Description
Book SynopsisThis is the story of William N. Donovan, a U.S. Army medical officer in the Philippines who, as a prisoner of war, faced unspeakable conditions and abuse in Japanese camps during World War II. Through his own words we learn of the brutality, starvation, and disease that he and other men endured at the hands of their captors. And we learn of the courage and determination that Donovan was able to summon in order to survive. P.O.W. in the Pacific: Memoirs of an American Doctor in World War II describes the last weeks before Donovan''s capture and his struggles after being taken prisoner at the surrender of Corregidor to the Japanese on May 6, 1942. He remained a P.O.W. until his release on August 14, 1945, V-J Day. Shocking, moving, and yet tinged with Donovan''s dry sense of humor, P.O.W. in the Pacific offers a new perspective-that of a medical doctor-on the experience of captivity in Japanese prison camps as well as on the war in the Pacific. The book is edited by Donovan''s daughter Josephine, with the assistance of her sister, Ann Devigne Donovan. Readers will be inspired by this true story of one American''s heroism.
Trade ReviewDonovan's tale is testimony to the strength of the human spirit and provides rare illumination of a horrific war often too glibly defined by its endnotes at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. -- William M. McBride, U.S. Naval Academy
Provides an account of the war on a very personal level rarely seen. An excellent book, easily read, insightful, and deemed an important contribution. -- Albert J. Dorley Jr., Villanova University
This is an important book, for nothing so demythologizes the 'good war' as Donovan's harrowing story of torture, disease, and death. In explicating the war's harsh realities, this book ranks with the classic accounts by Paul Fussell and E. B. Sledge. -- William M. Tuttle Jr., author of Race Riot: Chicago in the Red Summer of 1919 and Daddy's Gone to War The Second World War in the Lives of America's Children
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 The War Begins Chapter 3 Bataan Chapter 4 Corregidor Chapter 5 Bilibid and Camp #8 Chapter 6 The Prison Ship "Horror Maru" Chapter 7 Formosa Chapter 8 Coming Home Chapter 9 The Home Front Chapter 10 Appendix: Deposition for the War Crimes Trials
