Prisoner of the Rising Sun

"Prisoner of the Rising Sun" is the first-hand story of an American naval officer taken prisoner after the Battle of Corregidor.

The author, William Berry, is a rare individual - someone who escaped from a Japanese POW camp, was recaptured, and lived to tell of his harrowing punishment at the hands of his captors.

His is a story of courage and indomitable will. Hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbour, Japanese forces launched a devastating attack on US troops in the Philippines.

In May 1942, after months of battle with no reinforcements and no hope of victory, the remaining American forces, holed up on the tiny island of Corregidor, suffered a humiliating defeat, and 11,000 fighting men became prisoners of war in the largest American capitulation since Appomattox.

Those lucky enough to survive the brutal conditions of their captivity remained imprisoned until General MacArthur returned to the Philippines in 1945.

In those Japanese prison camps, insufficient food and nonexistent sanitation quickly led to rampant disease. Faced with the likelihood of death, Bill Berry and two other young navy ensigns planned and executed a daring escape into the then unmapped mountain wilderness of central Luzon.

For three months the trio eluded the Japanese, aided by the hospitality of sympathetic Filipino villagers.

Recaptured, they were transferred to Bilibid, a maximum-security prison near Manila.

There they were classified as "special prisoners" for having escaped.

They were made to endure extraordinary privation and punishment under a constant threat of summary execution.

Berry tells his story with candour and good humour, bringing to life the events, circumstances and friendships of his wartime adventures in the Philippines.

His tale of capture, escape, recapture and punishment, vividly recounted with mounting dramatic tension, stands as a testament to the fortitude and bravery of the "battling bastards of Corregidor and Bataan".