Military Life

When Lamar joined the Army as a youth in 1940, he was sent to Corregidor where he operated large artillery. Corregidor is an island in the entrance of Manila Bay of the Philippines. Lamar was taken prisoner by the Japanese on Corregidor in 1942 and was a prisoner for 3-1/2 years. They were first taken to Bilibid prison in Manila, then he and other stronger prisoners were loaded on Japanese "hellships" in the cargo holds and taken back to Japan. Upon arriving in Japan Lamar was forced to work in the Japanese steel mills until liberation. In describing Corregidor, Dad spoke fondly of General Douglas MacArthur, who was stationed there until the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1942. Ordered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to leave the island, MacArthur made his way to Australia before the Japanese overtook the Philippines and Corregidor. MacArthur had said "I shall return" to uplift the soldiers who were left behind, and Dad recounted this with great respect for MacArthur.

Dad didn't talk much about the war. His comments were always accentuated by positive statements or humor. One of the more serious incidents I recall was when the prisoners in Japan were forced to dig a large ditch, then they had to sound off with numbers. The odd numbers were then shot and buried in the ditch. I know that they were often jabbed with the butts of the guards' rifles and treated harshly in every way, reflecting the desire of the guards to subjugate, humble, intimidate and frighten the larger-statured Americans. In spite his treatment, Dad blamed his mistreatment on the state of war.

As mentioned above, Lamar was taken on one of the "hellships" to Japan, which would have taken about a month's journey under horrifying circumstances. Some ships were targeted by the Allied Forces and some of the prisoners died in these ships. There in terrible heat and lack of food, water and sanitation, the men were kept in darkness in the cargo hold where there was not enough room to stretch out. They squatted or stood for the time it took to arrive in Japan.

In Japan Lamar was assigned to the POW camp at Fukuoka #3B, where they worked in a Japanese steel mill as slave labor. Fukuoka is located on the western coast of Kyushu Island, about midway between where the atom bombs were exploded in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. To work hard labor as they did it is said that a minimum of 3300 calories would need to be eaten a day to retain their weight. They were fed 750 calories, then after the Japanese soldiers challenged the Americans to a foot race and the tired Americans won, their diet was reduced to 500 calories a day. Their diet mostly consisted of a bowl of rice and a bowl of miso soup with only an occasional supplement of meat, fish, bread or vegetables. Many men died, about 10% of the prisoners, and many more would have died from malnutrition and starvation if they had not been liberated at the time that they were. Dad had malaria and other extreme diseases and was near death at the time of his liberation. Dad had said that if the atom bombs had not been used when they were, most of the prisoners would have died from starvation and disease. (See document on POW camps in Japan)

Dad never made a negative comment about the Japanese or Japan to his children, he very calmly stated a few facts. He told us of the good things he could remember. When I was called as a missionary for our Church at age 21, he was very excited for me to be sent to Japan. We then shared a special understanding and love of the culture of that country. I admired him greatly for the lack of enmity he felt. One of the greatest qualities of my father was that he was honest, truthful and had no guile or prejudice.

Dad would joke that the food was duck soup and rice. The soup, he said, was made by dipping the tail feathers of the duck in the soup. Certainly, there was not enough food given to sustain the Americans. He said that he survived by trading cigarettes for food with the other soldiers. When he returned home he had contracted malaria and many other diseases and he was extremely emaciated and weak. Though he recovered in the hospital following the War, he was to experience the lifetime effects of being a prisoner in Japan. The Veteran's Hospital tracked his health as they did other ex-prisoners of war and found many common problems among the veterans. Dad knew about the dropping of the atom-bombs and was close to the one in Nagasaki where some American prisoners were killed in the blast.

Dad left the military after he returned home from WWII, but it wasn't long before he reenlisted, this time in the Air Force. He loved the military, in spite of everything. He first taught ROTC at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and really loved tutoring the young men.

He was eventually sent back to the Philippines, and soon his wife and son followed. They loved the Philippines and the people there. While there he was made Branch President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the military families in the Church.

Lamar eventually became a Master Sergeant in charge of Materiel. He retired from the Air Force from Hill AFB, Utah, after 26 years of service. When he was ordered to go to Guam without his family for a few years, .Lamar could not see leaving his family, and so he sought employment elsewhere, a very difficult decision for a military man.