Surrender on Cebu

William D. Miner

Description

Surviving Hell is a harrowing account of Lieutenant Colonel William Miner, taken prisoner for 39 months after his unit surrendered to the Japanese on the island of Cebu, Philippines, during World War II. Despite losing every friend in his unit and suffering from torture and deprivation that would “warp men souls", Bill Miner professed, “I am lucky. People fell beside me and people were blown apart beside me. Anywhere I went as a prisoner, I tried to be aware of the situation and use it the best I could to survive." This fascinating and arresting true story features excerpts from Bill Miner's personal prison diary, which he kept despite the accompanying risk of torture or even death, along with photos and post-war recollections.

Sujets

• Segunda Guerra Mundial
• Biography
• Military
• World War II
• Prisoner of war
• Autobiography
• Seconde Guerre mondiale

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 01 juin 2002
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781681622248
• Langue: English

Extrait

TURNER PUBLISHING COMPANY

Copyright 2001 Lewis A. Miner Publishing Rights: Turner Publishing Company This book or any part thereof may not be reproduced without the written consent of the author and publisher.
Turner Publishing Company Staff: Editor: Dayna Spear Williams Designer: Lyndsi F. Hall
Library of Congress Control Number: 2001096097 ISBN 978-1-56311-711-4
Additional copies may be purchased directly from the publisher. Limited Edition
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Dedication
Foreword
Acknowledgements
Prologue
Student Days At Indiana University.
Fort Hayes
Tenderfoot in the Island
Personnel on Cebu
The War on Cebu
The Surrender
Pow
Diary Excerpts
Rescue From the Japanese in Mukden, Manchuria
Remembering
Epilogue
About the Author
D EDICATION
To my children and grandchildren ... This document contains a copy of the diary which I wrote during events of World War II while I was a Japanese Prisoner of War. I made and kept the diary at the risk of torture and death.
I am giving you a copy of this diary along with my personal accounts, with the hope that you will keep it as a family heirloom and give copies to your children and families...
Lovingly, father and grandfather William Dilworth Miner 1994
F OREWORD
Surrender on Cebu... is a story that has been waiting patiently to be told. The book is a story of Bill Miner during World War II. It is a series of accounts, from May 1941 to October 1945, describing the authors service on the island of Cebu and his subsequent capture and imprisonment by Japanese forces. It is a forceful and disturbing story that encompasses adventure, courage, persecution, death and liberation. The effects of imprisonment for 39 months, with torture and deprivation being central to that imprisonment, are clearly marked. The authors ability to have survived and transcend the experience, and further, to have gone on to a substantial academic career and meaningful retirement are all enormous accomplishments. I am lucky. Bill Miner writes. People fell beside me and people were blown apart beside me. Anywhere I went as a prisoner, I tried to be aware of the situation and use it the best I could to survive.
The author has set forth at some length the people that he encountered during his tour of duty in the Philippines. The people mentioned in this book are factual. He has introduced from time to time elements of individuals personalities and what happened to them. I have endeavored to keep the journal intact as much as possible to clearly reflect what the author had in mind as he experienced events. Some accounts were written down on Japanese toilet paper and carried on the author s person. A small, pocket size memo pad was also used to tally the days of captivity and record events.
In September 1945, the author reflected: I have lost every close friend I had out here - have been through filth, destruction, near death many times, and lived under conditions that would warp men s souls...
Lewis A. Miner
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
Without the time and effort of many people, this book would have never been possible. Beginning with Clara Miner (Bill s wife), in the late 1940s, typed part of the original manuscript, on frail, onion skin paper, using the manual, ribbon typewriter of those days...
I am under deep obligation to my brother, Charles Miner, for his review of the journal and for providing pictures and supporting documentation. My sincere thanks to my sister, Georgia, for providing the original diary. Without it the book would not have been complete.
Thanks to my editor, Dayna Williams, and to Turner Publishing for undertaking this project.
Special thanks to Bill Lair, Carol Kelly-Larson and Jack Robinson for their time, interest and devotion to this work.
I would be remiss not to thank the author for his perseverance in setting down the accounts as they occurred. Rarely does someone get to interact with an historical figure over a long period and be so profoundly influenced by their example. His courage and sacrifice was the inspiration for this book. It would have been a shame for these accounts to be left on a shelf, only to be moved from time to time and eventually be discarded. As I put the final touches to the page, I am subtly reminded of the great sacrifices that he and his fellow soldiers made by the sounds of his grand children playing in the yard. On this day, no bombs are falling from the sky and no invading army threatens their well being. Thank you, Dad!
