This Is Really War: The Incredible True Story of a Navy Nurse POW in the Occupied Philippines

340 Pages·2019·68.42 MB·English

by  Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi

BIOGRAPHY / HISTORY
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Cover images (clockwise from top left): — K at h r y n CC ill inmates from drifting.
Soldiers marching in Manila, US Army Signal Corps photo, now in H In the new prison camp, the “twelve anchors”
the collections of the National Archives; navy nurses Dorothy Still and E
turned a stripped infirmary into a functioning hos-
Eldene Paige tend to an ill inmate, courtesy of Bureau of Medicine S
and Surgery; sleeping quarters at Santo Tomas prison camp, courtesy I pital. Despite their own ailments, they provided
of US Army; Admiral Thomas Kinkaid greets the navy nurses,
nonstop care for starving, diseased, and abused
courtesy of Bureau of Medicine and Surgery; nurses at Cavite Naval
$28.99 (CAN $38.99)
Base before the war, courtesy of Bureau of Medicine and Surgery; inmates. Over the years, their friendships deepened,
ISBN: 978-1-64160-076-7
Dorothy Still, courtesy of Bureau of Medicine and Surgery
5 2 8 9 9 and several of the women, including Dorothy, even
Author photo: Stephen Serio Photography found love.
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Printed in the United States of America
the INCREDIBLE TRUE STORY
of a NAVY NURSE POW
in the OCCUPIED PHILIPPINES
e l B l
milie e eau ucchesi
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Copyright © 2019 by Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi
All rights reserved
Published by Chicago Review Press Incorporated
814 North Franklin Street
Chicago, Illinois 60610
ISBN 978‑1‑64160‑076‑7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lucchesi, Emilie Le Beau, author.
Title: This is really war : the incredible true story of a Navy nurse POW in
the occupied Philippines / Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi.
Description: Chicago, Illinois : Chicago Review Press, [2019] | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018058584 (print) | LCCN 2019002844 (ebook) | ISBN
9781641600774 (PDF edition) | ISBN 9781641600798 (EPUB edition) | ISBN
9781641600781 (Kindle edition) | ISBN 9781641600767 (cloth edition)
Subjects: LCSH: Danner, Dorothy Still, 1914–2001. | Women prisoners
of war—Philippines—Biography. | United States. Navy—Nurses—
Biography. | United States. Navy—Officers—Biography. | Los Baños
Internment Camp. | World War, 1939–1945—Prisoners and prisons,
Japanese. | World War, 1939–1945—Philippines. | Philippines—
History—Japanese occupation, 1942–1945.
Classification: LCC D805.P6 (ebook) | LCC D805.P6 L83 2019 (print) |
DDC 940.54/7092 [B] —dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018058584
Typesetting: Nord Compo
Map design: Chris Erichsen
Printed in the United States of America
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For my grandfather Leon J. Le Beau, PhD. US Army,
5th Medical Laboratory, South Pacific
And always, my husband, Michael Lucchesi, for many, many reasons
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Contents
Author’s Note ix
Key Figures xi
Chronology xiv
Maps xvii
Part I: 1941
1 I’d Die Before I Wore Those .....................3
2 Oh My God, This Is Really War ................19
3 Everything Under Control .....................29
Part II: 1942
4 Banzai .......................................49
5 Chin Up, Girls ................................59
6 Room 30A ....................................75
7 Where Were You When We Needed Help? .......93
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Part III: 1943
8 Fed Up with the Way Things Have Been Going ..105
9 They Will Suffocate! ..........................113
10 Take Them Outside ...........................125
11 I Am Ashamed of You ........................139
Part IV: 1944
12 We Might Not Come Out of This Alive .........157
13 I Have Returned .............................169
14 Do the Best You Can .........................181
Part V: 1945
15 ’Tis You, ’Tis You Must Go and I Must Bide ....197
16 Roll Out the Barrel ...........................211
17 Today We Either Live or Die ..................221
18 Don’t Worry Anymore About Me ..............235
Epilogue: I Hear You .........................255
Acknowledgments 267
Notes 271
Bibliography 303
Index 309
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