with a
ladder going up every twenty feet to the second deck which was 8 to 10 feet off the
ground. Shoes had to be taken off at the foot of the ladder. At the foot of each
bunk were five synthetic blankets made out of peanut shell fiber and a rigid pillow
in the shape of a small cylinder packed with rice husks. The barracks had no heat
and with temperatures falling below freezing, the conditions were pretty tough.
After coming from the tropics, this was quite a shock to your system."
The camp was a "hell hole" and proved to be a death camp. It was there that
Ben had his first experience with lice. He also suffered from diarrhea and
intestinal cramps. The officers in the camp were not required to build the
breakwater with the enlisted men, but they were assigned duties. The officers
were required to clean the camp. One of the things they were expected to clean
were the latrines. They also had the job to take the dead to be cremated. Both
enlisted men and officers were beaten daily. Within a couple of weeks, Sgt.
Jack Griswold, who had graduated from Proviso Township High School with
Ben, wasted away to a skeleton and died. Ben was unaware of Sgt. Jack
Griswold's death.
One day, he was assigned to the burial detail working with 2nd Lt. Henry M.
Knox of A Company, 192nd Tank Battalion. The two soldiers went to the
designated area to pick up a body of a POW who had died. To share the work,
one man would pull the cart while the other man pushed. The two men lifted a
body onto the burial cart. After the body was on the cart, Ben looked down and
recognized the dead POW as Sgt. Jack Griswold, his high school classmate from
Proviso. Morin and Knox collected the necessary wood and took Sgt.
Griswold's remains to a crematorium. They then returned his ashes to the
camp commandant.
In mid-January 1943, Ben was one of 150 officers who left Tanagawa and
sent by rail to the Island of Shikoku to a camp at Zentsuji. This was to be his
home for the next two and one half years. The camp was used in Japanese
propaganda to show how well the POWs were being treated. In all, there were
700 officers and enlisted men in the camp. The POWs worked as stevedores at
rail yards and a port. There, he met American officers who were not captured
in the Philippines. He also met British and Australian officers.
At this time, Capt. Reuben Schwass was in the infirmary because he too was
on the verge of death. Ben would visit Capt. Schwass and remove his lice
covered shorts. Captain Schwass was also suffering from dysentery. Ben would
wash Capt. Schwass's shorts and allow the cold water and temperature to shock
the lice which made them easy to remove. Ben would hang the shorts on the
barbed wire fence surrounding the camp. The next day Capt. Schwass would
have "clean" shorts to wear. Without the proper medical attention, Capt.
Rueben Schwass died from the disease. When Ben was asked why he had
done this for Schwass, he said, "Everyone should die with dignity."
The final camp Ben was held at was Rokuroshi which opened on June 25,
1945. The camp was located next to the great Zen temple about twenty miles
northeast of Ono. He remained at this camp until he was liberated by the
American Occupational Forces.
During his time in the camps, Ben was repeatedly beaten by the Japanese
because he challenged their treatment of the POWs. He would repeatedly tell
them that their actions were in violation of the Geneva Convention. In addition,
on one occasion he was beaten for stealing food. The POWs were liberated
from the camp on September 8, 1945.
When he returned to the United States on October 10, 1945, he found that his
parents had purchased a new home in Maywood. He was discharged on June
30, 1946. Ben joined the Society of Jesus which is better known as "The
Jesuits" on September 1, 1946. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest and
worked as a missionary in Peru for 38 years. He resided at the a Jesuit
retirement home in Clarkston, Michigan, until his death on April 23, 2015.
Ben Morin was the last surviving officer of the 192nd Tank Battalion. He
was buried in the cemetery at Columbiere Center in Clarkston, Michigan, on
April 28, 2015.
On a final note, Ben Morin's brother, Arthur, served in the 15th Air Force
with Harry Martin the brother of Bob Martin. Bob Martin was a high school
classmate of Ben's and also a member of the 192nd Tank Battalion