The American Pows

Author : Tom Wilber,Jerry Lembcke
Publisher : NYU Press
Page : 182 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2021-04-22
Category : History
ISBN : 9781583679104

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Dissenting POWs by Tom Wilber,Jerry Lembcke Pdf

A fresh look at the how US troops played a part in the resistance of US troops to the American war in Vietnam Even if you don't know much about the war in Vietnam, you've probably heard of "The Hanoi Hilton," or Hoa Lo Prison, where captured U.S. soldiers were held. What they did there and whether they were treated well or badly by the Vietnamese became lasting controversies. As military personnel returned from captivity in 1973, Americans became riveted by POW coming-home stories. What had gone on behind these prison walls? Along with legends of lionized heroes who endured torture rather than reveal sensitive military information, there were news leaks suggesting that others had denounced the war in return for favorable treatment. What wasn't acknowledged, however, is that U.S. troop opposition to the war was vast and reached well into Hoa Loa Prison. Half a century after the fact, Dissenting POWs emerges to recover this history, and to discover what drove the factionalism in Hoa Lo. Looking into the underlying factional divide between pro-war “hardliners” and anti-war “dissidents” among the POWs, authors Wilber and Lembcke delve into the postwar American culture that created the myths of the Hero-POW and the dissidents blamed for the loss of the war. What they found was surprising: It wasn’t simply that some POWs were for the war and others against it, nor was it an officers-versus-enlisted-men standoff. Rather, it was the class backgrounds of the captives and their pre-captive experience that drew the lines. After the war, the hardcore hero-holdouts—like John McCain—moved on to careers in politics and business, while the dissidents faded from view as the antiwar movement, that might otherwise have championed them, disbanded. Today, Dissenting POWs is a necessary myth-buster, disabusing us of the revisionism that has replaced actual GI resistance with images of suffering POWs—ennobled victims that serve to suppress the fundamental questions of America’s drift to endless war.

Author : Sarah Kovner
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 337 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2020-09-15
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9780674737617

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Prisoners of the Empire by Sarah Kovner Pdf

Many Allied POWs in the Pacific theater of World War II suffered terribly. But abuse wasn't a matter of Japanese policy, as is commonly assumed. Sarah Kovner shows poorly trained guards and rogue commanders inflicted the most horrific damage. Camps close to centers of imperial power tended to be less violent, and many POWs died from friendly fire.

Author : Paul J. Springer
Publisher : University Press of Kansas
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2010-03-17
Category : History
ISBN : 9780700617173

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America's Captives by Paul J. Springer Pdf

Notwithstanding the long shadows cast by Abu Ghraib and Guantnamo, the United States has been generally humane in the treatment of prisoners of war, reflecting a desire to both respect international law and provide the kind of treatment we would want for our own troops if captured. In this first comprehensive study of the subject in more than half a century, Paul Springer presents an in-depth look at American POW policy and practice from the Revolutionary War to the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Springer contends that our nation's creation and application of POW policy has been repeatedly improvised and haphazard, due in part to our military's understandable focus on defeating its enemies on the field of battle, rather than on making arrangements for their detention. That focus, however, has set the conditions for the military's chronic failure to record and learn from both successful and unsuccessful POW practices in previous wars. He also observes that American POW policy since World War II has largely sought to outsource POW operations to allied forces in order to retain American personnel for frontline service-outsourcing that has led to recent scandals. Focusing on each major war in turn, Springer examines the lessons learned and forgotten by American military and political leaders regarding our nation's experience in dealing with foreign POWs. He highlights the indignities of the Civil War, the efforts of the United States and its World War I allies to devise an effective POW policy, the unequal treatment of Japanese prisoners compared with that of German and Italian prisoners during World War II, and the impact of the Geneva Convention on the handling of Korean and Vietnamese captives. In bringing his coverage up to the so-called War on Terror, he also marks the nation's clear departure from previous practice-American treatment of POWs, once deemed exemplary by the Red Cross after Operation Desert Storm, has become controversial throughout the world. America's Captives provides a long-needed overarching framework for this important subject and makes a strong case that we should stop ignoring the lessons of the past and make the disposition of prisoners one of the standard components of our military education and training.

