Royal Navy, Service no. D/MX 53857
Born: 13th November 1918. Killed in action: 2nd October 1942, aged 23
Story
Ronald Howson was born in Kippax, and was the son of William Howson and Mary Eliza Webster. The family moved away to Grimethorpe, and lived at 8 Brierley Road before the War.
Ronald served on H.M.S. Tamar, until he was captured and held as a prisoner of war by the Japanese following the fall of Hong Kong on 16th December 1941. His Japanese Prisoner of War card is shown below:
In September 1942, Ronald was being transferred to Japan on the SS Lisbon Maru. 700 Japanese Army personnel were transferring 1,816 British and Canadian prisoners of war. The POWs were held in appalling conditions. The prisoners at the bottom of the hold were showered by the diarrhoea of sick soldiers above them.
On 1st October 1942, the SS Lisbon Maru (pictured below) was torpedoed by USS Grouper. In scenes that would later be repeated in the death of Clifford Hobson, the Japanese troops prepared to evacuate their ship whilst leaving the POWs to drown. The Japanese battened down the hatches above the POWs intending to leave them on the listing ship.
After 24 hours it became apparent that the ship was sinking and the POWs were able to break through the hatch covers. Some were able to escape from the ship before it sank. The ladder from one of the holds to the deck failed, and the Royal Artillery POWs in the hold could not escape; they were last heard singing “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary”. Survivors reported that Japanese guards first fired on the POWs who reached the deck; and that other Japanese ships used machine guns to fire at POWs who were in the water. Later, however, after some Chinese fishermen started rescuing survivors and some Japanese ships also rescued survivors. The British government insisted that over 800 of these men, including Ronald Howson, died either directly as a result of the sinking, or were shot or otherwise killed by the Japanese while swimming away from the wreck. The ship was not marked to alert Allied forces to the nature of its passengers. Ronald is remembered on the Plymouth Naval Memorial Panel 71 column 2, and on the grave of his parents in Grimethorpe.
Kippax Roll of Honour 