2023 Rhonie Dela Cruz Bamban WWII Museum
Bamban Historical Society
Center for Pacific War Study
Provincial Government Tarlac
Tarlac Provincial Tourism Office
On December 14, 1944, the Japanese ship Oryoku Maru, carrying American prisoners of war, was in Subic Bay near Sueste Point, where she was attacked by American navy bombers and fighters.
One of the American naval aviators who took part in the bombings, Lt. John Francis Thompson from carrier USS Cabot, was shot down by anti-aircraft guns of the Oryoku Maru. He was listed as Missing-In-Action.Almost 80 years since his death, on October 15, 2023, a group of Americans, Australians and Filipinos; the Philippine MIA Search and Recovery Project, embarked on a search for Lt. Thompson’s crash site in the waters off Sueste Point, Subic Bay.
This is the initial survey. Please watch as we carry on this noble acts of preserving WWII History. Thank you.
