thedrifter
11-09-08, 07:09 AM
Ex-POW tells how war changed him
LAKEWOOD: Man held during WWII is haunted by images but feels lucky.
By Kelly Puente, Staff Writer
Long Beach Press Telegram
Article Launched:11/08/2008 10:01:35 PM PST
LAKEWOOD - For more than three years, Donald Versaw endured abuse and starvation in a Japanese prison camp, but through it all, he knew he would survive.
"I had the determination I was going to survive," said Versaw, 87, a World War II and Korean War veteran. "As long as I was vertical, I was going."
Sitting comfortably in his Lakewood home on Monday, Versaw reflected on the wars that changed his life.
A native of Nebraska, Versaw joined the Marines as an 18-year-old bandsman on Armistice Day 1939. A few months later, he was selected to play the French horn for the Fourth Marines Band in Shanghai, China. The regiment was captured by the Japanese during WWII in May 1942.
Varsaw spent the next 40 months as a prisoner of war in the Philippines and Japan, where he was forced to work in coal mines and bury the dead.
"We carried the shriveled, dysentery ridden, naked bodies - unboxed and uncovered - over the very rough trail for about a mile," Versaw recalled, in a written account of his experiences.
He survived on a diet of rice and what the prisoners called "pipe stew," a broth made from boiled, green vines.
The 5-foot, 6-inch Marine withered to 88 pounds, but overall, he fared better than most, he said.
"I got beat occasionally but not as severely as some," he said. "What was hard was the anxiety of not knowing what's going to happen to you in the next five minutes."
Versaw's imprisonment also took a toll on his parents in Nebraska, who thought he was dead for three years before they were notified by the Swedish Red Cross.
After being released when the war ended in September 1945, Versaw recalled one last image of Japan - riding by train through the decimated city of Nagasaki.
"That was probably one of the first real scenes I had of how the war had fallen on the Japanese," he said.
Versaw's experience as a POW didn't stop him from re-enlisting. In the Marines, he said, he could pursue his dream of becoming a photographer and earn retirement.
When the Korean War started in 1950, Versaw was sent to the area that is now North Korea, where he traveled as part of a mobile photo unit. His luck was better during the nine months in Korea, where he said the worst part was the cold.
Versaw retired from the Marines in 1959 and went on to work in the aerospace industry as a photographer on the Saturn and Apollo programs.
The images of WWII haunted him at night for many years, but Versaw said the war also made him the man he is today.
"I feel lucky to have survived it all," he said.
Versaw points out that his service allowed him to buy his house in Lakewood on the G.I. Bill, a home he shared for 50 years with his wife, Amelda, who died in 1999, and their two daughters.
Over the past few years, Versaw has befriended Japanese writer Kinue Tokudome, who is documenting the history of American POWS in Japan.
On her Web site, www.us-japandialogueonpows.org, Tokudome has retold Versaw's story and that of 23 other POWs.
"I find their stories compelling because they suffered at the hands of our country," she said. "It's important for us to remember. It's our history, too."
Coming Monday: Akinsanya Kambon, a Vietnam veteran and former Black Panther, now teaches African art at Cal State Long Beach.
kelly.puente@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1305
Ellie
LAKEWOOD: Man held during WWII is haunted by images but feels lucky.
By Kelly Puente, Staff Writer
Long Beach Press Telegram
Article Launched:11/08/2008 10:01:35 PM PST
LAKEWOOD - For more than three years, Donald Versaw endured abuse and starvation in a Japanese prison camp, but through it all, he knew he would survive.
"I had the determination I was going to survive," said Versaw, 87, a World War II and Korean War veteran. "As long as I was vertical, I was going."
Sitting comfortably in his Lakewood home on Monday, Versaw reflected on the wars that changed his life.
A native of Nebraska, Versaw joined the Marines as an 18-year-old bandsman on Armistice Day 1939. A few months later, he was selected to play the French horn for the Fourth Marines Band in Shanghai, China. The regiment was captured by the Japanese during WWII in May 1942.
Varsaw spent the next 40 months as a prisoner of war in the Philippines and Japan, where he was forced to work in coal mines and bury the dead.
"We carried the shriveled, dysentery ridden, naked bodies - unboxed and uncovered - over the very rough trail for about a mile," Versaw recalled, in a written account of his experiences.
He survived on a diet of rice and what the prisoners called "pipe stew," a broth made from boiled, green vines.
The 5-foot, 6-inch Marine withered to 88 pounds, but overall, he fared better than most, he said.
"I got beat occasionally but not as severely as some," he said. "What was hard was the anxiety of not knowing what's going to happen to you in the next five minutes."
Versaw's imprisonment also took a toll on his parents in Nebraska, who thought he was dead for three years before they were notified by the Swedish Red Cross.
After being released when the war ended in September 1945, Versaw recalled one last image of Japan - riding by train through the decimated city of Nagasaki.
"That was probably one of the first real scenes I had of how the war had fallen on the Japanese," he said.
Versaw's experience as a POW didn't stop him from re-enlisting. In the Marines, he said, he could pursue his dream of becoming a photographer and earn retirement.
When the Korean War started in 1950, Versaw was sent to the area that is now North Korea, where he traveled as part of a mobile photo unit. His luck was better during the nine months in Korea, where he said the worst part was the cold.
Versaw retired from the Marines in 1959 and went on to work in the aerospace industry as a photographer on the Saturn and Apollo programs.
The images of WWII haunted him at night for many years, but Versaw said the war also made him the man he is today.
"I feel lucky to have survived it all," he said.
Versaw points out that his service allowed him to buy his house in Lakewood on the G.I. Bill, a home he shared for 50 years with his wife, Amelda, who died in 1999, and their two daughters.
Over the past few years, Versaw has befriended Japanese writer Kinue Tokudome, who is documenting the history of American POWS in Japan.
On her Web site, www.us-japandialogueonpows.org, Tokudome has retold Versaw's story and that of 23 other POWs.
"I find their stories compelling because they suffered at the hands of our country," she said. "It's important for us to remember. It's our history, too."
Coming Monday: Akinsanya Kambon, a Vietnam veteran and former Black Panther, now teaches African art at Cal State Long Beach.
kelly.puente@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1305
Ellie