O.C. McManus,
member of the U. S. Navy, who has been stationed on the west coast, is
spending his furlough in Cherokee with relatives. (Nov. 27, 1936)
2 McManus Boys, In Naval Service, write Parents Here
Mr.
and Mrs. W. M. McManus of Cherokee, received a card Friday from their
son, Harold McManus stating that he and his brother, O. C. McManus,
naval seamen, are “ok” in the Pacific war zone.
The card was the
first message the family had from the men since the outbreak of war.
Both men are stationed on a U.S. warship. The card was dated Dec. 18
and came via the China Clipper plane. (Source: Cherokee Daily Times, Sat., February 21, 1942, pg. 1)
CHEROKEANS REPORTED MISSING MAY BE JAP PRISONERS OF WAR
Harold
and O. C. McManus; sons of Mr. and Mrs. W. M. McManus of 446 Giles
Street, may be Japanese prisoners at an internment camp in Batavia,
Java, Dutch, East Indies.
The men have been reported missing by the
U.S. navy since last February. They were sailors on the ill-fated
cruiser Houston which was lost in the battle of Java.
A spokesman
for the U.S. navy department reported Wednesday that the Japanese in a
propaganda broadcast, had declared that 1,000 survivors of the missing
American cruiser Houston and the Australian cruiser Perth were safe in
an internment camp in Batavia.
The spokesman said that “while all
Americans will understand that broadcasts originating from enemy
sources cannot be regarded as authentic, there appears to be no reason
for the issuance of false information on this subject by the Japanese.”
It was emphasized, however, that the navy had no official information about the men missing from the Houston.
Members
of the McManus family were pleased to hear the news and said they hoped
to find out soon whether or not the two brothers are among the
prisoners. The family has felt all along that they survived the sinking
of the ship. A Red Cross tracer has been sent out to locate the men.
(Source: Cherokee Daily Times, Thurs., July 2, 1942, pg. 1)
O.C. McManus Freed from Singapore Prison; Brother Still Missing
One of Sailors from USS Houston Which Sank In 1942
Mr.
and Mrs. Walter McManus, 446 gillease street, Cherokee, received a
telegram this morning from Washington, D.C. revealing that their son P.
A. 2/C, O. C. McManus had been liberated from a Jap prison camp.
O.
C. McManus and his brother Harold, seaman 1st class, were both aboard
the USS Houston when it was sunk in an engagement with the enemy in the
South Pacific Feb 28, 1942. Survivors of the ship were taken prisoners
of the Japs at that time. The McManus’s had word after that stating
that their sons were both taken prisoners and were in a Jap prison camp
on Borneo.
Later they received word that O. C. McManus had been
removed to Thailand. It was from a Singapore prison camp that McManus
was rescued at the close of the war. His name was released today as one
of the survivors of the cruiser USS Houston, who had been freed.
The
message from Vice Admiral Randall Jacobs, chief of naval personnel,
stated: “I am pleased to inform you of the liberation from Japanese
custody of your son, O. C. McManus, painter second class, USN.
No
word has as yet been received from Harold McManus but his parents have
hopes that he, too, will be among those rescued from enemy hands.
O.
C. McManus enlisted in the navy August 16, 1936. Harold entered service
March 12, 1941 and asked to be placed aboard the USS Houston with his
brother. They were kept in the Jap prison camps for three years and six
months. Harold had celebrated his 22nd birthday the day the Houston was
sunk. (Source: Cherokee Daily Times, Wed., Sep 12, 1945, pg. 1)
Harold McManus Also Liberated from Jap Prison
Writes To Parents That Aussies Freed Him
Mr.
and Mrs. Walter McManus were made very happy Monday when they received
a letter from their son, Harold McManus, S 1/c, who had been released
from a Japanese prison camp by the Aussies, September 13. On September
12 the McManus’s received a telegram from Washington D. C> stating
that another son, O. C. McManus, P. A. 2/c had been liberated from a
prison camp at Singapore. Both boys were taken prisoners following the
sinking of the USS Houston in February 1942.
The first word his parents received of Harold’s safety was this letter dated September 16 in which he says:
“I
can’t begin to tell you how happy I am. Today the other Yank with me
and myself saw Col. Suga, who was the Jap in charge of all prison of
war camps in Borneo. He was stone dead. They brought him from Sarawak
yesterday and during the night he got hold of a knife and killed
himself.
This is not such a good way to begin a letter after all
these years but it did us a lot of good to see him. He was responsible
for all our bashings. I am writing this with his pencil.
Well, now
I’ll start on a bit more civilized stuff. We were released from the
Japs by the Aussies on the 13th of this month. We had been in Kucking,
Sarawak, Borneo for about two years. We came there from Singapore. We
were sunk on my birthday of 1942 in the Sundra straits, between Java
and Sumatra. I swam ashore to Java and was captured March 2. After a
month and a half we were all gathered at Batavia where I first saw O.
C. on his birthday. We were there about six months when we were shipped
to Singapore. I was put in the hospital and the rest were transferred
out the next morning. Have you heard from O. C.? I surely hope he is
still living.
I am in the best of health. We are now in Labuan, an
island off Borneo. We are once again with the Yank navy awaiting
transport (the rest of the story on pg. 6 is illegible). (Source: Cherokee Daily Times, Tues., Sep 25, 1945, pg. 6)
Harold McManus Now in Kodiak, Alaska
A
report from Great Lakes, IL., states that Harold E. McManus, aviation
chief machinist’s mate, USN, son of Mrs. W. M. McManus of Cherokee, and
husband of Mrs. H. E. McManus of Ottumwa, is serving with fleet
aircraft service squadron 114 at the Naval air station, Kodiak, Alaska.
Kodiak,
situated on Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska, is headquarters for
the 17th naval district and is the site of one of the first Russian
settlements in Alaska.
McManus entered the naval service March 20, 1940. He was a prisoner of the Japanese in the Solomon Islands during the war.
Before entering the navy, he was graduated from Wilson high school. (Source: Cherokee Daily Times, Sat., Jan 14, 1950, pg. 1)
Australian, Cherokee Man, Former POWs, Are Reunited
By Nancy Wiebold
When
Norman Weeks of Australia and Harold McManus of Cherokee were released
from prisoner of war camp in Borneo, 3 years and 9 months after being
imprisoned, both doubted, or cared at that time, if they would ever see
each other again.
Twenty six years later, after 6 years of writing
between continents and a year of planning, Norman Weeks arrived
at the Omaha airport on July 13 to spend his vacation at the home of
Mr. and Mrs. McManus of Cherokee.
Deciding to get in touch with his fellow POWs, Weeks contacted the United States Navy and got McManus’s address.
The
two began corresponding with McManus, who doesn’t like to write
letters, letting Mrs. McManus do most of the writing. Weeks arrived in
the U.S. by boat and then flew to Omah where he was met by the
McManuses.
Both McManus and Weeks were taken prisoner separately in
Singaapore in 1942 and were transferred to Borneo. Only three Americans
survived the prison camp and McManus is the only living survivor today.
Weeks is one of 15 Australians who survived. (Source: Excerpts from article published by Cherokee Daily Times, Monday, August 2, 1971, pg. 3)
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