Prisoner Of The Rising Sun

Hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese forces launched a devastating attack on U.S. troops in the Philippines. In May 1942, after months of battle with no reinforcements and no hope of victory, the remaining American forces, holed up on the tiny island of Corregidor, suffered a humiliating defeat, and 11,000 fighting men became prisoners of war in the largest American capitulation since Appomattox. Those lucky enough to survive the brutal conditions of their captivity remained imprisoned until General MacArthur returned to the Philippines in 1945.

A never-before-published account of the experience of an American officer at the hands of Japanese captors, Prisoner of the Rising Sun offers new evidence of the treatment accorded officers and shows how the Corregidor prisoners fared compared with the ill-fated Bataan captives. When Japanese aircraft struck airfields in the Philippines on December 8, 1941, Col. Lewis C. Beebe was Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s chief supply officer. Promoted to brigadier general, he would become chief of staff for General Wainwright in early March, 1942. From his privileged vantage point, Beebe kept diary records of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, their advance to Manila and capture of the Bataan Peninsula, and their assault on Corregidor. On May 6, Japanese troops assaulted Corregidor and secured the island in less than twelve hours. Beebe was among those captured and held prisoner until the end of the war in the Pacific, more than four years later. During his captivity, Beebe managed to keep a diary in which he recorded the relatively benign treatment he and his fellow officers received (at least in comparison with the horrific conditions described in the better-known accounts of less high-ranking POWs held by the Japanese elsewhere). He reports on poor rations, less than adequate medical care, and field work in camps in the Philippines, on Taiwan, and in Manchuria. He also describes the sometimes greedy and selfish behavior of his fellow captives, as well as a lighter side of camp life that included work on a novel, singing, POW concerts, and Red Cross visits. His philosophy demanded that captivity should be borne with optimism and self-respect. Annotation and an epilogue by General Beebe’s son, Rev. John M. Beebe, add details about his military career, and an informative introduction by historian Stanley L. Falk places the diary in the context of the broader American experience of captivity at the hands of the Japanese. The diary itself not only provides new details of the treatment of officers by the Japanese army, but also offers a glimpse into the psyche of one of the members of the Greatest Generation who transformed his captivity by using it to sort out what was most important in life.

During his time as a POW, Frank "Foo" Fujita kept a diary of daily happenings, embellished with drawings of life in the camp. He secreted the diary in the walls of his barracks, as the practice was forbidden. That diary forms the basis of these memoirs. Fujita's memoirs are also unique in that he was one of the fewer than nine hundred Americans taken prisoner on the island of Java. The bulk of American POWs in Japanese hands surrendered in the Philippines, and most of the published POW memoirs reflect their experience. Fujita's account of the defense of Java and of the fate of the "Lost Battalion" of Texas artillerymen serves to distinguish this memoir from others. At one point while a POW in Japan, Fujita was forced to be part of the Japanese radio group broadcasting propaganda. After the war, he testified at some of the war crime trials in San Francisco, and the diary on which this book is based was used as evidence in those trials.

Mario Machi survived one of the most terrible episodes in World War II. UNDER THE RISING SUN is his account of that experience. An Army private, Machi was in Manila when the Japanese attacked the Philippines in December, 1941. With the help of a diary that has miraculously survived, Machi relives the heroic campaign by the abandoned "Bastards of Bataan" to defend the Philippines. Upon surrender, Machi became part of the notorious Bataan Death March, a brutal forced march in which thousands of prisoners died. With telling detail & flashes of humor, UNDER THE RISING SUN describes the Death March, Machi's life during three years of near starvation while a prisoner of the Japanese, his liberation, & finally, many years later, his return to the Philippines. As a result of the help he gave other prisoners, Mario Machi was awarded the Bronze Star. Now he has told his story, & as Harold Stephens states in his introduction, "UNDER THE RISING SUN stands as witness to the values that sustained the author on his terrible journey...& we are all made the richer for it." UNDER THE RISING SUN contains photographs. Available from Wolfenden, P.O. Box 789, Miranda, CA 95553; 707-923-2455.

On May 6, Japanese troops assaulted Corregidor and secured the island in less than twelve hours. Beebe was among those captured and held prisoner until the end of the war in the Pacific, more than four years later."

