A little known piece of WW II history

A very dear old family friend now gone told stories of his time as a Japanese POW. We were 12 yrs old or close to it when he shared his survivorship. To him and so many others Christ was their salvation. They held church services, song, and scripture via morse code, which held their minds and hearts together. Through time many of POWs faltered to the stain of torture, hard labor, little food and water, and unsanitary conditions with most of them not ever returning home. He shared his torture experiences with us youth in vivid detail even how he was made to not ever father children. I can still hear him sing in church louder than any other soul in the congregation and he did so because he needed to show his praise to God and be heard. Arduous as his trials may have been he never spoke lowly of the japanese soldiers who committed the inhuman acts but of the situation and how he and his fellow soldiers maintained their self integrity through faith and morse code fellowship which was as he explained the most formidable weapon against the Japanese empire.
 
A very dear old family friend now gone told stories of his time as a Japanese POW. We were 12 yrs old or close to it when he shared his survivorship. To him and so many others Christ was their salvation. They held church services, song, and scripture via morse code, which held their minds and hearts together. Through time many of POWs faltered to the stain of torture, hard labor, little food and water, and unsanitary conditions with most of them not ever returning home. He shared his torture experiences with us youth in vivid detail even how he was made to not ever father children. I can still hear him sing in church louder than any other soul in the congregation and he did so because he needed to show his praise to God and be heard. Arduous as his trials may have been he never spoke lowly of the japanese soldiers who committed the inhuman acts but of the situation and how he and his fellow soldiers maintained their self integrity through faith and morse code fellowship which was as he explained the most formidable weapon against the Japanese empire.
Guys like that are heroes.
 
I didn't know about them either. Thanks feddoc.

"Since MacArthur’s headquarters had been on Corregidor, it had a better food supply until they were surrendered on May 6 1942."

I knew that MacArthur was secretly whisked away one night on a submarine right before the fall of Corregidor leaving the rest of his men to fend for themselves. And then he made a big photo op later when he returned by wading ashore. Some hero.
 
I think MacArther escaped on a PT boat leaving Wainright to fend for himself and those left behind. When he returned he staged his return and had it repeated several times for a photo op. Those men were all heroes and paid a horrible price for our freedom. My next door neighbor when I was a kid in Grand Junction had survived the Bataan death march.....Horrible. Now many are giving away those freedoms with no idea of the price that has been paid or how valuable these freedoms are.
 
Not to change the subject too much but I personally knew Bill Nellist who was a Alamo Scout in the Pacific theater. The Alamo Scouts were in on several raids that rescued Allies from Japanese prison camps.


 
I think MacArther escaped on a PT boat leaving Wainright to fend for himself and those left behind. When he returned he staged his return and had it repeated several times for a photo op. Those men were all heroes and paid a horrible price for our freedom. My next door neighbor when I was a kid in Grand Junction had survived the Bataan death march.....Horrible. Now many are giving away those freedoms with no idea of the price that has been paid or how valuable these freedoms are.
Yup, Mac escaped by PT Boat to Mindanao where he, his Wife and Son, and his staff boarded a B-17 bomber for the flight to Australia.
 
My uncle in Grand Junction was in a submarine and my father was a tail gunner on a B-17 which had the shortest life span of any position on the plane. My other Uncle was a prisoner of war in the battle of the bulge. Yes the greatest generation ever, but my dad or Uncles never talked about it much.
 

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