I am saddened to announce the passing of of ex-internee Martha Collins Blanchard on 8 January 2025 in Vero Beach, Florida. Martha was born in Shanghai, China, in 1929. In early 1942, “Marty” and her mother, Dr. Martha Dyer Collins, were interned in Santo Tomas Internment Camp (STIC). They had been on their way to the United States when the War broke out. Her father, Dr. Daniel Joseph Collins, was interned in China.

The family was reunited when they were repatriated on the S.S. Gripsholm, which arrived at New York City, Dec. 1, 1943. After repatriation Martha attended the University of Michigan and St. Lawrence University.

The family is mentioned in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri) article of 5 December 1943 titled “St. Louis Woman Missionaries Tell of Life in Jap Prison Camps.”

CPOW Commander, Sally Meadows, is set to speak Los Altos, California, at noon on Friday, 19 January 2024. Sally will be delivering a talk on “Former civilian POWs and their internment by the Japanese during Japan’s Occupation of the Philippines in World War II.”

The program is hosted by the Los Altos Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR). The Chapter focuses on local historic preservation projects, genealogy research, fundraising for a Foothill College scholarship fund, environmental conservation, service to veterans, and other community projects. The talk will be held in the Apricot Room of the Los Altos Community Center, 97 Hillview Ave, Los Altos.

According to the announcement:

“The presentation will explore a largely unknown facet of World War II in the Pacific: the fact that thousands of civilians, including Americans and citizens of other Allied nations, were held captive by the Imperial Japanese military in internment camps throughout Asia – specifically, those who were interned in the Philippines and how they survived over three years of captivity. The stories include why these people were in the Philippines when the war started, how the internment happened, life in camp, and the eventual liberation by General MacArthur’s forces.”

Link to the complete article online and to register for the event, visit bit.ly/POW-19.

Curtis Brooks, and his family, are mentioned and pictured in a recent CBS News article about VJ Day titled The day of U.S. victory in the Pacific is often forgotten. Survivors hope its lessons won’t be. The article, by Cindy Sui, begins:

Robert Rosendahl was just 19 — too young in those days to drink a beer or cast a vote — when he was sent to Pacific theater in World War II. There, in that deadliest of the war’s arenas, he would see things that no man, let alone a boy, should ever see.

He had just graduated from high school in a small town in Minnesota. His parents couldn’t afford to send him to college, so in 1941, he joined the army.

Soon after arriving in the Philippines, he was sent to the front during the Battle of Bataan. In that bloody struggle, American and Philippine forces tried to hold fast against the Japanese invasion of the Philippines — and failed.

More than 30 million soldiers and civilians were killed in the Pacific theater during the course of the war, compared with the 15 million to 20 million killed in Europe.

But remarkably, as the 75th anniversary of the end of the war in Asia approaches, on Saturday, Aug. 15, few remembrance ceremonies are planned…

Curtis is quoted in this article. Follow this link to the entire article.

The first release of “In Memoriam” has been posted to the Philippine Internment website. This page mainly lists the deaths of over 600 “enemy aliens” who were detained in the civilian internment camps, but includes some of those who escaped internment, or others killed during the fight for liberation. A form for corrections and additions is included on the page. The page can be found under “Internees and Others on the website.

Welcome to this site.

Both my grandfathers, Clinton Floren Carlson and Alvah Eugene Johnson, were interned in Santo Tomás Internment Camp during World War II. Grandfather Carlson told me, many times, about the living conditions inside the Camp and how the internees would try to keep their spirits up. Born in Wisconsin, he first came to the Philippines when he was in the U.S. Navy. He lived to age 95 and died in Chula Vista, California.

Grandfather Johnson, however, died of beriberi just before liberation. While researching my family tree, I found out that Alvah had first come to the Philippines during the Philippine-American War. He married a Filipina and they ultimately had 10 children, the youngest of which was my father, Roy Wallace Johnson.

I created this site to honor them and the many others who suffered in, and outside of, the camps. It is my hope that people contribution photos, stories, references and other items to make this a better website.

Thanks for stopping by.