Thomas W. Davis III, A Former POW Looks Back Manuscript
- TxAM-CRS 105
- Collection
- Undated
The Thomas W. Davis III manuscript of A Former POW Looks Back chronicles Davis' World War II experience as an American battery commander on Corregidor Island and as a prisoner of war held by the Japanese. The manuscript includes his observations of life as an Army junior officer, and American military preparedness before the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor and the military's initial war mobilization in the Philippines. It also contains a vivid account of the fighting on Corregidor before American forces stationed there surrendered to the Japanese in 1942 and the dismal conditions prisoners of war faced. Davis provides several anecdotes about how soldiers dealt with the war and being held as prisoners. He describes in detail the conditions of Japanese POW camps including the lack of food and water, the bad sanitary conditions, the many diseases afflicting prisoners, camp routines, and the Japanese treatment of their prisoners.
The manuscript is typed with handwritten corrections and contains several original black and white, and color photographs and illustrations in excellent condition.
Davis, Thomas