Personal Narratives
Title
Personal Narratives
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Collection Items
We remember Bataan and Corregidor : the story of the American & Filipino defenders of Bataan and Corregidor and their captivity / Mariano Villarin
Partly a personal memoir and a researched account, this work compiles the experiences of both Americans and Filipinos in the defense of the Philippines and the Japanese occupation, giving emphasis on the prisoner of war ordeal.
Villarin was one…
Villarin was one…
Wartime recollections / Esteban Bernido.
Personal memoir of a college student called to the colors in September 1941. Assigned to the 61st Infantry Regiment in Miag-ao, Iloilo as a company commander, Bernido recounts his experiences in combat in Mindanao, getting separated from his unit,…
They never surrendered : a true story of resistance in World War II / by Col. Jesus A. Villamor; as told to Gerald S. Synder; with an introduction by John Toland.
Villamor was the top Filipino fighter pilot before and during the war. He commanded the 6th Pursuit Squadron of the Philippine Army Air Corps, equipped with obsolete P-26 fighters. Despite the suicidal odds, he led his squadron against modern…
Surviving the day : an American POW in Japan / Frank J. Grady & Rebecca Dickson
Frank Grady (a Captain at that time) was with the US Army’s cryptographic department in the Philippines in 1941 until the surrender of Corregidor. He was responsible for encoding and decoding all the important messages sent to and from Manila and…
Courage on Bataan and beyond : memories of an American POW who was a slave of the Japanese during WWII for 3 1/2 years / by Abel Ortega, Jr. ; foreword by Duane Heisinger.
Account of an American Bataan veteran and POW as recorded and written by his son. Abel Sr. was in the 192nd Tank Battalion which was sent to the Philippines just before war broke out. He talks briefly about his experiences in the defense of the…
Journey through hell : memoir of a World War II American navy medic captured in the Philippines & imprisoned by the Japanese / by Loren E. Stamp ; with a foreword by Robert Thompson
The author of this book was a US Navy Pharmacist’s Mate assigned to Cañacao Naval Hospital in Cavite and slated to return to the US on December 8, 1941.
The outbreak of war cancelled his orders, and instead he stayed on in the Philippines,…
The outbreak of war cancelled his orders, and instead he stayed on in the Philippines,…
No Uncle Sam : the forgotten of Bataan / Tony Bilek, in collaboration with Gene O'Connell
Bilek joined the US Army Air Corps in 1940 and was assigned to the 2nd Observation Squadron based at Clark Field. He was an eyewitness to the bombing of the field on the first day of the war, and subsequently saw action in Bataan. Like many survivors…
Looking back : a Wyoming rancher remembers the 11th Airborne and the raid on Los Baños / by Henry A. Burgess ; with editing by Barbara Ketcham
Henry Burgess was a leader of the raid on Los Baños in the Philippines, which liberated 2,147 prisoners, mostly American civilians imprisoned by the Japanese for over three years.
Flashbacks : prisoner of war in the Philippines / T. Walter Middleton ; foreword by Ralph Roberts
Middleton was drafted in 1941 and sent to the Philippines as a member of the 803rd Engineer Battalion. He was at Del Carmen airfield when the war broke out, and was moved to Bataan to build airfields for planes that never came. He was among those who…
Captured on Corregidor : diary of an American P.O.W. in World War II / by John M. Wright, Jr.
Personal memoir of a professional US Army officer (a West Point graduate) who was an artillery officer on Corregidor. He begins his story with the surrender, and early days in Camp O’Donnell and Cabanatuan. He and several other prisoners from…