Carringer witnessed atomic blast in Japan
Local war hero survives Death March and slave labor camps
By Louise H. Stewart
Graham Star Correspondent
AUG.16, 2007
Wayne Carringer, 87, is a prisoner of war ghost soldier and Bataan Death March survivor.
He doesn’t hesitate to tell anyone who asked that the atomic bomb, dropped on Japan Aug, 6, 1945,
saved his life and thousands more Americans being held in Japanese slave labor camps.He thanks God and has high praise for Captain Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the B-29 “Enola Gay”
who dropped the bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.Carringer, a POW for three and a half years, worked in the slave labor camps in the Mitsubishi
coal mines at Omuta, Japan, approximately 25 miles from Nagasaki.On Aug, 9, 1945 about 9:30 a.m., Carringer was standing at the entrance of the coal mine, waiting to get
on a trolley car to work his 12 hour shift digging coal with a pick and shovel. He heard and saw the B-29
bomber flying overhead. Moments later, he heard the horrible blast and saw the mushroom cloud rising
Japanese guards would not allow the POWs to talk to each other, however, the POWs looked at each other
thinking the war would soon be over and they could go home to their families.Carringer survived the horrific 65 mile Bataan Death March in April of 1942. The POW’s were forced to
march in extreme heat with very little food and water. They were shown no mercy. When one got to weak to
walk, the” Japanese buzzard squad” would shoot or bayonet them and leave them by the roadside to die.After the 65 mile march the prisoners were loaded on filthy, overcrowded railroad box cars and taken to
Camp O’Donnell, known as by some as the “Death Factory”.POWs were fed a bowl of rice and cabbage leaf soup twice a day, One year later Carringer was loaded
onto an overcrowded “hell ship” and taken to Omuta, Japan to work in the Japanese coal mines along with
about 17,00 POWs from America and allied countries.Carringer’s weight dropped from 145 to 75 pounds earning him the name “ghost soldier.” He stressed he
could not have survived much longer. He endured starvation, malnutrition, torture, beatings, malaria and other
illnesses without medication. He still has black pinhead scars on his back from beatings mixed with black coal dust.Carringer did not receive any mail for three-and-a-half years, nor was he allowed to write any letters. The guards took their pencils and paper because they did not want the world to know the horrible atrocities the POW’s were enduring.
When Carringer emerged from captivity, he learned he had become a ghost soldier in more ways than one. The government had reported him missing in 1942, then declared him dead in 1943!
A memorial service was conducted in his honor in 1944 before the Red Cross located Carringer at the POW
camp in Omuta, Japan and was able to notify his family.Carringer spent six months in Moore General Hospital near Asheville. When his family visited him in the
hospital in Oct. 1945, they told him the sad news about his mother and two brothers dying while he had been captive.He was well enough to spend Thanksgiving 1945 with his family. He could only eat small portions at a time.
In May of 1946, he was discharged. He received $1.50 per day for slave labor pay.
Carringer attributes his survival to be a strong faith in God, faith in his country, faith in his fellow man,
faith in himself and possessing a strong will to live.
Carringer was born June 16, 1920. He is the son of the late Francis Marion (1887-1954), and Amanda Davis Carringer (1888-1945). He has eight brothers and sisters.In Nov. 2000, Carringer had the honor of meeting retired General Tibbets in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. Tibbets and Senator Bob Dole were conducting a fund raiser for the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Carringer personally thanked Gen. Tibbets for dropping the atomic bomb, which ended the war and saved his life. Carringer bought a picture and also a model of the B-29 Enola Gay, which Tibbets autographed.On Oct. 18, 1946, Carringer married Willa Mae Orr, daughter of the late Jake (1902-1944) and Ethal Stratton Orr (1907-2001). Their marriage is truly a 61- year love story. They have three children; seven grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
Carringer is thankful for his loving and caring family and for their understanding of his difficult times of flashbacks and memories of his POW years, Carringer is proud of his special car tack which reads “POW 101.”