POW-83 : the powerful true story of what really happened to American prisoners of war in the Japanese death camps in the Philippines during World War II and of one man's struggle to survive at the hands of his brutal captors / by John W. Wallace

POW-83 : the powerful true story of what really happened to American prisoners of war in the Japanese death camps in the Philippines during World War II and of one man's struggle to survive at the hands of his brutal captors / by John W. Wallace

Prisoners of war--Philippines.

Prisoners of war--United States.

Wallace, John W., Lt. Col.

World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American.

World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, Japanese.

This book is the biography of Pfc. John Mackowski, who was drafted into the US Army in 1940, and sent to the Philippines to become a member of the 803rd Engineers. Half of the book covers his youth, training in the army, arrival and pre-war life in the Philippines, service in Bataan and Corregidor; the remaining half narrates how he survived being a prisoner-of-war in Bilibid, Camp O’Donnell, Davao, and finally being transported on the Shinyo Maru hell ship. The ship was sunk by an American submarine on September 7, 1944, but Mackowski, along with 82 other POWs, managed to survive and made it to shore, where guerrillas rescued him. A few weeks later, the survivors were evacuated to Australia on board the submarine USS Narwhal.

The author, a retired police officer, knew Mackowski personally; he includes statements from other survivors, photographs, and a list of all who survived the ship's sinking.

Wallace, John W.

Chatham, New York : The Gray Rider Pub., c1999

1999

23 x 16 cm.

Softbound

967373301

D 805 .J3 W298 1999

13698

264 p.