Merrill Eugene Dodson was born Feb. 18, 1921 to James Carl and Rena Belle Martin Dodson. He died Feb. 20, 1983 and is buried in Resurrection Memorial Cemetery, Oklahoma City, OK.
Petty Officer Dodson served in World War with the U.S. Navy and became a POW of the Japanese. He was held in the Philippine Islands. In December 1944, he was boarded onto the Oryoku Maru for transport to Japan. The ship came under attack from American planes on December 14th. The next day the planes continued the attack. 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 reached Takao, Formosa. While docked it was bombed by American planes on January 9, 1945, killing many of the POWs. The surviving POWs were boarded onto the Brazil Maru and reached Japan on January 29, 1945. In Japan, he was held at Fukuoka #17 until the end of the war.
Source: ancestry.com
