When we left off last week, it was April of 1943: Hayne, Camden, and Stanley had reunited at Camp Cabanatuan; Hayne was hospitalized with beriberi; Camden was working burial detail and cutting hair; and Stanley was also working burial detail and growing crops in the field.
Hayne picked up the story again on Christmas Day 1943, “The Filipino Red Cross was allowed to furnish us extra food on Christmas Day and Stanley, Camden, and I sat down to a meal of beans, peanuts, and candy, along with the rice the Japanese gave us. We agreed that next Christmas, we would be at home together in Martinsville. We planned the biggest party that our imaginations could picture. Shortly after Christmas of 1943, we ran into Private Ralph Turner, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Turner of Stuart. Camden had gone to school with Ralph in Patrick County during their boyhood days and they knew a lot of the same people.”
Hayne recalled the going away party the group had for Ralph Turner, “It was March 1944 and Ralph was notified that he had been accepted for a work detail in Japan. We got together and baked a meatloaf made from carefully saved Red Cross supplies of two cans of corned beef and our rice allowance. Ralph left Camp Cabanatuan the next day for the main Japanese island of Honshu.”
Ralph Jefferson Turner, Sr. (1922-1990) was born at Buffalo Ridge, Virginia to Abram Columbus Turner and Allie Walker Turner. Ralph was the paternal grandson of John Francis Turner and Nancy Adeline Nolen Turner and the maternal grandson of James Lincoln Walker and Mary Bowling Walker of the Elamsville district of Patrick County.
Hayne remembered, “Camden and I made five cents per day on our work detail, which totaled $1.50 per month. On the other hand, 2nd Lt. Stanley Aaron was drawing 20 pesos per month, which was about $10.00. We pooled our pay with Stanley; he gave his $10.00 and pooled it with our $1.50 each, for a total of $13.00 per month. For this amount, we were able to get a little extra rice, an occasional egg, and some rotten fish now and then. When you are eating a cupful of rice as a regular meal allotment, anything, even rotten fish tastes good…as good as any porterhouse steak. All of us were in constant hunger, a gnawing pain that eats at your very soul.”
Hayne recalls their goodbyes, “In June 1944, the Japanese called for more men to be sent to Japan for a work detail and Camden and I both volunteered. Stanley tried to go too, but this detail was only carrying 15 officers and those had already been selected. When the list of volunteers was sent to the Japanese officers for approval, they discovered Camden Bryant’s name and would not allow him to go; they wanted him to remain at Cabanatuan to cut their hair.”
Camden told Hayne, “Go Hayne. You’ll get more food and probably get home quicker. They told me that they were going to move us all out anyhow if the Americans attack the Philippines. Stanley and I will come along later.” So…Hayne left Camden Bryant and 2nd Lt. Stanley Aaron at Camp Cabanatuan; he never saw them again.
On June 20, 1945, Camden Bryant’s family received the following telegram: “The International Red Cross has transmitted to this government an official list obtained from the Japanese government, after long delay, of American prisoners of war who were lost while being transported northward from the Philippine Islands on a Japanese ship which was sunk on the 24th of October 1944. It is with deep regret that I inform you that your son, Private Camden R. Bryant, Air Corps, was among those lost when that sinking occurred, and in the absence of any probability of survival, must be considered to have lost his life. He will be carried on the records of the War Department as killed in action 24th October 1944. The evidence of his death was received the 16th of June 1945, the date upon which his pay will terminate, and his accounts will be closed. The information available to the War Department is that the vessel sailed from Manila, Philippines on the 11th of October 1944 with 1,775 prisoners of war aboard. On the 24th of October 1944, the vessel was sunk by submarine action in the South China Sea over 200 miles from the Chinese coast, which was the nearest land. Five of the prisoners escaped in a small boat and reached the coast. Four others have been reported as picked up by the Japanese, by whom all others aboard were reported lost. Absence of detailed information as to what happened to other prisoners and the known circumstances of the incident lead to the conclusion that all other prisoners listed by the Japanese as aboard the vessel perished. Signed, Major General J. A. Ulio.”
Camden Ross Bryant (1916-1944) was born to Homer Orlando Bryant and Martha Magdaline Via Bryant. Camden’s paternal grandfather was Reverend Alexander Bryant, founder of Fairview and Rock Castle Church and pastor of Sycamore Baptist Church for many years, and grandmother, Sarah Jane Ross Bryant. Camden’s maternal grandparents were Peter Lee Via and Dicey Elizabeth King Via from the Dodson community of Patrick County.
The following month, on Tuesday, July 24th, 1945, 2nd Lt. Stanley Reid Aaron’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. John R. Aaron, of Starling Avenue, Martinsville received a telegram from the War Department notifying them of their son Stanley’s death, which was reported to have taken place on the 15th of December 1944. Stanley was also killed in action in the Pacific theater while being transported aboard a Japanese vessel. He had been struck by shrapnel and was mortally wounded. He died on a stretcher while being lifted aboard a rescue vessel.
2nd Lt. Reid “Stanley” Aaron (1918-1944) was born to John Reid Aaron and Jessie Stanley Aaron of Martinsville. Stanley was the nephew of Virginia Governor Thomas Bahnson Stanley, Sr. and Stanley’s brother, Jacob Crockett Aaron married Camden Bryant’s sister, Era Marie Bryant in 1948.
Private Bryant, an insurance salesman in Martinsville and Lieutenant Aaron, a graduate of Martinsville High School and Virginia Military Institute, both had entered the service in June 1941. Both men were stationed in the Philippines when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941; both were captured at the fall of Bataan in April 1942; both suffered tremendously as POWs for 30 to 32 months before both perished in the South China Sea.
Ralph Jefferson Turner, Sr. (1922-1990) made it home to Patrick County although he endured a great deal from the time of his capture at the fall of Corregidor until his release from a Japanese prisoner of war camp in September 1945. Turner had suffered burns on his head, neck, torso, and upper extremities and spent six months recovering from his injuries at the Newton D. Baker Hospital in Martinsburg, West Virginia.
Our storyteller, Hayne Dominick, Jr. (1920-1995) also made it home and next week, we will conclude our series with the story of Private James W. Trent, who grew up between Patrick Springs and Critz, the son of son of Walter Cole Trent and Nannie Virginia Witt Trent, the paternal grandson of Abe Trent and Nancy Spencer Trent, and the maternal grandson of Charles Richard Witt and Nancy Reynolds Witt of the Carter’s Store area of Henry County.
Thank you so much to Darlene Thielman and Sandy Taylor for sharing precious memories of Camden. Woody may be reached at rockcastlecreek1@gmail.com or 276-692-9626.
