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. Prisoner of the Rising Sun is the firsthand story of one of those survivors. The author, William Berry, is a rare individual - someone who escaped from a Japanese POW camp, was recaptured, and lived to tell of his harrowing punishment at the hands of his captors. His is a story of incredible courage and indomitable will. Trained in the samurai code of Bushido, the Japanese commanders incorrectly assumed that their American counterparts, like themselves, would choose death over surrender. Consequently, the imperial army found itself unprepared to provide for thousands of prisoners of war, and its treatment of those prisoners was marked by chaotic disorganization. Insufficient food and nonexistent sanitation quickly led to rampant disease. Faced with the likelihood of death in an improvised jungle prison camp, Bill Berry and two other young navy ensigns planned and executed a daring escape into the then-unmapped mountain wilderness of central Luzon. For three months the trio eluded the Japanese, aided by the hospitality of sympathetic Filipino villagers. Recaptured, they were transferred to Bilibid, a maximum-security prison near Manila. There they were classified as "special prisoners"; for having escaped, they were made to endure extraordinary privation and punishment under a constant threat of summary execution. Berry tells his story with candor and engaging good humor, bringing to life the events, circumstances, and friendships of his wartime adventures in the Philippines. His tale of capture, escape, recapture, and punishment, vividly recounted with mounting dramatic tension, stands as a testament to the fortitude and bravery of the "battling bastards of Corregidor and Bataan." Includes index. xiv, 241 pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm