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Private First Class Gerald C. Slonecker

Photo of soldier from World War II
  • Unit: Harbor Defense of Manila, 59th Coastal Artillery Regiment, Battery D
  • Service Number: 19014769
  • Date of Birth: June 12, 1916
  • Entered the Military: September 18, 1940
  • Date of Death: October 24, 1944
  • Hometown: Lincoln, Nebraska, and Melba, Idaho
  • Place of Death: Bashi Channel, South China Sea
  • Award(s): Purple Heart, Prisoner of War Medal, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Service Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal
  • Cemetery: Tablets of the Missing. Manila American Cemetery, Manila, Philippines
Contributed by Mr. Jeffrey S. Sessions
Melba Junior/Senior High School (Melba, Idaho)
2024/2025

Early Life

Gerald C. Slonecker was born June 12, 1916, at Moorefield, Nebraska. His father, John, was a farmer, and his mother, Annie, was the daughter of Danish immigrants.

Gerald grew up with an older half-brother, Frank, four other siblings— Mabel, Clyde, John, and Wayne — and his nephew Frankie, the son of his half-brother, Frank. He and his nephew were just two years apart.

In June 1926, the Slonecker family resided in Freedom, Nebraska, where they operated a farm for a living. Gerald attended school through the fourth grade in Freedom. He was a member of the Friends of Hesper club during this time. Before 1930, the family moved to Frontier, Nebraska. Gerald attended school through the eighth grade but did not complete high school. Sometime between 1935 and 1940, the Slonecker family packed up and moved west to Melba, Idaho. Most of them resided in this area for the rest of their lives. 

US Census information from 1920
The 1920 Census shows the Slonecker family living in Lincoln County, Nebraska. National Archives and Records Administration.
Family photo
Slonecker family gathering around Benton Slonecker, c.1927. Gerald’s father, John, can be seen in the top left. Ancestry Classroom.

Homefront

Gerald Slonecker was born in Moorefield, Nebraska, a rural area of farms that mostly cultivated corn and grain.

Slonecker’s family moved to Melba, Idaho, when he was a young adult. Melba is located about 30 miles southwest of Boise. This part of Idaho is also rural farmland. Potatoes, hay, and grain were the predominant crops in the 1940s, although sugar beets were gaining popularity. During World War II, labor shortages led some farmers to engage laborers from Mexico or Japanese Americans from the nearby Minidoka War Relocation Center to assist during planting and harvest season.

Boise, Idaho, was the home of Gowen Field, an airfield that trained flight crews. It is now the home of the Idaho Air National Guard.

A post card that says 'Greetings from Gower Field, Boise, Idaho' features several images of airplanes in flight and on the ground.
A postcard featuring images from Gower Field in Boise, Idaho, c. 1943. The Jive Bomber.

Military Experience

Gerald Slonecker enlisted in the Army on September 18, 1940, at the Vancouver Barracks in Washington state. He began active duty the next day on September 19, 1940. Six weeks later, he was assigned to Battery D, 59th Coastal Artillery Regiment, Coastal Artillery Corps. The Coastal Artillery Corps protects harbors and coastlines from air and sea attacks.

Slonecker was stationed in the Philippines, assigned to the Harbor Defense of Manila, when the Japanese attacked on December 8, 1941. The Japanese attacked the city of Manila and the island of Luzon first with bombs, and then invaded. U.S. forces withdrew to the Bataan Peninsula, fighting a challenging battle with dwindling supplies. Remaining forces eventually withdrew to Corregidor Island, a small island at the base of the harbor. Finally, on May 6, 1942, U.S. General Jonathan Wainwright surrendered to the Japanese. From that point in the war to his death in 1944, Slonecker was listed as a Japanese Prisoner of War (POW).

Prisoner of War

American and Filipino Prisoners of War faced a struggle to survive. Many were forced to march across the Bataan Peninsula in what is known as the Bataan Death March. Japanese forces were not prepared to receive the number of prisoners and did not anticipate their exhaustion and poor condition. Many who survived the march were sent to Camp O’Donnell and distributed to one of several camps. One newspaper account indicated that Slonecker was held at Camp 10.

At all the camps, prisoners were forced into work details with inadequate nutrition. Prisoners suffered from disease, malnutrition, and the brutality of Japanese guards. Some prisoners, including Slonecker, were forced to send radio messages. When the Allied army invaded the Philippines in 1944, they found the message, which was shared with his family and community in April 1945. Unfortunately, Slonecker was already deceased.

Local newspaper account of Gerald Slonecker’s enlistment into the U.S. Army and deployment to Manila Harbor in the Philippines, September 26, 1940. The Idaho Statesman.
Newspaper announcement from 1940s
Announcement of Slonecker being identified as a Prisoner of War, 1942. The Curtis Enterprise.
Letter from World War II during the 1940s
The Slonecker family received a transcribed radio broadcast from their son, April 28, 1945. The Curtis Enterprise.

Commemoration

Arisan Maru

When the Allies invaded the Philippines in October 1944, the Japanese escalated their efforts to evacuate POWs to Japan or China. Slonecker was placed on one of the Arisan Maru. These transports were known as “hell ships.” Prisoners lacked access to water and were transported in closed compartments that lacked adequate light and ventilation. The compartments were also grossly overcrowded. Men died from dehydration, malnutrition, and disease. On October 21, 1944, the Arisan Maru departed Manila headed to Takao, Formosa, carrying 1,783 Prisoners of War on an unmarked ship.

On October 24, 1944, the Arisan Maru was hit by two torpedoes in the South China Sea, about 200 miles northwest of Luzon Island. Some sources credit the American submarine USS Shark (SS-314), and others the USS Snook (SS-279). Arisan Maru was carrying 1,782 U.S. prisoners, 125 Japanese passengers, and 204 crewmembers.

