"Surviving the Lisbon Maru"
Often described as ‘Britain’s Forgotten Wartime Tragedy’, the Lisbon Maru atrocity is one of the least known incidents in World War II history, yet 828 British POWs perished in the ‘friendly fire’ sinking by a US submarine. Little wonder then that Lisbon Maru survivors suffered from varying degrees of ‘Survivor Guilt’, a psychological condition in which survivors of a catastrophe are filled with feelings of unworthiness and agonise over why it was they who survived while so many others didn’t.
One such survivor was Royal Artillery Sergeant Andrew Salmon who, towards the end of his life was consumed with a desire to memorialise his comrades-in-arms who didn’t survive. His personal aim was to write a book to help publicise the Lisbon Maru and, in a pre-internet age, he laboriously gathered written experiences from fellow survivors by letter to properly document their suffering. Unfortunately, Andrew passed away before it was completed.
The 2024 film “The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru” stimulated increased interest in the tragedy and his son, Ken Salmon, was urged by family, friends, and members of the Lisbon Maru community to complete the book. To provide a broader context, Ken expanded the book to include a window into the life of his father, adding detail from his formative years in the East End of London, through his experiences in Osaka POW Camp in Japan, to his post-war career in Hong Kong, and eventual retirement ‘back home’ to the UK – a country he had not been resident in for the preceding 40 years.
The Lisbon Maru was without doubt the most dramatic episode in his life and Andrew has written eloquently about his, and the experiences of others, despite the pain of recalling the sufferings and life-threatening events of that day in October 1942 off the coast of China in the East China Sea.
That Andrew was able to lead a successful life after his war experiences is a testament to his mental fortitude and this book helps to understand the contrasting forms that humanity takes during wartime, from the Japanese military deliberately entombing POWS in a sinking ship and shooting at POWs in the sea, to Chinese fishermen from the Zhoushan archipelago in flimsy sampans rescuing floundering POWs at great personal risk.
Some years ago, the UK Daily Mail newspaper asked “Was this the Most Heinous Warcrime Committed by the Japanese in World War II?”. There can be few, if any, incidents worse than the Lisbon Maru. This book will help readers to make up their own minds.