Prisoner of the Rising Sun

A never-before-published account of the experience of an American officer at the hands of Japanese captors, Prisoner of the Rising Sun offers new evidence of the treatment accorded officers and shows how the Corregidor prisoners fared compared with the ill-fated Baraan captives. When Japanese aircraft struck airfields in the Philippines on December 8, 1941, Col. Lewis C. Beebe was Gen. Douglas MacArthur's chief supply officer. Promoted to brigadier general, he would become chief of staff for General Wainwright in 1942. Beebe kept diary records of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, their advance to Manila and capture of the Baraan Peninsula, and their assault on Corregidor. When Japanese troops took Corregidor, Beebe was among those captured. During his captivity, Beebe recorded in his diary descriptions of poor rations, inadequate medical care, and field work in camps in the Philippines, on Taiwan, and in Manchuria. He also describes the sometimes greedy behavior of his fellow captives, as well as a lighter side of camp life that included POW concerts and Red Cross visits. Annotation and an epilogue by General Beebe's son, Rev. John McRae Beebe, add details about his military career, and an introduction by historian Stanley L. Falk places the diary in the context of the broader American experience of captivity.