John Lukacs
Atlanta History Center, diumenge, maig 30, 2010 a les 2pm
John Lukacs debat Escape from Davao.
The Atlanta History Center honors the contributions of the veterans of World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, and today’s conflicts. Spend the day in the company of veterans and hear their personal stories of wartime through accounts and memorabilia. Living history interpreters represent soldiers of various wars by displaying authentic clothing, equipment, and vehicles. On April 4, 1943, ten American prisoners-of-war and two Filipino convicts executed a daring escape from one of Japan’s most notorious prison camps surrounded by an impenetrable swamp and considered escape proof. Survivors of the Bataan Death March and the Fall of Corregidor, theirs was the only successful group escape from a Japanese POW camp during the Pacific War. Escape from Davao is the story of one of the most remarkable incidents in the Second World War, and what happened when the Americans returned home to tell the world what they had witnessed. Davao Penal Colony on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao was a prison plantation where thousands of American POWs toiled alongside Filipino criminals and suffered from tropical diseases and malnutrition, as well as the cruelty of their captors. The American servicemen were rotting in a hellhole from which escape was considered impossible, but ten of them, realizing that inaction meant certain death, planned to escape. Their bold plan succeeded with the help of Filipino allies, both patriots and the guerrillas who fought the Japanese sent to recapture them. Their trek to freedom repeatedly put the Americans in jeopardy, yet they eventually succeeded in returning home to the U.S to fulfill their self-appointed mission: to tell Americans about Japanese atrocities and to rally the country to the plight of their comrades still in captivity. But the government and the military had a different timetable for the liberation of the Philippines and ordered the men to remain silent. Their testimony, when it finally emerged, galvanized the nation behind the Pacific war effort and made the men celebrities. John Lukacs is a writer and historian whose byline has appeared in the New York Times, USA Today, and on ESPN.com. (jasbro)… (més)
The Atlanta History Center honors the contributions of the veterans of World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, and today’s conflicts. Spend the day in the company of veterans and hear their personal stories of wartime through accounts and memorabilia. Living history interpreters represent soldiers of various wars by displaying authentic clothing, equipment, and vehicles. On April 4, 1943, ten American prisoners-of-war and two Filipino convicts executed a daring escape from one of Japan’s most notorious prison camps surrounded by an impenetrable swamp and considered escape proof. Survivors of the Bataan Death March and the Fall of Corregidor, theirs was the only successful group escape from a Japanese POW camp during the Pacific War. Escape from Davao is the story of one of the most remarkable incidents in the Second World War, and what happened when the Americans returned home to tell the world what they had witnessed. Davao Penal Colony on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao was a prison plantation where thousands of American POWs toiled alongside Filipino criminals and suffered from tropical diseases and malnutrition, as well as the cruelty of their captors. The American servicemen were rotting in a hellhole from which escape was considered impossible, but ten of them, realizing that inaction meant certain death, planned to escape. Their bold plan succeeded with the help of Filipino allies, both patriots and the guerrillas who fought the Japanese sent to recapture them. Their trek to freedom repeatedly put the Americans in jeopardy, yet they eventually succeeded in returning home to the U.S to fulfill their self-appointed mission: to tell Americans about Japanese atrocities and to rally the country to the plight of their comrades still in captivity. But the government and the military had a different timetable for the liberation of the Philippines and ordered the men to remain silent. Their testimony, when it finally emerged, galvanized the nation behind the Pacific war effort and made the men celebrities. John Lukacs is a writer and historian whose byline has appeared in the New York Times, USA Today, and on ESPN.com. (jasbro)… (més)
1