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967514
Gunner
Samuel Kennedy
Full name - Frederick Arthur Samuel Kennedy
1916/10/08 - Born Ayrshire, Scotland
Son of Robert and Isobel Kennedy
Occupation Labourer
Royal Artillery
88 Field Regiment
18th Division
Service
1941/10/30 - Left Liverpool for Halifax in Convoy CT.5.
1941/11/08 - At Halifax transferred to American liners
1941/11/10 - Left Halifax with Convoy William Sail 12X, destination unknown, believed to be Middle East.
Above Photo of Convoy William Sail 12X supplied by the late Maurice Rooney
Vought SB 2U Vindicator Scout Bomber - USS Ranger which was flying an Anti Submarine patrol over the convoy.
Front Line Top to Bottom:-
USS West Point - USS Mount Vernon - USS Wakefield - USS Quincy (Heavy Cruiser)
Back Row Top To Bottom:-
USAT Leonard Wood - USS Vincennes (Heavy Cruiser) - USS Joseph T Dickman
(USS Orizaba Ap-24 also sailed with Convoy though not pictured in photo)
1941/12/08 - Japan entered war by bombing Pearl Harbour and invading Malaya
18th Division diverted from Middle East and sent to Singapore
1942/02/15 - Singapore surrendered to Japanese
1942/04/14 - WO 417/41, Casualty List No. 797. Reported ‘Missing’.
1943/06/ - WO 417/62, Casualty List No.1158. Previously shown on Casualty List No.797 as Missing, 15/02/1942. Now reported a ‘Prisoner of War’.
Japanese PoW
PoW No. IV 1145
Japanese Index Card - Side One
Japanese Index Card - Side Two
1942/10/ - Transported overland to Thailand
In roll of Group 4. 10 (C) Bn
New PoW No. IV 3644
Thailand Camps:-
Tonchan, 138km from Nong Pladuk
Chungkai, 60km from Nong Pladuk
1944 - Transported back to Singapore
New PoW No. IV 42972
Rakuyo Maru
1944/09/04 - Oversea in Japan Party 3 to Japan via East Hainon Island. The Japan Party consisted of 2,250 prisoners, 1,500 were British the remainder Australian, the number who actually sailed with the convoy was 2,217. The Rakuyo Maru held 1317 PoWs and the Kachidoki Maru a further 900 (all British). The two ships joined convoy HI-72 and sailed from Singapore.
The Rakuyo Maru was built by Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Company in Nagasaki. It was 477 feet overall length with a displacement of 9,500 tons. The ship was equipped with 12 lifeboats, most of these being on the boat deck in the amidships passenger area, the remainder were on the raised stern or poop deck. The ship was painted battle grey and flew the merchant marine flag, which was a red ball in the centre of a white field. It had no red cross markings.
1942/09/12 - The convoy was attacked by US submarines:- USS Growler, USS Pampanito and USS Sealion near the East Hainon Islands. Both the PoW hell ships were hit. The Rakuyo Maru was the first to be hit by a torpedo from the US submarine Sealion, the Kachidoki Maru was hit by USS Pampanito.
USS Sealion
Three steam torpedoes were fired at the Rakuyo Maru at 5.25pm, the target was 1,100yards away, all three hit. The torpedoes struck ten seconds apart, two hitting below the waterline the other exploded into the engine room.
The explosions did not kill any prisoners but the water that covered the deck to a depth of over 6 feet flattened anyone in its way, also making its way into the holds where the prisoners were. The prisoners soon organised the evacuation of the holds and looked for anything that would float, the Japanese taking ten of the twelve lifeboats, abandoned ship. The Japanese that didn’t escape found the prisoners not too sensitive to their pleas of help.
136 PoWs from the Rakuyo Maru were saved by the Japanese and arrived at Hainan Island together with about 360 survivors of the Kachidoka Maru which had also sank. They were transported to Japan in the Kibitsu Maru accompanied by the Asaka Maru and Sincho Maru.
1944/09/15 - The three American submarines returned to the area of their attack on the HI-72 convoy and rescued 149 surviving POWs who were on rafts, some in a very bad condition.
Samuel was lost, presumed drowned, in the sinking of the Rakuyo Maru.
1944/12/11 - WO417/86.1, Casualty List No. 1626. Casualty List No. 1158. Previously reported Prisoner of War in Japanese Hands Malaya. Reported ‘Missing at Sea’.
1945/12/31 - WO417/100, Casualty List No. 1947. Previously reported on Casualty List No. 1626 as Missing whilst Prisoner of War 12/09/1944. Presumed Killed in Action whilst Prisoner of War
Died
Age 27
1944/09/12
Lost in the sinking of the Rakuyo Maru
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Pacific Star
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War Medal
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1939-1945 Star
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Loved Ones
Son of Robert and Isabella Kennedy, of Irvine, Ayrshire.
Memorial
Column 22.
Singapore Memorial
Information
Alexander Wilson - Nephew
Andrew Snow - Thailand Burma Railway Centre
Convoy William Sail 12X
Japanese Transports
Thailand Burma Railway
Hell Ships - Rakuyo Maru
Commonwealth War Grave Commission
‘Life on the Railway’ by Stuart Young
KEW Files:- WO 392/25, WO 345/29, WO 361/2061, WO 361/2186, WO 361/734, WO 361/1987, WO 361/733, WO 361/1742, WO 361/734, WO 361/2005,
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