The Japanese destroyer in the convoy, the Harukaze, attacked the USS Shark with depth charges. The submarine was lost. While the torpedoes did not kill the POWs, the ship was lost. Other ships in the Japanese convoy did not rescue any of the POWs, only those they identified as Japanese. Japanese destroyers deliberately pulled away from the men struggling in the water to reach them. 1,777 POWs died. Nine survived.

Five prisoners escaped and reached China in one of the ship’s two lifeboats. They were reunited with American forces and returned to the United States. Four others were later recaptured by Imperial Japanese naval vessels, and one died shortly after reaching land.

The Arisan Maru is one of the most significant losses of American life in maritime history.

Legacy

Slonecker was listed as Missing in Action and considered lost at sea with the other 1,770 POWs. His death date is recorded as October 24, 1944. He was awarded a Purple Heart.

After the war, the American Legion post in Melba, Idaho, was renamed the Divin-Slonecker Post. Family members presented pictures of the servicemembers to the post in 1966.

Like millions of other men and women, Gerald C. Slonecker served his country during World War II. He survived for more than two years in a Japanese POW camp in the Philippines, only to be lost at sea. He, along with over 1,700 Americans, lost their lives that day, but Gerald Slonecker is not forgotten. 

His name is engraved on the Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery in Manila, Philippines.

Newspaper clipping of Gerald Slonecker’s death. Ancestry Clasroom.
Gerald Slonecker’s parents were told that their son was lost at sea and presumed dead, June 24, 1945. The Idaho Statesman.
Gerald Slonecker’s name on the World War II Memorial in Moorefield, Nebraska. Ancestry Classroom.
One of the nine survivors of the Arisan Maru, Sergeant Calvin R. Graff, offered this account of the attack, December 4, 1944. National Archives and Records Administration.
Documentation of Gerald C. Slonecker’s death as a Prisoner of War, June 22, 1945. National Archives and Records Administration.
World War II commemoration
Gerald C. Slonecker’s name is engraved on the Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery in Manila, Philippines. American Battle Monuments Commission.
After World War II, the American Legion post in Melba, Idaho, was renamed the Divin-Slonecker Post, March 26, 1966. Idaho Free Press.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

“17 Young Idahoans Enlist in Army. The Idaho Statesman [Boise, ID], September 26, 1940. Newspapers.com (723153784).

“Army Lists Two Idaho Men Among Jap Captives.” The Idaho Statesman [Boise, ID], April 3, 1943. Newspapers.com (723219671).

The Butte. Melba High School, 1942.

The Butte. Melba High School, 1943.

The Butte. Melba High School, 1944.

“County Correspondence.” The Curtis Enterprise [Curtis, NE], June 14, 1945. Newspapers.com (672541131). 

“Eagle Went Down on Ship.” The Idaho Statesman [Boise, ID], June 24, 1945. Newspapers.com (723468775).

Gerald C. Slonecker. Individual Deceased Personnel File, Department of the Army. National Archives and Records Administration – St. Louis

Gerald C. Slonecker. Official Military Personnel File (partial), Department of the Army. National Archives and Records Administration – St. Louis.

Gerald C. Slonecker. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946. https://ancestryclassroom.com.

Idaho. Canyon County. 1940 U.S. Census. Digital images. https://ancestryclassroom.com.

“Legion Post Given Photos of Soldiers.” Idaho Free Press [Nampa, ID], March 26, 1966. https://ancestryclassroom.com.

“Melba Soldier Reported Dead.” Newspaper clipping. https://ancestryclassroom.com.

Moorefield Honor Roll. Photograph. 2018. https://ancestryclassroom.com.

Nebraska. Frontier County. 1930 U.S. Census. Digital images. https://ancestryclassroom.com.

Nebraska. Lincoln County.  1920 U.S. Census. Digital images. https://ancestryclassroom.com.

Secondary Sources

Bachman, J. R. Story of the Amalgamated Sugar Company, 1897-1961. Amalgamated Sugar Company, 1962.

“Gerald C. Slonecker.” American Battle Monuments Commission. Accessed November 22, 2024. https://www.abmc.gov/decedent-search/slonecker%3Dgerald.

“Gerald C. Slonecker.” Find a Grave. Updated August 8, 2010. Accessed November 22, 2024. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56763455/gerald-c.-slonecke.

Gladwin, Lee A. “American POWs on a Japanese Ship Take a Voyage into Hell.” Prologue 35 (no. 4), Winter 2003. https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/winter/hell-ships.

“Gowen Field Has Served Idaho Since WWII.” Idaho State Journal [Pocatello, ID], March 29, 2015. https://www.idahostatejournal.com/members/gowen-field-has-served-idaho-since-wwii/article_5869a34e-d63a-11e4-b402-8f0752f6ec3e.html.

“Information on Moorefield, Frontier County.” Village of Moorfield, Nebraska. Accessed January 17, 2025. https://www.citydirectory.us/village-moorefield-nebraska.html. 

“John Timothy Slonecker.” Find a Grave. Updated March 9, 2009. Accessed November 22, 2024. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/34631693/john_timothy_slonecker.

Moffat, Riley. Population History of Idaho 1863-1980. Brigham Young University-Idaho, 1980.

“U.S. Casualties and Burials at Cabanatuan POW Camp #1.” Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. Accessed April 25, 2025. https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/WWII/Cabanatuan.

“World War II Postcards.” The Jive Bomber. Accessed April 28, 2025. https://thejivebombers.com/2018/06/04/world-war-ii-postcards/.

This profile was researched and created through the Researching Silent Heroes program, sponsored by the American Battle Monuments Commission.