Finally, thanks go to my family. My wife Lynn was very patient with me as I poured over the text night after night and ran out to get photos made on the spur of the moment. She never failed to lend me her time and attention. It would be difficult for me to convey to her how much inspiration I draw from her love and her support of me.
Lewis A. Miner Knoxville, TN
P ROLOGUE
The spring of 1941 was portentous of coming events. Already the war in Europe had reached critical stages. Germany had overrun all of western Europe except Spain and Turkey, the former was pro-axis and the latter strictly neutral. The German forces in Russia had penetrated almost to Moscow and the battle of Stalingrad was fluctuating day by day. In Britain the air arm was blitzing as wide a swath of destruction in a series of Coventry Raids as her ground troops were in Russia.
In the United States Roosevelt was getting the Lend-Lease Program under way with much opposition. The Selective Service Act of 1940 was slowly getting under way. Senators Burton K. Wheeler and Gerald Nye were gratifying their ego for prominence and sowing seeds of shame by becoming leaders for a policy of Isolationism when they had the chance to be leaders of a Cooperation for National Defense movement. Any clear thinking citizen could see what was in the air; why these men, supposedly leaders and statesmen, could be so blind I ll never understand. Those two men by their hindrance to national defense are responsible for more dead and wounded American soldiers than any other Americans at home or in the field. Soldiers were using trucks marked Tanks in Army training, throwing stones as substitutes for hand grenades, you know the rest of the story.
The public in general was doing a lot of wishful hoping and desperately shutting its ears and eyes to cold facts that the last remaining great power, the US, would sooner or later be forced into the war. Americans have had such an easy life in the last two generations that they have developed the philosophical characteristic of shutting their minds to unpleasant situations and letting somebody else work the situation out for them, that is, until the situation gets personal, then they go into action.
On the Indiana University campus life was pretty sedate and untouched by the outside momentous events soon to affect the entire campus. A few of the men students were complaining because they would have to go into the Army via draft in June 1941.
Steven Skalskie, 1941, when asked what he was going to do on graduation, replied he was going to work for a commercial company. The young man was an ROTC graduate, so I asked him what about going into the Army and being in on the ground floor, as a war was coming. Hell! he replied, the war and the Army are the least of my worries.
Rovert Schilling, 1941, when asked his opinion of the nearness of war, remarked that he hoped to spend next Christmas at home.
Robert Irrnann, a graduate student in history, said I don t see how it can be avoided, but we can hope for the best.
Dennis Volonopolo, also a graduate student in history, said, Let s worry about it if it comes.
In general it seemed that the people, even the thinking people, were prone to shut their minds to the fact that war was inevitable. Instead of preparing for events that common sense and logic told them were inevitable and soon to come, they chose to prepare for the situation after the horse had been stolen.
S TUDENT D AYS AT I NDIANA U NIVERSITY
From a much more personal standpoint spring and final exams were in the campus air by May 15. On returning from classes at noon, Thursday, May 15, 1941, I found a letter from the War Department headquarters at Indianapolis informing me that I was being considered for duty in the Philippine Islands and to be prepared for immediate assignment.
This letter rather upset my daily schedule. I spent the afternoon informing my professors that likely I was leaving soon for the Philippines in spite of the fact that I was still in school.
I also had some civilian affairs that I would have to take care of if I were going away. It looked like (and felt like it, too) I was on the jump.
On Friday, May 16, I cut classes. I rose early, ate breakfast as soon as possible and started to Indianapolis via hitch-hiking. As I remember it, I made fair time and was soon in the city. Once there I went to the War Department office under Col. F.M. Armstrong, assisted by the Adj. Capt. Floyd Fix.
On meeting the colonel and showing him the letter the conversation went something like this.
Colonel: First lieutenant and single, eh.
Yes sir, colonel, just how definite is it that I will receive this assignment?
Colonel: Pretty certain. Captain will you get the lieutenants 201 file? You see half of our reserves have already been ordered to active duty, many of them married men with children. We have the policy of not sending married men out of the continental limits of the US.
Capt. Fix appeared with my 201 file and another officer, a captain. The captain had volunteered for duty in the Philippines and apparently been turned down. The captain immediately started talking to Col. Armstrong as soon as he entered.
Colonel, the captain said, I thought I was being called to active duty and assigned to the Philippines. Now I receive this letter telling me I am not. What is the trouble?
The colonel, I am sorry, we can t use you.
But sir, I was told by one of the staff of this headquarters that