Sex
Male
Status
Deceased
Merchant sailor with a Norwegian background, but apparently a naturalized U.S. citizen. Captured when Hong Kong capitulated to the Japanese military in December 25, 1941. Sent to Sham Shui Po POW camp, where he apparently joined up with the American crew of the Admiral Y.S. Williams, though it does not appear that he was a member of the crew of this ship. What ship he came from is unknown. Liberated in September 1945 and repatriated to the United States with the crew of the Admiral Y.S. Williams.
Comments
Re: Name of Merchant Seaman
His name may be Severin Thorsen. He is listed under "Ship Unknown" in : http://www.usmm.org/pownames.html
Thorsen also appears in : http://www.hongkongwardiary.com/searchgarrison/rnandraf.html under "Unallocated Merchant Service".
More on Severin Thorsen
Thank you, Moddsey! Once I had the correct spelling of the name, I was able to find Severin Thorsen in one of the Sham Shui Po prisoner rosters as well as his POW card. It's still not clear what ship he belonged to, but at least we know now that he was in the SSP camp, and apparently teamed up with the crew of the Admiral Y.S. Williams.