Book Review "Give Us This Day" by Sidney Stewart

"Give Us This Day" by Sidney Stewart is one American soldier's shockingly brutal account of the Bataan Death March and the long years of imprisonment afterward.

 In 1942, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese set their sights on the Philipine Islands. The author ,Sidney Stewart was a U.S. soldier stationed in the Philipine capital, Manila when the Japanese invaded the islands.  The American and Filipino troops bravely resisted the Japanese invaders for several months, but with no help coming from the United States about 70 thousand American and Filipino soldiers and some civilians had no choice but to surrender. 

The new prisoners of the Japanese were force- marched 5 to 6 days in scorching heat with almost no food or water. Many of the POWs  died from  wounds, disease, dehydration, and attacks from the Japanese guards. The Japanese would often murder any of the prisoners that stopped to rest. 6 to 11 thousand Americans and Filipino's died during the march.

 After the march ended, the  prisoners were put in makeshift camps with little medical care, sanitation, food, or water. Thousands of the POWs died from disease and malnutrition. Somehow, Mr. Stewart survived the  horror, although, he was paralyzed when a Japanese ship he was being transported in was attacked by U.S. aircraft.

 "Give Us This Day" is an excellent account of a very dark time in the middle 20th century.