Mindy Kotler joined my seminar, Stories from the Battlefield, at the end of August and shared a huge list of POW resources with attendees. She gave me permission to share with my readers as well.
If interested in the men and women who fought the early defensive battles of WWII in the Pacific and those who became POWs of Imperial Japan from December 8, 1941 to August 15, 1945 (liberation was not completed until September) here are some resources.
- American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Memorial Society, https://www.adbcmemorialsociety.org/
- American POWs of Japan (my blog), https://pows.jiaponline.org/
- Bataan Project, https://bataanproject.com/
- Center for Research of Allied POWs Under Japan, http://www.mansell.com/pow-index.html
- Corregidor, https://corregidor.org/
- Japanese-pow Home Page, http://www.west-point.org/family/japanese-pow//
- Pacific Wrecks, https://pacificwrecks.com/
- POW Research Network, Japan, http://www.powresearch.jp/en/
There are also a number of interesting, free lectures upcoming on military history that you can attend online.
*WAR CRIMES – AN ANALYSIS OF CAUSES & METHODOLOGY FROM WWII IN THE PHILIPPINES TO TODAY. 9/15, 5:30 -7:00pm (PDT), WEBINAR. Sponsor: Bataan Legacy Historical Society. Speakers: Cecilia Gaerlan, Founder & Executive Director of Bataan Legacy Historical Society; Mark Hull is a full professor at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, KS. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/war-crimes-from-wwii-until-today-tickets-388790552007?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
*THE AMERICAN POW EXPERIENCE AND THE MIA LEGACY. 9/16, 2:30-3:30pm (EDT), VIRTUAL. Sponsor: Virginia War Memorial Assistant. Speaker: Virginia War Memorial Assistant Director of Education Crystal Coon. https://vawarmemorial.org/events/online-the-american-pow-experience-and-the-mia-legacy/
*1942: THE PERILOUS YEAR. Explores how that year was truly the hinge point of all of WWII. 9/16-17, IN PERSON OR VIRTUALLY. Sponsor: The Admiral Nimitz Foundation, National Museum of the Pacific War, Fredericksburg, Texas. Speakers: Richard B. Frank is an internationally recognized leading authority on the Asia-Pacific War, author of many books on the Pacific War, most recently Tower of Skulls (2020); Craig L. Symonds is a professor of history emeritus at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where he taught for thirty years and served as History Department Chair; Jonathan Parshall is an independent WWII scholar. He is co-author of Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway, which is widely acclaimed as the definitive account of that crucial battle; John C. McManus is Curators’ Distinguished Professor of U.S. military history at the Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T); Katherine Sharp Landdeck is an associate professor of history at Texas Woman’s University, the home of the WASP archives. https://www.pacificwarmuseum.org/education/museum-programs/symposium FEE.
*WORLDMAKING IN THE LONG GREAT WAR. 9/19, 4:00-5:30pm (EDT), WEBINAR. Sponsor: Yale Alumni Academy. Speaker: author, Jonathan Wyrtzen, Associate Professor of Sociology and History , Yale University. https://yale.zoom.us/webinar/register/2016606724879/WN_keMAlsIlTfW6gG5vQKjE8A PURCHASE BOOK: https://amzn.to/3Kt0cn9
*12TH ANNUAL AMERICAN DEFENDERS OF BATAAN AND CORREGIDOR MEMORIAL SOCIETY CONVENTION. 9/21-24, IN PERSON. Location: DoubleTree by Hilton Seattle Airport, Washington. Speakers include: Author Jody Beck: Your Loving Son Ty: A World War II Story of Hope and Horror in the Pacific; Ralph Longway, Civilian Internee of Imperial Japan during WWII; Sandra Harding: A daughter’s story of the personal journeys of an Army nurse and an Army Infantry Officer, their chance meeting on Corregidor and passage from paradise and freedom to internment by the Japanese; Mark Kelso: MIA Cold Case: the story of Lt. Hyman Victor Sherman; 2019 Japanese/American Friendship Visitation Program participants report. https://www.adbcmemorialsociety.org/
