I was born at Bristow, OK on 30 September 1917. I enlisted in the Army Air Corps on 16 August 1940 at Fort McArthur, CA. I went to boot camp at March Field, Riverside, CA. I was then sent to Weather School at McClelland Field, Sacramento, CA. I was then transferred to the 93rd Heavy Bombardment Squadron of the 19th Bombardment Group. I was then sent to open Albuquerque Air Base in April 1941.

In September 1941, I received sealed orders to report to "Plum," which turned out to be Clark Field, Pampanga Province and Philippine Islands. This turned out to be "Plum to Hell." On 8 December 1941, approximately 10 hours after Pearl Harbor was bombed, the Japanese attacked Clark Field. We lost 28 of our B-17’s.

We retreated to the Bataan Peninsula on 25 December 1941. We worked to help build an air strip until 5 February 1942, when we were sent to combat duty with the United States Air Force of the Far East (USAFFE). We made our final stand at Vega Point, Mareveles until 9 April 1942 when General Edward P. King had no choice but to surrender us to the Japs.

We were promised a ride, but we ended up walking 88 miles to San Fernando, Pampanga Province. Those who survived were shoved into a narrow-gauge boxcar, 100 or more to a car, and hauled 50 miles North to Tarlac. From there, we marched to Camp O’Donnell, a camp prepared for Filipino Constabulary prior to the war. Malaria hit me, and I volunteered for any detail to get out of that dump!

We were then sent back to Bataan to load US armament for the Japanese. I got sick again with Malaria and Dysentery. The Japs then hauled me to Cabanatuan Prison Camp #1. After going blind and surviving the farm and burial detail, I was then sent back to Clark Field. This time, it was not like my earlier detail since we worked everyday except Yasume (Japanese for Sunday).

In early 1944, I was hauled back to Cabanatuan #1, and shortly thereafter, they sent me to Bilibid Prison in Manilla. On 1 July 1944, we were loaded on a captured Canadian freighter that had been christened the SS Canadian Inventor and would be renamed the Sekiho Maru. We had nicknamed it Mati-Mati Maru, which meant "wait a minute." After 62 days at sea, we finally landed at Moji, Japan. We marched across a railroad trestle to Simoneske, Honshu, Japan. We boarded a train to Omine Machi, a Jap coal mine. The Japs had used Russian POWs to work this mine back in 1906 as slave laborers. For 11 months I worked in the coal mine, obtaining a knee and finger injury in December 1944.

I was the camp bugler and still have the Jap bugle I used.

I was liberated 15 September 1945 at Wakayama, Japan after 41 months, 8 days, and 7 ¾ hours as a "Holio" (Japanese for prisoner). I was honorably discharged 18 March 1946 at Camp Chaffee in Fort Smith, AR.