I just talked to my Mom, and she said that the Japanese starved him to death. Inhumane...
“I just talked to my Mom, and she said that the Japanese starved him to death.”
My mom’s uncle was a Bataan survivor. He was a member of a New Mexico guard unit that surrendered. The way my tio survived was by volunteering to fix boots. He lied and told the Japaneese that he was a cobbler back home. He was terribly abused for any work that wasn’t perfect, but was able to draw an extra ration of rice, which he shared with his friend until the friend died of the beatings and starvation (maybe this was your relative).
He came home severely damaged mentally and physically. For us kids, he was the strange uncle who collected thousands upon thousands of empty TV dinner trays and boxes - he had a barn full of them, no kidding. He never threw plastic utinsels away either.
He so loved this country and farmed chili for most of his life. I don’t believe there were any medals for him either, but the family was just glad to have him home.