Lost in Action

“Lost in action,” a term used to account for soldiers last seen in combat but not identified as killed or captured, was applied to the author for years following his capture by Japanese in the Philippines after the fall of Bataan. The three and a half years after capture were a time of torture and slave labor. At war’s end the author weighed 95 pounds, down from his normal 160. A year was spent in military hospitals before he was fit to return to normal activities.

The late Dick Bilyeu went on to serve in Korea and retired from the army in 1961 as a chief warrant officer. He lived in North Highlands, California.

Dick Bilyeu
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 351
Bibliographic Info:
Copyright Date: 2012 [1991]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6724-2
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8772-1
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments      vii
Foreword      xi
Introduction      xiii

1. Under hostile fire      1
2. Digging in      7
3. Assignment with Philippine Army in Bataan      15
4. Last ditch stand      32
5. Hopes for evacuation dashed      36
6. No unit, no ship, no help and no hope      40
7. Stragglers uniting to defend their lives      41
8. Last hours for the battling bastards of Bataan      53
9. Confusion and capture      64
10. Into the jungle      66
11. March into hell      73
12. The train to Capas 9      3
13. A time to look back      101
14. First day in a concentration camp      103
15. Disposing of the dead      107
16. Making an effort to comprehend man’s inhumanity to man      114
17. Return to Manila Bay      116
18. Search for silver 13      5
19. Pumping station on Corregidor 13      8
20. Plans for escape      142
21. First sight of old Bilibid Prison      148
22. Another train ride      151
23. Clark Field      154
24. The pits      162
25. Leaving Clark Field      166
26. Return to Bilibid Prison – driving detail      167
27. First time at the main camp-Cabanatuan      178
28. Alert for movement out of the Philippines      183
29. Assembly for trip away from the war zone      202
30. Loss of dignity, loss of pride and loss of life      210
31. Down from the mountain. Last leg of the journey      226
32. Moji, Japan      236
33. Loss of a dear friend      239
34. Yet another train      242
35. New experience, new detail and intrigue      253
36. Warmer weather and hotter war in Japan      272
37. The cave-in      280
38. Hotter war—increased torture      284
39. The price of stealing from a victory garden      288
40. Moving again and the bomb—hysteria and revenge      294
41. Food from the sky      322
42. It is over      327

“must read”—Military.