"I was very excited when I joined the Marine Corps on January 30, 1940. After boot camp in San Diego, CA I received orders to report to the 4th Marines in Shanghai, China. I was assigned to E Company, 2nd Battalion. I really enjoyed Shanghai. Money went along way there even for a Private like me. I bought silks and gemstones to take back home with me. Things were real cheap there. I was in Shanghai about 15 months when we got ordered to the Philippines. Our work consisted of pulling guard duty and training. Still there was plenty of time off. Maybe too much time off for a young Marine. We hired a Chinese man who did all our housework. It was a great duty station before the war.

On November 27th, 1941 we were ordered to the Philippines. The SS President Madison (a civilian liner ship) took us to the Philippines. The war was coming. After we dropped anchor in Subic Bay we moved into the Naval Base at Olongapo (a port town). Our training intensified as soon as we settled in. I learned of the attack at Pearl Harbor at 0330 on December 08, 1941 (Philippine time). I was going on guard duty at 0400 and reported to the OD a little early because the sirens were blasting all over the base. I had no idea what was going on and thought maybe there was a fire or something. When I got to the OD' office I asked what was going on. The major told me Peal Harbor was under attack and we are at war with Japan.

The Jap's started bombing us two days later. We watched four Navy PBY's land in the bay only to get attacked and destroyed by Jap zeros after they landed in the water. Those guys never had a chance. Many fired their rifles at the low flying planes but rifle fire had to effect at all. We took some casualties.

We were transferred under the command of the Army soon after the air attacks started. Then we heard the 4th Jap Army had landed on the southern part of Luzon. That would be the island we were on but we were in the North. General Macarthur ordered us to Corregidor were we arrived on 29 December 1941, I remember it was early in the morning. Our job was to defend the beaches of Corregidor. Corregidor was Macarthur's headquarters. The beaches became the new home for the 4th Marines for the next five months. The Japs started bombing Corregidor within hours of our arrival. A welcoming party we did not appreciate.

After awhile the bombing got real tough and it got worse day by day. We just had to keep down, cover our ears and hang on. You cannot imagine how hard it is on your mind and body to take such strain day after day.

On 02 January 1942, at 1330, I remember it like yesterday, I was hit by shrapnel during a Jap air attack. I guess that bomb was probably intended for the Battery at Wheeler Point. But, it missed that target and found us nearby. Some were hurt worse than me. My mouth and eyes were full of sand and dirt and I lost my hearing for a while. I remember the sound of that shrapnel whizzing by me. It took a piece of my left foot. I lost 4 toes and a bit of my foot too. I spent the next 73 days in the hospital in the Malinta tunnel. (It took my foot 18 months to heal because of the way we ate and because we had no medicine after we became POW's). By the time I returned to my company in the middle of March (1942) things were getting pretty bad. We were short of all supplies, food, medicine and equipment. We were told and believed the Navy was coming to bring us what we needed or even better rescue us. We never gave up hope of that. Over all our morale and spirits were still very high.

The Japs invaded Corregidor on 05 May 1942 at 2330. There was a fight that night that ended the next day. We were surrendered at noon 06 May 1942.

Because of where I (2nd Battalion) was positioned we were not involved in the fighting during the invasion of the Jap Army. We were ordered to stay in our position because our commanders thought the Japs could land from more directions than the actually did. We were under heavy bombing from Bataan all night on the 5th and the morning of May 6th. The whole island of Corregidor was one continuous explosion hour after hour for a whole day. You could not tell when one bomb ended or another started. It just seemed like one continuous blast. To say the least we did not feel very secure.

After the surrender there was a lot of confusion, we were angry and there were many emotions we all felt. We had no idea what to expect. It became clear were no longer in control. Some of the guys were repeatedly told they must put down their weapons before they finally did so. It was all over at noon May 6th (1942). The Japs grouped us together and began treating us like prisoners. They were arrogant, cocky and superior acting.

