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Soldiers marching in Manila, US Army Signal Corps photo, now in H In the new prison camp, the “twelve anchors” the collections of the National Archives; navy nurses Dorothy Still and E turned a stripped infirmary into a functioning hos- Eldene Paige tend to an ill inmate, courtesy of Bureau of Medicine S and Surgery; sleeping quarters at Santo Tomas prison camp, courtesy I pital. Despite their own ailments, they provided of US Army; Admiral Thomas Kinkaid greets the navy nurses, nonstop care for starving, diseased, and abused courtesy of Bureau of Medicine and Surgery; nurses at Cavite Naval $28.99 (CAN $38.99) Base before the war, courtesy of Bureau of Medicine and Surgery; inmates. Over the years, their friendships deepened, ISBN: 978-1-64160-076-7 Dorothy Still, courtesy of Bureau of Medicine and Surgery 5 2 8 9 9 and several of the women, including Dorothy, even Author photo: Stephen Serio Photography found love. 9 781641 600767 E m i l i E l E B E au l u c c h E s i younThg nisu Irss eR weahlloy fWouagr hist faonr ilnifsep diruinrign gst ao rdya rakb otiumt ea. Printed in the United States of America the INCREDIBLE TRUE STORY of a NAVY NURSE POW in the OCCUPIED PHILIPPINES e l B l milie e eau ucchesi 314372AZK_WAR_CS6_PC.indd 3 01/02/2019 10:21:36 314372AZK_WAR_CS6_PC.indd 2 01/02/2019 10:21:36 314372AZK_WAR_CS6_PC.indd 1 01/02/2019 10:21:36 Copyright © 2019 by Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi All rights reserved Published by Chicago Review Press Incorporated 814 North Franklin Street Chicago, Illinois 60610 ISBN 978‑1‑64160‑076‑7 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Lucchesi, Emilie Le Beau, author. Title: This is really war : the incredible true story of a Navy nurse POW in the occupied Philippines / Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi. Description: Chicago, Illinois : Chicago Review Press, [2019] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018058584 (print) | LCCN 2019002844 (ebook) | ISBN 9781641600774 (PDF edition) | ISBN 9781641600798 (EPUB edition) | ISBN 9781641600781 (Kindle edition) | ISBN 9781641600767 (cloth edition) Subjects: LCSH: Danner, Dorothy Still, 1914–2001. | Women prisoners of war—Philippines—Biography. | United States. Navy—Nurses— Biography. | United States. Navy—Officers—Biography. | Los Baños Internment Camp. | World War, 1939–1945—Prisoners and prisons, Japanese. | World War, 1939–1945—Philippines. | Philippines— History—Japanese occupation, 1942–1945. Classification: LCC D805.P6 (ebook) | LCC D805.P6 L83 2019 (print) | DDC 940.54/7092 [B] —dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018058584 Typesetting: Nord Compo Map design: Chris Erichsen Printed in the United States of America 5 4 3 2 1 314372AZK_WAR_CS6_PC.indd 4 01/02/2019 10:21:36 For my grandfather Leon J. Le Beau, PhD. US Army, 5th Medical Laboratory, South Pacific And always, my husband, Michael Lucchesi, for many, many reasons 314372AZK_WAR_CS6_PC.indd 5 01/02/2019 10:21:36 314372AZK_WAR_CS6_PC.indd 6 01/02/2019 10:21:36 Contents Author’s Note ix Key Figures xi Chronology xiv Maps xvii Part I: 1941 1 I’d Die Before I Wore Those .....................3 2 Oh My God, This Is Really War ................19 3 Everything Under Control .....................29 Part II: 1942 4 Banzai .......................................49 5 Chin Up, Girls ................................59 6 Room 30A ....................................75 7 Where Were You When We Needed Help? .......93 314372AZK_WAR_CS6_PC.indd 7 01/02/2019 10:21:36 Part III: 1943 8 Fed Up with the Way Things Have Been Going ..105 9 They Will Suffocate! ..........................113 10 Take Them Outside ...........................125 11 I Am Ashamed of You ........................139 Part IV: 1944 12 We Might Not Come Out of This Alive .........157 13 I Have Returned .............................169 14 Do the Best You Can .........................181 Part V: 1945 15 ’Tis You, ’Tis You Must Go and I Must Bide ....197 16 Roll Out the Barrel ...........................211 17 Today We Either Live or Die ..................221 18 Don’t Worry Anymore About Me ..............235 Epilogue: I Hear You .........................255 Acknowledgments 267 Notes 271 Bibliography 303 Index 309 314372AZK_WAR_CS6_PC.indd 8 01/02/2019 10:21:37