• Ronald was born September 13, 1910, at Massena IA, to Arthur Rodney and Myrtle Hallie Irons Pigg;
• He began schooling in Massena IA, but attended Park Grade School in Omaha and graduated from Technical High School in Omaha in 1928;
• He attended Omaha University for a year but graduated from Iowa State College as a Civil Engineer in 1935;
• He worked for three years after graduation for the Corp of Engineers in the Missouri Valley IA and Rock Island, IL District offices;
• He married Ruth Naomi Stiver on July 2, 1935, in Des Moines, IA
• He was transported in 1939 with U.S. Engineers to Ft. Mills on Corregidor, The Philippines, to reinforce fortifications protecting Manila Harbor in preparation for invasion by Japan;
• He was commissioned Captain in the Corp of Engineers January 6, 1942 ;
• He was awarded the Purple Heart, WWII Victory Medal, & WWII Service Lapel Button;
• The last know communication from Ronald was his censored letter of January 30, 1942, postmarked March 5, 1942, to his parents in Omaha, in which he stated :
“Dear folks: Long time no mail either way. I don’t know how I will ever get this off, but I’ll be optimistic and write while I have a chance. Things have sure happened though, of course, I can’t write about them. But I’ll sure have a bunch of stories to tell you when I get back. I don’t think it will be so terribly long before things pick up around here. I was commissioned a captain in the corp of engineers effective January 6, 1942, and I’m sure getting a workout. Must close as there is nothing to tell you except that we are O.K. here, and assure you that I expect to stay O.K. Tell everyone hello for me, and see to it that we get the tools, weapons and planes we need as there is a war on here-I know-first hand. Take care of yourselves, and don’t worry too much”;
• In the March 11, 1942 Omaha World Herald, Ronald’s father, Arthur Pigg of Omaha, stated, in relation to said letter, that :
“how the US Army or Navy got the letter out of the besieged island, he was a loss to know”.
That question was answered
http://corregidor.org/ca/btty_chicago/chicago.htm in a diary dated February 2, 1942, by Capt. Godfrey R. Ames of Battery “C” 60th C.A. (A.A) (north shore of Corregidor: “Submarine arrived at Corregidor direct from Hawaii, bringing mechanically fused ammunition. C. Btry got most--B Btry some to replace expenditures. Great optimism at Battery C, were now ready to "Give ‘em Hell." Submarine took some mail back to US for us”;
• Ronald was captured May 6, 1942, during invasion by sea of Corregidor by the Japanese;
• He was probably transported to Cabanatuan Prison Camp No. 1, about 80 miles north of Manila, for forced labor, approximately one week after capture ;
• He was probably transported to Bilibid Prison in Manila during week of October 16-21, 1944 ;
• He was then moved from Bilibid Prison in Manila on December 13, 1944, to the Japanese Prisoner Ship Oryoku Maru where 1,619 POWs were placed in three separate holds of the ship for transport to Japan for forced labor;
• The Oryoku Maru was bombed on December 15, 1944, near Olongapo, Luzon, in Subic Bay by U.S. Navy planes from the USS Hornet, killing approximately 210-215 of the POW’s in the holds of the POW ship. U.S. pilots were unaware that the ship held U.S. and Allied POWs. It was this event for which Ronald’s parents were informed that he had been killed. His parents most likely never knew that Ronald had actually not been killed in that bombing, but that he in fact lived through the following ordeal until January 28, 1945, according to diary of Major Arthur Peterson.
• The surviving Oryoku Maru POWs were held for six days on a single tennis court at the former Olongapo Naval Base and then taken by truck to San Fernando, Pampanga. They were then taken by rail to San Fernando, La Union on Lingayan Gulf where they arrived about 2:00 a.m. on Christmas morning 1944;
• On December 27, 1944, the surviving POWs were loaded into the cargo holds of two ships, the Enoura Maru and the Brazil Maru, for the voyage to Takao, Formosa where they arrived on December 31, 1944. On January 6, 1945 the Japanese consolidated all surviving POWs into the holds of the Enoura Maru. On January 9, 1945, the Enoura Maru was still in the harbor at Takao (and moored to the same buoy with a Japanese tanker making them a prime target) when aircraft, again from the USS Hornet, attacked. This time one of the bombs hit the forward hold killing about 350 POWs; On January 13, 1945 all surviving POWs were moved to the Brazil Maru and that ship departed for Japan on January 14, 1945. On the Brazil Maru, POWs died at the rate of up to 50 per day. When the Brazil Maru arrived at Moji, Kyushu, Japan and unloaded its cargo of POWs, only about 425(*) were alive out of 1,619 POWs that began the trip on the Oryoku Maru on December 13, 1944;
• Charles E. Pigg of Atlantic, IA received Notice of Death in a letter dated July 29, 1944, from his brother, Arthur Pigg in Omaha, that Ronald had been killed December 15, 1944, on “that prisoner of war ship”. As stated above, Major Arthur Peterson’s diary disputes that as follows;
• Following is a testimonial by Major Arthur Peterson at
http://www.hellshipsmemorial.org/, who was on Corrigidor and was transported to POW camps as was Ronald. Contrary to a postcard indicating that Ronald had been killed on that POW ship (Oryoko Maru) on December 15, 1944, this officer recorded the following diary entry: “Sunday, January 28, 1945 - Underway at 6 a.m. Deaths increasing. Captains Eichlin and Ronnie Pigg are dead. Also Lt. Col's "Polly" Humber, Bill Maverick, Lt. Wint--- Youngblood, Captains Calvert, and Callaway. Lt. Col. Elvin Barr of the 60th died today. Fed two meals.”
• As late as 2004, Ronald’s Military Service Record noted his “Dates of Service to be January 1, 1942 to December 15, 1944”. Current records, however, including the above mentioned “Erickson list”, now indicate that Ronald died on January 28, 1945, two days before the Brazil Maru reached Japan. The Erickson list may have been based in part on the diary of Major Arthur Peterson mentioned above. That is the date that now appears on Ronald’s current Military Service Record at National Archives, on the American Battle Monument Commission’s Wall of Honor in Manila, and on his headstone in the Massena Iowa cemetery. Thus the confusion as to the date Ronald actually died or was killed and under what circumstances, whether on the Oryoku Maru sinking on December 15, 1944, or of bombing injuries, starvation, suffocation, dysentery, or other diseases on the Oryoku Maru, the Enoura Maru, or the Brazil Maru.