American Prisoners of War-WWII

On this Memorial Day, I would like to remember the thousands of Americans who were tortured, beaten and killed as prisoners of the Japanese in WWII. Just one small account of Marine PFC. Glen McDole focuses on the horrors they endured.

McDole was captured and sent to a Japanese prison camp. There he suffered appendicitis and if you couldn't work in the camps you were beaten and killed. So other Americans hid him and another prisoner who was a doctor, did an appendectomy on McDole without anesthetic. The wound got infected and the sutures wouldn't hold , so they sewed the buttons from another prisoner's shirt onto McDole's stomach and used the buttons as anchors to hold the sutures.

When the war was coming to an end the Japanese made the prisoners dig three trenches and covered them with bamboo. . The Japanese called a fake air strike and told the prisoners to take cover in the trenches. McDole smelled a rat and the Japanese soaked the hiding prisoners in gasoline and set them on fire, shooting any who tried to escape. McDole witnessed this from another trench and managed to escape through a tunnel. He hid in a sewer and swam five miles to the beach and eventually made his way to he free Phillipines. He passed away in 2009.

Today I remember him and those who were burned alive in those trenches. Their unbelievable endurance is testimony to their heroism. God Bless them. May they all rest in peace.

I'm done here,

Stay safe,

Joe