Apocalypse undone: my survival of Japanese imprisonment during World War II

529 Pages·1990·2.25 MB·English

by  Preston John Hubbard

Apocalypse Undone : My Survival of
title: Japanese Imprisonment During World War
II
author: Hubbard, Preston John.
publisher: Vanderbilt University Press
isbn10 | asin:
print isbn13: 9780826512376
ebook isbn13: 9780585101224
language: English
Hubbard, Preston John,--1918- , World War,
1939-1945--Personal narratives, American,
World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and
subject
prisons, Japanese, Prisoners of war--United
States--Biography, Prisoners of war--
Philippines--Biography.
publication date: 1990
lcc: D811.H747 1990eb
ddc: 940.54/8173
Hubbard, Preston John,--1918- , World War,
1939-1945--Personal narratives, American,
World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and
subject:
prisons, Japanese, Prisoners of war--United
States--Biography, Prisoners of war--
Philippines--Biography.

Page i
Apocalypse Undone
Page iii
Apocalypse Undone
My Survival of Japanese Imprisonment During World
War II
by
Preston John Hubbard
Vanderbilt University Press
Nashville, Tennessee
1990
Page iv
Acknowledgments
I am deeply indebted to many people who have given me aid and
comfort in the preparation of this memoir. I especially wish to express
my gratitude to the following persons: John W. Poindexter and Dr.
Frank Bard Young of the Vanderbilt University Press; Professors Paul
K. Conkin, Dewey W. Grantham, and Douglas E. Leach of Vanderbilt
University; Professors Charles Calhoun, D. Richard Covington, Don
Wing Der, Richard P. Gildrie, Edward E. Irwin, Malcolm Muir,
Kenneth E. Olson, and Louis C. Tatham, Jr., of Austin Peay State
University. I also wish to express my appreciation to those students at
Austin Peay State University who have given me encouragement in
this endeavor. Thanks also go to A. B. (Bud) Feuer, Paul H.
Silverstone, and Dr. Paul Ashton for providing rare photographs.
I would especially like to acknowledge my debt to and appreciation of
Donald Knox's Death March: The Survivors of Bataan (New York:
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1981), which is unique among all my
sources for telling the story of American prisoners of war in their own
voices.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hubbard, Preston John, 1918-
Apocalypse undone: my survival of Japanese imprisonment during
World War II/by Preston John Hubbard.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-8265-1237-2:
1. Hubbard, Preston John, 1918- . 2. World War, 1939-1945Personal
narratives, American. 3. World War, 1939-1945Prisoners and prisons,
Japanese. 4. Prisoners of warUnited StatesBiography. 5. Prisoners of
warPhillipinesBiography.
I. Title.
D811.H747 1990 89-28823
940.54'8173dc20 CIP
Copyright © 1990 by Preston John Hubbard
Published in 1990 by Vanderbilt University Press
Printed in the United States of America
Dedication
This book is dedicated to
RICHARD MURRAY
of Lyndon Station, Wisconsin, via Cut Bank, Montana,
who died at Cabanatuan, Philippines;
and
NEIL GALLAHER
of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, Navy Pharmacist's Mate,
who died aboard a Japanese Hell Ship in 1944;
and
JACK GARCIA
of Santa Maria, California, who, with the devoted assistance of
the Medical Corps, United States Navy, Bilibid Prison,
survived a rendezvous with death;
and
those magnificent Filipino women who risked life and limb
along the route of the Bataan Death March to provide
food and water to desperate American prisoners of war;
and
the children of Baclaran who provided solace for my soul
during the final months before Pearl Harbor;
and
those Japanese civilians who risked the anger of their government to express
humane concern for prisoners of war in their land
and
RUTH ANN PERRY HUBBARD
my beloved wife.
my beloved wife.
Page vii
Contents
Preface ix
1. As We Were 1
2. Journey to the Philippines 8
3. At Ease on the Eve of the Apocalypse 23
4. The End of the Rainbow 42
5. The First Battle of Bataan 59
6. Defeat and Death on the March 75
7. O'Donnell: Camp Death 90
8. From O'Donnell to Tayabas: Journey to a Green Hell 105
9. Bilibid: A Refuge from Death 123
10. Nissyo Maru: The Hell Ship 145
11. Nagoya: Slavery, Starvation, and Death 165
12. Fire from the Skies 196
13. Liberation 212
14. Homecoming 227
15. Readjustment to Life, Dreams of Death 245
Notes 256