I remember they searched all of us. They took any of our possessions they wanted. Two guys searched me and motioned for a cigarette. When they discovered I did not have any, one of them hit me on top of my shoulder with a bamboo pole. It felt like I had been hit with a steel pole and that little bastard almost dropped me to the ground with that strike. Then he smiled at me as I glared back at him in disbelief. This was just the beginning of tough times. If we had we known what terrible treatment we were in for I believe not one of us would have been taken alive that day. I believe we would have fought to the end and taken as many of them with us. To later know that thousands of POW's died in the marches, in the "hell ships" and the camps from torture, beatings, starvation, disease, depression and executions, I believe we would have chosen to fight to the end had we known that how badly we were going to be treated. It was horrible the way they treated us after we became prisoners. There are no words to describe what the Jap's did to us. I will never forget what they did.

Our first prison camp was at the 92nd garage area, and old amphibious landing strip on the beach of Corregidor. We were there about two weeks. They fried us in the hot tropical sun. There was one water faucet for thousands of prisoners. There were always men in line to fill their canteens. You could hear the clanking of the aluminum canteens. The line never seemed to end. From that time on we never had enough to eat and the Japs never gave us medicine during the 40 months I was a prisoner. I learned one thing early on, I could not give up hope of going home or I was probably going to die. That turned out to be a given. I saw it happen too often to others. I told myself everyday that I was not going to die there. I told myself I was going home soon. I wanted to see everyone again. I would repeat those words everyday for the next 40 months.

A couple of weeks after the surrender we left the island of Corregidor on a ship that took us to the island of Luzon. After disembarking, we marched through Manila to Bilibid Prison. The Filipino people lined the streets and cheered us. The Japs were not happy about this and physically abused many of the local civilians. My foot was not healed and it was sore. I had a hard time during the 7-mile march from the dock to the prison. But I made it. The choices were not hard to figure out. Keep walking or die at the hands of a Jap guard.

I was at Bilibid Prison for a few days and then they crammed us into railroad boxcars that took us 30 miles north of Manila to the town of Cabanatuan. We had another march and more mistreatment by the Japs. It was awfully hot in those boxcars, guys were elbow to elbow and men passed out from the extreme heat. A heard some died probably from the heat. I was at Cabanatuan, Camp for 26 months. The conditions there were very bad. There was a lot of sickness and many did not make it. We just did not have enough food and no medicines.

On July 14, 1944, the Jap's put me on a ship and sent me to Japan. I boarded a freighter with 1200 other men that day. The freighter was the Canadian Inventor. We were crammed in the hold of that ship for 40 days. It was very unpleasant. It was unthinkable how we were treated. When we finally arrived in northern Japan it was late August 1944. Our prison camp was in the town of Fanatsu on the island of Hokkaido. I was there until the war ended in August 1945. It was bitterly cold there during the winter. We had no clothing for such climate. I am surprised more of us did not die. POW life was very unpleasant. The Japs beat us for no reason, but were careful not to break our bones. Every POW was a slave laborer. We worked in a foundry that made war materials 12 hours a day six days each week. If your bones were broke you did not work otherwise you worked every day. The guards were mean, dangerous and deadly at Fanatsu. I was fortunate to survive my 15 months there. There was one guard in particular who did not like me and the feeling was more than mutual from my standpoint.

The war ended on August 15, 1945. That day the Jap guards left the camp and we waited to be rescued. About 5-6 days later we were found by one of our planes. Soon after food and medicines were dropped into the camp and our life became better.

On 06 September, I left Japan on a Navy ship that took us to Guam. When I checked into the hospital at Guam they weighed me at 92 pounds. We were all skin and bones. A year later I was back to my normal weight of 160 pounds.

I spent about a year at the Naval Hospital in San Diego, CA. Lord knows I had nightmares for ten years after the war. Time has passed now but some of this is as real today as it was then. It took many years for me to learn how to live with the horror we experienced from the Japanese guards. Corregidor was bad enough, but the Jap prison camps were the worst.

Now I attend a reunion every year. All the 4th Marines from Shanghai meet and we have a good time. It is in a different city each year. As long as there is one of us left beside me I will attend if I can still physically get there. I am 81 years old now. Each year the group gets fewer.