Free Republic

Thanks for your reply and the information about Virgil McCollum and Maj. Smothers. McCollum, like Smothers, was sent to a so-called "hospital" after they arrived in Japan. Of 110 sent there, only 36 survived the war. You may know this, but if not, a deposition by Maj. McCollum is available online:
http://www.oryokumaru.net/amstatements.htm
Perhaps the best description of events at the "Moji Hospital" is from Cecil Peart. His diary can be found here: http://www.loc.gov/vets/stories/pow-japan.html

I too would like to see a hellship movie but I don't think political correctness is the limiting factor. Rather, the whole experience was simply too horrible in every way to make a good movie.
A couple of corrections. About 550 men survived the three ships to Japan and ~400 of 1620 survived the war. (You can find their names at http://people.tamu.edu/~jwerickson/POW/OMrosterguide.html)
Maj. Smothers survived to Japan but died on a ferry while being transferred from Japan to Manchuria in April 1945.

To follow up, as Gator Navy said, your Uncle 2nd Lt. H***** H. G******* survived the Oryoku Maru, Brazil Maru, and Enoura Maru on the 49 day journey to Japan. Lt. G******* was sent with 192 others to Fukuoka camp #1. He and ~140 other survivors were sent to Inchon Korea in late April 45 and your uncle was liberated from there.

Tomorrow, 9 Jan 2006, is the 60th anniversary of one of the most terrible events in the entire journey. The bombing of the Enoura Maru in Takao harbor (now Kaohsiung), Formosa. The bombing ultimately cost more than 400 allied lives. The Taiwan POW memorial society will hold a memorial service. From their website:
The Society will remember the Enoura Maru and the men who suffered and died that day with a special memorial service to be held at Kaohsiung Harbour on January 9th – the 60th Anniversary of that tragic event. Following the service on the pier, a wreath will be laid on the water in the harbour over the place where the ship was anchored at the time it was bombed. We invite friends and loved ones to join with us – in person or in spirit – to remember the men and the events of that day.