Bataan Death March, Philippines, 1942

Content Description

This collection relates to Harold and Lee Hart who served in the Pacific Theater of Operations and European Theater of Operations respectively. This collection contains two manuscripts, "Bataan ... My Story", by Harold Hart, and "Never to Forget", by Les Hart, and an accompanying current newspaper photograph of Lester hart. Harold's manuscript recounts events from June 1941 - June 1946, and covers his training, station in Manila, capture, experiences as a Prisoner of War, liberation, and return home. Les' manuscript recounts his experiences in World War II from 1944 to 1945 with the 10th Mountain Infantry Division, 220th anti-tank Unit.

Scope and Contents

The collection contains letters, photos, POW manuscripts, Morgan's Diary, newspaper articles, telegraphs, and prison camp postcards. Also contained are correspondence letters written between members of the 17th Pursuit Squadron throughout the decades following the end of the Second World War.  It covers the years 1939-2001.

Scope and Contents

Oral history of U.S. Army Air Corps B-17 Co-Pilot Colonel Jack H. Heinzel, an American prisoner of war who survived the Bataan death march and subsequent "Hell Ships" starting in April of 1942. The collection contains one folder with fifteen pages detailing this airman's experience of these atrocities.

Scope and Contents

This collection contains an unpublished biography of Joseph Peters entitled "An Ordinary Hero." Peters served as a medical doctor in the Philippines during World War II and retired a Colonel. The collection also includes a letter about his 1952 retirement and a letter to his daughter about an injury stating that the initial injury was sustained upon capture by the Japanese in 1942.

Content Description

This collection relates to the Reserve Officers Association and the experience of its members during World War Two.

Scope and Contents

This forty page oral history interview transcript relates to Robert Mckay who was a student and interned by the Japanese at Baguio in the Philippine Islands during World War II.  The interview was conducted with McKay at a Baguio Internee reunion. The transcript covers McKay's experiences before, during, and after internment.

Scope and Contents

This collection relates to Sergeant Tillman Joe Rutledge, who served in the 31st Infantry Regiment of the United States Army in the Far East's Philippine Division. After the fall of Bataan in April 1942, he was captured as a prisoner of war until 1945. This collection consists of one box of personal papers, including the original diary he kept during his internment and photocopies. It also contains an original draft and signed copy of his book My Japanese POW Diary Story; a 36-page oral history transcript; letters to and from his family; newspaper clippings; various government documents; and photographs.

Abstract Dorothy "Dot" Douglas Whittle was ten years old when the Japanese invaded the Philippines in December 1941. The Japanese Army interned the Douglas family in civilian prisoner of war camps for the duration of World War II, including Camp John Hay, Camp Holmes, and Bilibid Prison. During this period, Whittle kept a diary to document everyday life in camp, including her schoolwork, schedule, games, and church activities. The US Army liberated the civilian prisoners at Bilibid Prison in February 1945 and the Douglas family subsequently repatriated to the United States. They settled in Florida, and Whittle continued high school and went on to graduate from Florida State University. She later...

Scope and Contents

Hugh Zeigler served with the 454th Heavy Bomb Aviation Ordnance Company, handling and caring for bombs, during World War II in the Philippine Islands. He was captured there by the Japanese and spent the remainder of the war in a POW camp. This collection consists of an oral history interview transcript conducted on January 6, 2000.