History: American prisoners' treatment during World War II recounted
History: American prisoners' treatment during World War II recounted

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Published: December 30, 2007

"Long Hard Road: American POWs During World War II” (Minnesota Historical Society Press, $27.95) is a story representing the more than 110,000 Americans — soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, including this reviewer — who were taken prisoner by German, Italian or Japanese forces.

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Although the author is shown as Thomas Saylor, a history professor at Concordia University in Minnesota, the author could be more accurately described as the compiler, because the book is made up of individual remembrances of nearly 100 former prisoners of war, most of whom now live in the Minnesota area.

Each story is different, because of the different experiences in the various prison camps throughout the three enemy countries. Some suffered severe mistreatment — particularly prisoners of the Japanese. Some went to forced-labor camps, as did this reviewer. Some suffered isolation. Others experienced the opposite, being crowded together into encampments far too small.

On the other hand, nearly all suffered hunger and near starvation, and nearly all experienced the severe loneliness of being away from family and longtime friends. Reading this book brought back to this reviewer many memories of things experienced in German prison camps.

One memory was of interrogations and the psychological techniques the Germans used, sometimes successfully, to obtain information. Another was the difference in treatment of prisoners by the older soldiers in Germany, who seldom resorted to violence against prisoners. This was in contrast to younger soldiers and officers who had been reared under the Hitler Youth program, which taught hatred and lack of respect for people and for life — somewhat like we observe in the Middle East today.

Reading this book should give the reader a greater understanding of freedom in our nation and increased appreciation for those who have suffered to help keep it free.

— Pendleton Woods