After surviving the brutal Bataan Death March in spring 1942, Louisiana native John Henry Poncio spent the remainder of World War II as a Japanese prisoner, first at Camp Cabanatuan in the Philippines and later at Hirohata in Japan. In those three and a half years, U.S. Army Air Corps sergeant Poncio suffered severe beatings, starvation, disease, and emotional and psychological abuse at the hands of his captors. However, his resiliency, sense of humor, and cunning helped him to persist and to recover from the traumatic events without rancor toward the Japanese. In Girocho, he relates his experiences as a POW with touching honesty, vividly describing the harsh conditions he and his comrades endured as well as the sometimes-funny clashes with Japanese culture. Girocho was a samurai who stole from the rich and gave to the poor, a Japanese Robin Hood. Early on, Poncio was given this name in jest by one of the prison guards, and it suited him perfectly. During his internment, he took part in a vast smuggling operation that brought food, money, mail, and other supplies into the POW camps; he reported enemy troop movements to Filipino guerrillas and participated in acts of sabotage. He and the other prisoners worked together incessantly to subvert the Japanese war effort even under the threat of death, going so far as to bury expensive calibration equipment in wet cement and build irregular gears for planes. To frustrate their captors and to stay alive, the American POWs developed the technique “going Asiatic” — maintaining a blank expression during interrogations and beatings and escaping mentally for a time. Although he and his fellow captives were treated with cruelty by many, Poncio recalls the camaraderie of the prisoners and encounters with humane guards and kind civilians, proving his remarkable gift for finding the positive in the most dire of situations. Girocho is an inspiring memoir, transcribed verbatim by Poncio’s wife, Inez, from nine hours of cassettes Poncio recorded some years after the war. Marlin Young verified her uncle’s stories, placed them in chronological order, and set them within the greater context of the war, creating a compelling tale of one soldier’s courage, honor, and resolve to overcome life as a prisoner of war. Their book is a fitting tribute to the POWs in the Pacific, who fought in their unique way for the U.S. war effort, their friends, and their very lives.

A challenging examination of Japanese war crimes during World War II offers a fresh perspective on the Pacific War-and a better understanding of reasons for the wartime use of extreme mass violence. The 1937 Rape of Nanjing has become a symbol of Japanese violence during the Second World War, but it was not the only event during which the Japanese used extreme force. This thought-provoking book analyzes Japan's actions during the war, without blaming Japan, helping readers understand what led to those eruptions. In fact, the author specifically disputes the idea that the forms of extreme violence used in the Pacific War were particularly Japanese. The volume starts by examining the Rape of Nanjing, then goes on to address Japan's acts of individual and collective violence throughout the conflict. Unlike other works on the subject, it combines historical, sociological, and psychological perspectives on violence with a specific study of the Japanese army, seeking to define the reasons for the use of extreme violence in each particular case. Both a historical survey and an explanation of Japanese warfare, the book scrutinizes incidents of violence perpetrated by the Japanese vis-à-vis theories that explore the use of violence as part of human nature. In doing so, it provides far-reaching insights into the use of collective violence and torture in war overall, as well as motivations for committing atrocities. Finally, the author discusses current political implications stemming from Japan's continued refusal to acknowledge its war-time actions as war crimes.

Examines the life of American soldiers fighting in the Pacific during World War II.

For two weeks during the spring of 1942, the Bataan Death March--one of the most widely condemned atrocities of World War II--unfolded. The prevailing interpretation of this event is simple: American prisoners of war suffered cruel treatment at the hands of their Japanese captors while Filipinos, sympathetic to the Americans, looked on. Most survivors of the march wrote about their experiences decades after the war and a number of factors distorted their accounts. The crucial aspect of memory is central to this study--how it is constructed, by whom and for what purpose. This book questions the prevailing interpretation, reconsiders the actions of all three groups in their cultural contexts and suggests a far greater complexity. Among the conclusions is that violence on the march was largely the result of a clash of cultures--undisciplined, individualistic Americans encountered Japanese who valued order and form, while Filipinos were active, even ambitious, participants in the drama.