Bataan Death March and POW Oral Histories
Even though I was only four years old, I remember watching him blink. Unlike everyone else, Paul* blinked by squeezing both eyes shut, then opening them a second later. He was a survivor of the Battle of Bataan, the Bataan Death March, and more than three years as a POW. During those three years, he lived in appalling conditions and suffered many bouts of torture. After he was freed, he returned to his home in our small Mississippi farming community.
While other adults greeted me and would talk with me, Paul never said a word to anyone that I ever heard. His sister, whom he followed around like a puppy, explained to me about Paul’s service and gave me an edited version of his time in the Philippines. She told me that, once he was captured, the Japanese had confined him to a tiny room with an exposed light bulb hanging down, which was never turned off, day or night. She spared me the stories of the rest of the tortures. There must have been others, even as young as I was, I knew he had gone through some terrible experiences. Physically, he looked no different than any other man his age. Mentally, he was in his own world.
Only a few residents had TVs in those days, and even fewer had air conditioning. On nicer evenings, friends and neighbors would stop by and visit, sitting on screened-in front porches, hoping for a cooling breeze. Sometimes someone would get up a game of Canasta, other times the adults would sit and talk about the events of the day. Paul didn’t participate. He just sat there quietly smoking cigarettes. When his sister was ready to go, he would get up and follow her out the door.
Even at age four, I had heard of World War II. My dad was a decorated combat veteran, as were many of my male relatives and our family friends. But there was something about Paul, just sitting quietly in a chair, that made a deep impression on me. Even now, as I write this, I begin to feel emotional.
The Bataan Death March video, Guests of the Empire
In Paul’s memory, I am proud to share with you a video of oral histories of US military medical personnel who became prisoners of war while in the Philippines. It’s titled Guests of the Empire, which may be the best use of sarcasm ever. I hope you will watch it all the way through. Click on the thumbnail at the top of this post to view it. (runtime 33:56).
This is the second in a multi-part series on oral histories of US Navy personnel. You can read the first one, Pearl Harbor Oral Histories of US Navy Personnel, here.
*I’ve changed his name to protect his privacy.
Did you arrive here via a search engine? I am the author of the forthcoming book Heroes By The Hundreds: The Story of the USS Franklin (CV-13). In addition to writing about the bravery of the crews that saved her, I will discuss the lessons we can learn in leadership and decision-making, and the changes the US Navy made because of those lessons.
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-Glenn
