Errett Lujan served during World War II with the U.S. Army 200th/515th Coast Artillery (Anti-aircraft) Regiment in the Philippines, the largest regiment on the islands when the Japanese invaded just hours after Pearl Harbor. The unit was credited as both the first and the last to fire on the enemy before surrendering. Lujan survived the invasion, the Bataan Death March and more than three years in POW camps.
After the war, he said little to his family about his harrowing experiences. Written by his daughter, this lovingly researched narrative pieces together the story of his service and his regiment's imprisonment, drawing on Lujan's diaries and letters, and original interviews with 200th/515th survivors and former POWs.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction
1.The Far East Before World War II
2.Sign Me Up!
3.Antiaircraft Training at Ft. Bliss
4.Deployment to the Philippines
5.Combat Begins
6.Retreat to Bataan
7.Losing Ground
8.The Lull
9.War News Stirs the Home Front
10.Surrendered
11.In Enemy Hands
12.Wrestling with Defeat Stateside
13.A Parade of Death at Camp ODonnell
14.Life at Cabanatuan and Bilibid Prison
15.Entering Japan
16.Settling into Camp at Mitsushima as a POW
17.The Worst Winter
18.Remaining Months at Mitsushima
19.Changing of the Guards
20.The First Leg at Kanose
21.The Last Leg at Kanose
22.Liberation
Epilogue
Appendix
Chapter Notes
References
Index
Judy Reed is a retired archeologist living in Wake Forest, North Carolina. In addition to several published analyses in archeology, and short fictional stories in several volumes of County LinesA Literary Journal, her brief history of Santa Fe in WWII is included in the 2010 anthology commemorating the 400th anniversary of the founding of Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Lisainfo e-raamatute kohta