This Military Service Page was created/owned by
Nicole Summers, MMFN
to remember
Ambro, Eugene Allan, PhM2c.
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Casualty Info
Home Town Erie, PA
Last Address Erie, PA
Casualty Date Oct 24, 1944
Cause MIA-Died in Captivity
Reason Other Explosive Device
Location Pacific Ocean
Conflict World War II
Location of Interment Manila American Cemetery and Memorial - Manila, Philippines
Wall/Plot Coordinates (cenotaph)
Official Badges
Unofficial Badges
Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Stationed aboard the submarine tender USS Canopus (AS-9), it received severe damage when hit by heavy bombers on December 29, 1941. She was later scuttled off Manila Bay rather than face capture by the enemy. Her crew was used in the defense of Bataan and Corregidor. A large number of her crew died in the Philippine Islands, during transport to POW camps in Japan, or in the camps themselves. PH2 Ambro died when the ship Arisan Maru, transporting Allied Prisoners of War from the Philippines to Japan, was sunk by USS Shark (SS-314).
Comments/Citation:
Service number: 2431643
Prisoner of War Medal
Awarded for actions during World War II
Service: Navy
Rank: Pharmacist's Mate Second Class
Division: Prisoner of War (Philippine Islands and Japan)
General Orders: NARA Database: Records of World War II Prisoners of War, created, 1942 - 1947
Citation: Pharmacist's Mate Second Class Eugene Allan Ambro (NSN: 2431643), United States Navy, a former crewman of the U.S.S. CANOPUS (AS-9), was captured by the Japanese after the fall of Corregidor, Philippine Islands, on 6 May 1942, and was held as a Prisoner of War until his death while in captivity.
On January 7, 1836 the Chelsea Naval Hospital was completed and commissioned. Located on a hill on the banks of the Mystic River in Chelsea, MA, it is 112 feet (34 m) above sea level. The original building was built of Vermont granite. The hospital was a three story building with a 100 bed capacity. A wing was added on the west side of the building in 1865.
Chelsea Naval Hospital was one of the first three hospitals authorized by Congress to accommodate naval personnel. Previously, personnel received treatment at marine hospitals operated by the Department of the Treasury for mariners, both naval and merchant. The hospital served naval personnel and others during the American Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I and World War II.
In 1970, a plaque in remembrance of Medal of Honor recipient Wayne Maurice Caron, a hospital corpsman, was placed on the grounds of the hospital. In 1973, the hospital and the surrounding grounds were added to the Naval Hospital Boston Historic District.
When it was decommissioned in 1974, it was the oldest naval hospital in service in the United States and consisted of 88 acres of land on the Mystic River. Notable patients during the hospital's history include Presidents John Quincy Adams (after his presidency) and John F. Kennedy (before his presidency). The original hospital buildings were converted into condominiums while adjacent land was dotted with single family townhouses and high rise apartment complexes. Still extant are the perimeter wall and guard shack, pier, chapel, ordnance buildings, nurses' quarters, and the Captain's House. In addition to the redevelopment of the housing and hospital portion of the property, several acres on the Mystic River were taken over by the Metropolitan District Commission for Mary O'Malley Park.