Late in 1940, the young men of the 2nd Battalion, 131st Field Artillery Regiment stepped off the trucks at Camp Bowie in Brownwood, Texas, ready to complete the training they would need for active duty in World War II. Many of them had grown up together in Jacksboro, Texas, and almost all of them were eager to face any challenge. Just over a year later, these carefree young Texans would be confronted by horrors they could never have imagined. The battalion was en route to bolster the Allied defense of the Philippines when they received news of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. Soon, they found themselves ashore on Java, with orders to assist the Dutch, British, and Australian defense of the island against imminent Japanese invasion. When war came to Java in March 1942, the Japanese forces overwhelmed the numerically inferior Allied defenders in little more than a week. For more than three years, the Texans, along with the sailors and marines who survived the sinking of the USS Houston, were prisoners of the Imperial Japanese Army. Beginning in late 1942, these prisoners-of-war were shipped to Burma to accelerate completion of the Burma-Thailand railway. These men labored alongside other Allied prisoners and Asian conscript laborers to build more than 260 miles of railroad for their Japanese taskmasters. They suffered abscessed wounds, near-starvation, daily beatings, and debilitating disease, and 89 of the original 534 Texans taken prisoner died in the infested, malarial jungles. The survivors received a hero’s welcome from Gov. Coke Stevenson, who declared October 29, 1945, as “Lost Battalion Day” when they finally returned to Texas. Kelly E. Crager consulted official documentary sources of the National Archives and the U.S. Army and mined the personal memoirs and oral history interviews of the “Lost Battalion” members. He focuses on the treatment the men received in their captivity and surmises that a main factor in the battalion’s comparatively high survival rate (84 percent of the 2nd Battalion) was the comraderie of the Texans and their commitment to care for each other. This narrative is grueling, yet ultimately inspiring. Hell under the Rising Sun will be a valuable addition to the collections of World War II historians and interested general readers alike.

A writer of rare imagination, Sarah Ash lends her unique vision to epic fantasy. In this captivating continuation of her saga, the author of Lord of Snow and Shadows revisits a realm filled with spirits and singers, daemons and kings. . . . Gavril Nagarian has finally cast out the dragon-daemon from within himself. The Drakhaoul is gone—and with it all of Gavril’s fearsome powers. No longer possessed, he is instead being driven mad by the Drakhaoul’s absence. Worse, he has betrayed his blood, his people, and put the ice-bound princedom of Azhkendir at risk—and lost.At the mercy of the victorious Eugene of Tielen, Gavril is sentenced to life in an insane asylum. For the power-hungry Eugene longs to possess a Drakhaoul of his own, and his prisoner seems the best way to achieve that goal. Meanwhile, a shattered empire reunites. But peace is as fragile as a rebel’s whisper—and a captive’s wish to be free. . . . Praise for Prisoner of the Iron Tower “A new fantasy series [that] will leave readers drooling to get their hands on the sequel.”—Publishers Weekly “Solid, wonderful fantasy, sparkling and imaginative!”—Booklist “Ash takes her large and colorful cast of characters from horror to pathos, from triumph to betrayal, smoothly and convincingly. a roller-coaster ride of events and emotions in the best modern fantasy manner.”—Kirkus Reviews

A memoir of serving in prewar Hong Kong, being held prisoner by the Japanese, and surviving slave labor. This is the story of a young man thrust into the Royal Navy in distant Hong Kong. With both drama and humor, he relates some of the situations in which he found himself—and provides a realistic account of what life was like for servicemen in prewar Hong Kong. Prisoner of the Rising Sun describes the prelude to war from his point of view, and his part in the Battle for Hong Kong. There follows the story of what happened to him when taken prisoner, and life and death in prison camps in Hong Kong and Japan. It tells what it was like to be shipped to Japan in the hold of Japanese merchant men, in constant fear of being torpedoed. In Japan, he and his fellow prisoners were used as slave labor. Treatment was harsh and brutal and although many of them died, the Japanese never broke the spirit of the survivors. The author explains how it felt to be a prisoner working in a Japanese factory when a major earthquake struck. He also relates what it was like to be on the receiving end of a B29 fire raid and what the Japanese did to downed American airmen. In August 1945, he saw the Japanese bow before loudspeakers and although he did not realize it then, he heard the Japanese Emperor announce the surrender of Japan. He also includes a heartfelt tribute to the efficiency and kindness of the American forces that got him out and on his way home.

During the first Palestinian uprising in 1990, Jeffrey Goldberg – an American Jew – served as a guard at the largest prison camp in Israel. One of his prisoners was Rafiq, a rising leader in the PLO. Overcoming their fears and prejudices, the two men began a dialogue that, over more than a decade, grew into a remarkable friendship. Now an award-winning journalist, Goldberg describes their relationship and their confrontations over religious, cultural, and political differences; through these discussions, he attempts to make sense of the conflicts in this embattled region, revealing the truths that lie buried within the animosities of the Middle East.