AMERICANS RESCUED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 251, 23 October 1944, Page 5

AMERICANS RESCUED

83 War Prisoners From Sunken Japanese Transport

SOME EXECUTED BY ENEMY

Rec. 10 a.m. NEW YORK, Oct. 22. Eighty-three American officers and men who were prisoners of the' Japanese in the Philippines for two years and a half were recently rescued and are now safe in New Guinea, says the Associated Press correspondent at General Mac Arthur's Headquarters. All are in good condition except five, who are recovering from bullet and grenade wounds. The men were among some American prisoners who were being shipped north when an American submarine sank the Japanese transport on which they were travelling. Others who escaped from the transport were hunted down and killed as they swam. Some who reached the beach were picked up and executed by the Japanese. Americans who were trapped, in the holds while seeking to escape were deliberately fired on by the Japanese. Filipino guerillas cared for the 83 survivors until they were picked up and taken south by submarines and planes. A large number of Americans went down with the ship. JEnemy losses were also heavy.