Author : Samuel Kim
Publisher : Branden Books
Page : 273 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 1979-01
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 0828317089

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The American Pows by Samuel Kim Pdf

Author : Harry Spiller
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 244 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2015-03-10
Category : History
ISBN : 0786453737

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American POWs in World War II by Harry Spiller Pdf

These accounts describe the battle and POW experiences of twelve American military men captured by either Germany or Japan during World War II. Brutality, frostbite, disease, hunger, strenuous working conditions, and the jubilation of release are presented in the words of the soldiers, who describe such events as the Bataan Death March, the battle for Wake Island, D-Day, and the Battle of the Bulge and vividly portray the camps where they watched their comrades in arms suffer and perish. The book also features photographs, maps, camp lists, and POW regulations.

Author : Harry Spiller
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 194 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 1998-10-01
Category : History
ISBN : 0786405619

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American POWs in Korea by Harry Spiller Pdf

Over 7,000 Americans were captured during the three years of the Korean War. They wound up in 20 camps throughout North Korea with nearly 40 percent of them dying there. Some were murdered or starved, others died from poor medical treatment or from the severe cold. Despite brutal conditions, most of the POWs survived the isolation, cold, hunger and disease. Here are 16 personal accounts of men who fought the North Koreans and the Chinese and then faced life as a POW. They talk about the psychological effects, the living conditions, the medical situation, the day to day details, and liberation. These compelling stories paint a full picture of life as a prisoner of war in Korea.

Author : Zalin Grant
Publisher : Berkley Books
Page : 340 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 1985-11
Category : Vietnam War, 1961-1975
ISBN : 0425082768

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Survivors by Zalin Grant Pdf

Combines interviews with 9 American soldiers and pilots who were POW's in Vietnam for 5 years and details of daily existence: rats, terror, sickness, etc.

Author : John C. Shively
Publisher : Indiana Historical Society
Page : 641 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780871952943

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Profiles in Survival by John C. Shively Pdf

The stories of seven men and one woman from Indiana who survived the horrors of captivity under the Japanese in the Pacific during World War II are captured in vivid detail. These Hoosiers were ordered to surrender following the fall of Bataan and Corregidor in 1942. It was the largest surrender of American armed forces in U.S. history and the beginning of three years of hell starting with the infamous Bataan Death March, facing brutal conditions in POW camps in the Philippines, and horrific journeys to Japan for some onboard what came to be known as “hellships.” Former Indiana governor Edgar D. Whitcomb, one of those featured in the book, notes that the American prisoners had to endure “unimaginable misery and brutality at the hands of sadistic Japanese guards,” as they were routinely beaten and many were executed for the most minor offenses, or for mere sport. In addition to Whitcomb, those profiled include Irvin Alexander, Harry Brown, William Clark, James Duckworth, Eleanor Garen, Melvin McCoy, and Hugh Sims.

Author : Stuart I. Rochester,Frederick Kiley
Publisher : US Naval Institute Press
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2007
Category : Prisoners of war
ISBN : 1591147387

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Honor Bound by Stuart I. Rochester,Frederick Kiley Pdf

In this landmark study, two respected scholars provide a comprehensive, balanced, and authoritative account of what happened to the nearly eight hundred Americans captured during the Vietnam War. The authors were granted unprecedented access to previously unreleased materials and interviewed more than a hundred former POWs to meticulously reconstruct their captivity record and produce a compelling narrative of this sketchy chapter of the war. First published in 1999, some twenty-five years after the prisoners were released from Hanoi, the book remains a powerful and moving portrait of how men cope with physical and psychological ordeals under horrific conditions. Its analysis of the shifting tactics and temperaments of both captive and captor as the war evolved, skillfully weaves domestic political developments and battlefield action with prison scenes that alternate between Hanoi's concrete cells, South Vietnam's jungle stockades, and mountain camps in Laos. Details are included of dozens of cases of individual acts of bravery and resistance from such heroes as James Stockdale, Jeremiah Denton, Bud Day, and Medal of Honor recipient Donald Cook. Along with epic stories of endurance under torture, breathtaking escape attempts, and ingenious prisoner communication efforts, Honor Bound reveals Code of Conduct lapses and instances of collaboration with the enemy. This important work serves as a testament to the courage and will of Americans in captivity and as a reminder of the sometimes impossible demands made on U.S. POWs.

