Of Rice And Men [Illustrated Edition]

Includes The Prisoners Of War In Japanese Hands During World War Two pack with 130 photos, plans and photos.

This is the harrowing prisoner of war tale of T/Sgt. Bob Reynolds, who was based Del Carmen airfield in the Philippines when the Second World War broke out. Overrun like many of his fellow Americans by the invading Japanese army, his hellish existence carried him through the Bataan Death March and prison camps in Cabanatuan and Lipa. He tells his amazing story vividly and telling details of the human suffering inflicted on his comrades and the native Filipinos.

“In the following pages, I have endeavored to delineate that period which, from a viewpoint of National pride, is perhaps one of the darkest periods of humiliation in the history of our United States—the years of Japanese captivity of American troops from the fall of Bataan to V-J Day.

The experiences narrated in the following chapters are mine alone. Encounters of other prisoners not actually witnessed by me have been omitted.

Having in mind the interest of readers whose loved ones may have perished on Bataan, or Corregidor, or during the appalling years of Japanese imprisonment, I have avoided using the names of all persons. The expression “Buddy,” “Friend,” or “Fellow” represents in respective cases someone’s son, brother, husband or sweetheart from whom I have endeavored to withhold any heartbreaking particularization.

Many of the instances recounted herein may appear gruesome and vulgar; but in the interest of the future of the Nation and in memory of the heroic men who did not return I believe the story should be told.”-The Author’s Foreword