American POWs in World War II

These accounts describe the battle and POW experiences of twelve American military men captured by either Germany or Japan during World War II. Brutality, frostbite, disease, hunger, strenuous working conditions, and the jubilation of release are presented in the words of the soldiers, who describe such events as the Bataan Death March, the battle for Wake Island, D-Day, and the Battle of the Bulge and vividly portray the camps where they watched their comrades in arms suffer and perish. The book also features photographs, maps, camp lists, and POW regulations.

Harry Spiller is the author of 18 books and numerous magazine articles. He served for 10 years in the U.S. Marine Corps with two tours in Vietnam. He also served as sheriff of Williamson County, Illinois, and retired as an associate professor of criminal justice from John A. Logan College. He lives in Marion, Illinois.

Harry Spiller
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 244
Bibliographic Info: 26 photos, maps, appendices, index
Copyright Date: 2009
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4275-1
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5373-3
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii
Introduction      1

1. Gunnery Sergeant Edward Sturgeon
Captured While in Defense of Wake Island      7
2. Sergeant Alvel L. Stricklin
Captured During the Battle of the Bulge      29
3. Technical Sergeant Thomas Harold Boardman
Captured During a Bombing Mission Over Germany      37
4. Private Benjamin Dunn
Captured on Java Island During the Japanese Invasion      44
5. Sergeant William Robert Carr
Captured After Being Shot Down on a Bombing Mission Over Germany      70
6. Corporal Kenneth M. Smith
Captured During the Battle of the Bulge      79
7. Sergeant Charles Branum
Captured During the Fall of Bataan      94
8. Technical Sergeant Gordon K. Butts
Shot Down Over Mostar, Yugoslavia, During an Air Raid      112
9. Staff Sergeant Edwin Douglass, Jr.
Captured in Nancy, France      130
10. Corporal Ralph L. Lape, Sr.
Captured During the Japanese Invasion of the Philippines      143
11. Lieutenant Thomas J. Hart
Captured During an Offensive in Burma After Being Left for Dead      155
12. Staff Sergeant R. L. Hulsey
Captured After Being Shot Down Over Solingen, Germany      170

Appendix A. Japanese Prisoner of War Camps, 1941–1945      179
Appendix B. Locations of German Prison Camps      190
Appendix C. German Regulations Concerning Prisoners of War      193
Index      223