Author : Harry Spiller
Publisher : McFarland
Page : 224 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2015-09-02
Category : History
ISBN : 9781476605937

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Prisoners of Nazis by Harry Spiller Pdf

The Nazis called them Kriegsgefangen, a term that the prisoners of war shortened to “Kriegie.” The nickname hid the reality for the nearly seven million POWs who were placed in the German camps during World War II. These men consistently faced food shortages, medical needs were often ignored, barracks were barely heated, and personal hygiene was nearly impossible. Conditions depended on the soldiers who controlled the camp. Regular army guards might withhold clothing and food, but generally did not physically abuse the prisoners. The SS troops administered beatings, torture and murders. In this work, 19 POWs provide a vivid and often poignant look at their treatment by the Germans. The soldiers range from those captured in the D-Day invasion to B-17 crew members shot down during bombing raids.

Author : Roger Cohen
Publisher : Anchor
Page : 338 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2006-04-11
Category : History
ISBN : 9780385722315

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Soldiers and Slaves by Roger Cohen Pdf

In February of 1945, 350 American POWs, selected because they were Jews, thought to resemble Jews or simply by malicious caprice, were transported by cattle car to Berga, a concentration camp in eastern Germany. Here, the soldiers were worked to death, starved and brutalized; more than twenty percent died from this horrific treatment. This is one of the last untold stories of World War II, and Roger Cohen re-creates it in all its blistering detail. Ground down by the crumbling Nazi war machine, the men prayed for salvation from the Allied troops, yet even after their liberation, their story was nearly forgotten. There was no aggressive prosecution of the commandants of the camp and the POWs received no particular recognition for their sacrifices. Cohen tells their story at last, in a stirring tale of bravery and depredation that is essential for any reader of World War II history.

Author : Thomas Saylor
Publisher : Minnesota Historical Society
Page : 422 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2008-10-14
Category : History
ISBN : 9780873516815

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Long Hard Road by Thomas Saylor Pdf

Scores of WWII POWs offer lessons of wartime as they remember the terror and hardship of their days in captivity.

Author : Hampton Sides
Publisher : Vintage
Page : 20 pages
File Size : 45,7 Mb
Release : 2015-01-20
Category : History
ISBN : 9781101911846

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Going Free by Hampton Sides Pdf

From Hampton Sides’s Ghost Soldiers, a gripping narrative of World War II POWs on the brink of freedom. The men of Cabanatuan had been held by the Japanese since the Bataan Death March, in increasingly dire circumstances. With the war turning in the Americans’ favor, the POWs worried that their captors would murder them all in the frenzy of an all-out withdrawal. Then one day in early January, 1945, the prison guards simply left. For a brief moment the haggard survivors of Cabanatuan were given the keys to their prison, though swift death was promised to anyone who dared leave. The prisoners waited nervously, all while (unbeknownst to them) a daring raid was being planned which would result in their rescue or their end. This is Hampton Sides at his most riveting, a fitting tribute to these soldiers who would be prisoners no more. An eBook short.

Author : Tom Bird
Publisher : Praeger
Page : 192 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 1992-10-09
Category : History
ISBN : UOM:39015029150185

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American POWs of World War II by Tom Bird Pdf

During World War II, thousands of American servicemen were taken prisoner by the Axis powers. They were beaten and tortured; over half never reached home again. Of those who did, many never fully recovered from what they saw, what they lived through, and the feelings that so racked their lives. Almost all have or had a drinking problem. Some suffer such consistently extreme flashbacks that they are forced to use sleeping medication just to help them make it through the night. The ten interviews included in this work were chosen from dozens of contact POW accounts. Theirs are stories of hardship, pain, survival, and at times, enlightenment. From the introduction to Mario Garbin's interview: Mario was one of the more fortunate POWs who put to use in his later life what he learned from his incarceration. At the present, he is retired from over twenty-six years of service with the Chrysler corporation. . . . Although powerful and charismatic, he still cried uncontrollably during one portion of the interview and had to pause several times to keep his composure in other portions. Hidden in the tales of these men is a message we can all relate to, making this book a must read not only for the ex-POW or World War II history buff, but for any reader who cares about life and freedom.

Author : Michael Joe Allen
Publisher : Univ of North Carolina Press
Page : 449 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : History
ISBN : 9780807832615

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Until the Last Man Comes Home by Michael Joe Allen Pdf

Reveals how wartime loss in the Vietnam War transformed U.S. politics, arguing that the effort to recover lost warriors was as much a means to establish responsibility for their loss as it was a search for answers about their fate.