*FROM STEWARDS TO FLAG OFFICERS: FILIPINOS IN THE U.S. NAVY. 10/19, Noon-1:30pm (EDT), IN PERSON ONLY. Sponsor: National Museum of the United States Navy and Bataan Legacy Historical Society. Speakers: Luisito Maligat, Management and Program Analyst, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); Lorna Mae Devera, Customer Advocacy Manager, Leidos; Paula Hackbart, President, Filipino American Midshipman Club, U.S. Naval Academy; Moderator: Rear Admiral Samuel J. Cox, SES, USN (Retired), Director, Naval History and Heritage Command, Curator of the Navy, Washington, DC. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/panel-from-stewards-to-flag-officers-filipinos-in-the-us-navy-tickets-400760925717
*THE ROLE OF VETERANS IN STRENGTHENING OUR DEMOCRACY. 9/9, 4:00-5:15pm (EDT), IN PERSON AND ONLINE. Sponsor: Brookings. Speakers: Steve Abbot, Admiral (ret.) – United States Navy Former Deputy Homeland Security Advisor to the President; Thad W. Allen, Admiral (ret.) – United States Coast Guard Former Commandant of the Coast Guard; Ellen Gustafson, Co-Founder – We the Veterans Co-Director – Summit Institute Co-Founder – Military Family Building Coalition; Elaine Kamarck, Founding Director – Center for Effective Public Management Senior Fellow – Governance Studies; Craig R. McKinley, General (ret.) – United States Air Force Former Chief National Guard Bureau; MODERATOR: Michael E. O’Hanlon, Director of Research – Foreign Policy, Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/events/the-role-of-veterans-in-strengthening-our-democracy/
The president of the ADBC-MS, Ms. Jan Thompson, has done a number of documentaries on the POWs of Japan and recently completed this podcast series.
BEN STEELE, AMERICAN
narrated by Alec Baldwin
streaming on iHeart Radio
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-ben-steele-american-98570427/
A boy from rural Montana, sent to the Philippines, Ben Steele became a prisoner-of-war within the first five months of the outbreak of World War II. He survived the infamous Bataan Death March and other horrific events. He was given last rites three times in the prison camp and miraculously survived. While recovering in the prison hospital he began to draw with the charcoal from the fire pit. Drawing helped keep Ben sane for the duration of his imprisonment. After a 62 -day trip on a hell ship Ben ended up in Japan as a slave laborer in a coal mine. After the war he studied art with several famous artists such as John Teyral, Jack Levine, Hans Mueller and George Grosz. Ben taught art at a college in Billings Montana and had a particular empathy for, and influence on, students who had suffered traumas in their own lives. Ben thought of himself as just a regular guy. But he was a talented artist, wonderful teacher and mentor and a wonderful human being admired by everyone who met him. This is the story of Ben Steele; the best of human beings in the worst of times. Ben Steele, American has first person interviews with over thirty former prisoners-of-war including numerous Bataan Death March survivors. The podcast has interviews with notable history scholars from around the world. Interviews with Ben Steele were acquired over a span of 30 years. Narrated by Alec Baldwin; Produced by Jan Thompson, Zach McNees and Alec Baldwin; Written and Edited by Jan Thompson; Post Production Supervisor and Mixer Zach McNees. The podcast was inspired by the book Tears In The Darkness by Elizabeth and Michael Norman.
In regard to my comment about correcting a statement in the Congressional Record, here are the two versions.
Original
RECOGNIZING THE LIFE OF WALTER GANN; Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 67
(Extensions of Remarks – April 19, 2021)
https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/volume-167/issue-67/extensions-of-remarks-section/article/E422-6
My rewrite
RECOGNIZING THE LIFE OF WALTER GANN; Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 189 (Extensions of Remarks – October 27, 2021)
https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/volume-167/issue-189/extensions-of-remarks-section/article/E1153-5
Please email Mindy Kotler mindykotlersmith@gmail.com if you want to be on her POW mailing list.