A never-before-published account of the experience of an American 
officer at the hands of Japanese captors, Prisoner of the Rising 
Sun offers new evidence of the treatment accorded officers and 
shows how the Corregidor prisoners fared compared with the ill-
fated Bataan captives.

    When Japanese aircraft struck airfields in the Philippines on 
December 8, 1941, Col. Lewis C. Beebe was Gen. Douglas 
MacArthur's chief supply officer. Promoted to brigadier general, 
he would become chief of staff for General Wainwright in 1942. 
Beebe kept diary records of the Japanese invasion of the 
Philippines, their advance to Manila and capture of the Bataan 
Peninsula, and their assault on Corregidor. When Japanese
troops took Corregidor, Beebe was among those captured.

    During his captivity, Beebe recorded in his diary descriptions of 
poor rations, inadequate medical care, and field work in camps in
the Philippines, on Taiwan, and in Manchuria. He also describes 
the sometimes greedy behavior of his fellow captives, as well as a 
lighter side of camp life that included POW concerts and Red Cross 
visits.

    Annotation and an epilogue by General Beebe's son, Rev. John 
M. Beebe, add details about his military career, and an introduction 
by historian Stanley L. Falk places the diary in the context of the 
broader American experience of captivity.

_________________________________________________________

JOHN M. BEEBE served in combat in Korea and Vietnam before 
retiring and entering the ministry. He now lives in San Antonio. 
STANLEY L. FALK, former chief historian of the U.S. Air Force, 
is the author of Bataan: The March of Death.


Number 103: Texas A&M University Military History Series


What people are saying about this book

"Emerging like a ghost, the publication of Brigadier General Lewis 
Beebe's prison diary has given us a remarkable book."—The Journal 
of Military History, October 2006