thedrifter
05-21-07, 08:05 AM
Me and Mao
Monday, May 21, 2007
By Jamie Lampros
Standard-Examiner correspondent
Ogden native writes book about his daring WWII escape
PROVO -- Ogden native William Taylor believed he would be killed by his captors after being taken prisoner of war by the Japanese at the start of World War II.
Instead, he made the sole successful escape of an American across northern China, assisted in his efforts by Chinese Communist Chairman Mao Zedong, and has now written a book about his exploits.
On Dec. 8, 1941, Taylor was a civilian working on Wake Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean when he saw planes approaching. He thought they were from the United States, but they were incoming Japanese aircraft.
Then bombs started to drop, just hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Taylor was a construction worker, but Marines stationed on the island were unable to defend him. They all were taken as prisoners of war and shipped off the island.
Taylor was taken to China, where he spent three and a half years as a POW in Shanghai. Knowing that he might face death, he constantly looked for a way to escape.
"We knew that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor four hours earlier," Taylor, now 90 and a Provo resident, said. "I looked across the lagoon and saw these bombers coming in and I said, 'Uncle Sam is here to help us.' Then I saw bombs coming down and half of our air personnel were knocked out the first day. We weren't prepared for the Japanese. We just weren't."
Taylor's book will be released this month. The title, "Rescued by Mao: World War II, Wake Island and My Remarkable Escape to Freedom Across Mainland China" will be sold in all major book stores. His story, he said, has also been picked up by the History Channel.
Taylor said it was shocking to find himself in the middle of an attack.
"You go to work in the morning and do whatever you're going to do. Then all of a sudden the bombers are coming over and it's a shock. You panic," he said. "It was a transformation from everything you could think of. Everything was perfect and now everything was about to change."
Taylor said he fully expected to be killed along with everyone else on the island. Instead, they were tortured,
starved, beaten and forced to take off their clothes and sit in the blazing sun, causing severe sunburns for many.
The nights were freezing cold. Taylor said paper-thin sheets were given to them to keep them warm. Even the rats tried to snuggle up to the prisoners to stay warm. The POWs were given gasoline-tainted water to drink and stale bread to eat. Several prisoners became violently ill. That was just the beginning.
Taylor and the other prisoners were eventually taken aboard the Nitta Maru, a former luxury liner where they would experience another 16 days of torture. In the book, Taylor describes crowded living areas, sitting in raw sewage, more beatings and torture. Some prisoners were executed violently.
"There was one executioner with a drawn Samurai sword standing beside each prisoner and the execution began," Taylor wrote. "The Samurai sword was brought down on the neck of the first victim."
Taylor said he did everything he could to stay on the good side of his captors, all while looking for the perfect opportunity to escape. He finally found one. When Taylor and the other prisoners were moved to a different camp, he discovered the chance he was looking for in a packed, well-guarded train car.
"This was a war to the end, so they were going to kill us," he said. "During those three and a half years, I was always thinking of a way to get out of there."
Taylor successfully escaped across mainland China with some assistance from the Chinese Communist Army and chairman Mao Zedong.
"He's like the George Washington of China," Taylor said. "If it weren't for him I wouldn't be alive today. Nobody else successfully escaped through Northern China during the war. I went all the way through from the train, was recaptured, and escaped again."
Taylor said he fought his fears and just kept going until he reached freedom.
"One of the most important things you need to remember is that there are good people and bad people all over the world," he said. "You have to come up with that attitude and shake hands. If you hate people it affects your character and you are never happy."
Ellie
Monday, May 21, 2007
By Jamie Lampros
Standard-Examiner correspondent
Ogden native writes book about his daring WWII escape
PROVO -- Ogden native William Taylor believed he would be killed by his captors after being taken prisoner of war by the Japanese at the start of World War II.
Instead, he made the sole successful escape of an American across northern China, assisted in his efforts by Chinese Communist Chairman Mao Zedong, and has now written a book about his exploits.
On Dec. 8, 1941, Taylor was a civilian working on Wake Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean when he saw planes approaching. He thought they were from the United States, but they were incoming Japanese aircraft.
Then bombs started to drop, just hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Taylor was a construction worker, but Marines stationed on the island were unable to defend him. They all were taken as prisoners of war and shipped off the island.
Taylor was taken to China, where he spent three and a half years as a POW in Shanghai. Knowing that he might face death, he constantly looked for a way to escape.
"We knew that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor four hours earlier," Taylor, now 90 and a Provo resident, said. "I looked across the lagoon and saw these bombers coming in and I said, 'Uncle Sam is here to help us.' Then I saw bombs coming down and half of our air personnel were knocked out the first day. We weren't prepared for the Japanese. We just weren't."
Taylor's book will be released this month. The title, "Rescued by Mao: World War II, Wake Island and My Remarkable Escape to Freedom Across Mainland China" will be sold in all major book stores. His story, he said, has also been picked up by the History Channel.
Taylor said it was shocking to find himself in the middle of an attack.
"You go to work in the morning and do whatever you're going to do. Then all of a sudden the bombers are coming over and it's a shock. You panic," he said. "It was a transformation from everything you could think of. Everything was perfect and now everything was about to change."
Taylor said he fully expected to be killed along with everyone else on the island. Instead, they were tortured,
starved, beaten and forced to take off their clothes and sit in the blazing sun, causing severe sunburns for many.
The nights were freezing cold. Taylor said paper-thin sheets were given to them to keep them warm. Even the rats tried to snuggle up to the prisoners to stay warm. The POWs were given gasoline-tainted water to drink and stale bread to eat. Several prisoners became violently ill. That was just the beginning.
Taylor and the other prisoners were eventually taken aboard the Nitta Maru, a former luxury liner where they would experience another 16 days of torture. In the book, Taylor describes crowded living areas, sitting in raw sewage, more beatings and torture. Some prisoners were executed violently.
"There was one executioner with a drawn Samurai sword standing beside each prisoner and the execution began," Taylor wrote. "The Samurai sword was brought down on the neck of the first victim."
Taylor said he did everything he could to stay on the good side of his captors, all while looking for the perfect opportunity to escape. He finally found one. When Taylor and the other prisoners were moved to a different camp, he discovered the chance he was looking for in a packed, well-guarded train car.
"This was a war to the end, so they were going to kill us," he said. "During those three and a half years, I was always thinking of a way to get out of there."
Taylor successfully escaped across mainland China with some assistance from the Chinese Communist Army and chairman Mao Zedong.
"He's like the George Washington of China," Taylor said. "If it weren't for him I wouldn't be alive today. Nobody else successfully escaped through Northern China during the war. I went all the way through from the train, was recaptured, and escaped again."
Taylor said he fought his fears and just kept going until he reached freedom.
"One of the most important things you need to remember is that there are good people and bad people all over the world," he said. "You have to come up with that attitude and shake hands. If you hate people it affects your character and you are never happy."
Ellie