Veterans' Memorial Project
Edwin Virgil Kerr
Metropolis, IL
World War II
Lt. Col. Kerr served with the 88th Field Artillery Regiment, Philippine Scouts. A West Point graduate, Colonel Kerr served in a number of artillery posts. Edwin Kerr was held as a POW in the Philippine Islands. In December 1944, he was boarded onto the Oryoku Maru for transport to Japan. The ship sailed on December 13th and came under attack from American planes on December 14th. As evening approached, the attack was called off. The next day the planes returned and continued the attack. When the pilots saw the large number of men climbing from the ship’s holds, they realized the ship was carrying POWs and called off the attack. After the POWs were off the ship, the attack resumed and the ship was sunk by American planes at Subic Bay, Philippine Islands, on December 15, 1944. The surviving POWs were boarded onto the Enoura Maru which sailed on December 27th and reached Takao, Formosa, by the New Year. While docked it was bombed by American planes on January 9, 1945, killing many of the POWs. On January 12th, the dead were removed from the ship’s holds and buried in a mass grave on Formosa. The surviving POWs were boarded onto the Brazil Maru which sailed on January 13th. Kerr died in the ship’s hold before the ship reached Japan on January 29, 1945. His body was thrown into the sea. He is listed as Missing in Action or Buried at Sea on the Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines. He had been in the Philippines for a year with the 24th Field Artillery and lived through the Bataan Death March, with subsequent moves from Mindanao to Cabanatuan.
-taken from Illinois Alumni News, September, 1946, and University and public records
Further information: https://www.abmc.gov
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