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“Roger Mansell worked tirelessly to research and document the stories of American POWs in the Pacific during World War II. His efforts give us a better understanding of the great service and sacrifice of these heroes. The stories he tells are a tribute to the warriors who defend us.” – Oliver North

>>Editor and POW historian Linda Goetz Holmes to present the book on December 7, 2012

Prior to the outbreak of the Pacific War, Guam was a paradise for U.S. military and civilian employees stationed on the island.

Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, however, the Japanese invaded the tiny island, captured the Americans, and shipped them to Japan. Only a lucky few escaped.

Drawing on interviews with survivors, diaries, and archival records, Roger Mansell documents the mostly unknown story of these American POWs. Slowly starving as slave laborers for Japanese companies, the men endured horrific hardships, many of which are chronicled in this book for the first time.

Also included are moving stories of their liberation, transportation home, and the aftermath of their ordeal, making this book an important addition to World War II history.


“In the days of shock and horror that followed Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, another monumental event, occurring almost simultaneously, was largely overlooked: Japan's bloody seizure of the strategically critical island of Guam. For the American troops, civilians and native people captured in the invasion, so began an epic ordeal. The Americans were shipped off to be slaves for the Japanese, while the natives remained behind to endure four years of brutalities under their captors. Roger Mansell, the pre-eminent historian of Pacific POWs, devoted the last years of his life to unearthing and telling this forgotten story, and after his death, the work was completed by his colleague, the esteemed POW author Linda Goetz Holmes. Chronicling a lost chapter of World War II, Captured promises to be an authoritative, fastidiously researched and compelling read.”
—Laura Hillenbrand, author of Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption and Seabiscuit: An American Legend

Well researched and well written, Captured is a worthy addition to the growing literature on American POWs in World War II and a fine tribute to those who served on Guam.
—John B. Lundstrom, author of Midway and Guadal Canal

>>Read the review by Kinue Tokudome

About the author

Roger Mansell was a U.S. Army veteran. As a retired businessman, he spent years uncovering records and interviewing POWs. At the time of his death in 2010, he had compiled a vast database of information that helped several families locate the remains of loved ones and connect ex-POWs with fellow survivors.

About the editor

Linda Goetz Holmes
is the author of the POW classics Unjust Enrichment: How Japan's Companies Built Post War Fortunes Using American POWs ; 4000 Bowls of Rice: A Prisoner of War Comes Home; and Guests of the Emperor: The Secret History of Japan's Mukden POW Camp.

CAPTURED
The Forgotten Men of Guam
By Roger Mansell, Edited by Linda Goetz Holmes

NOVEMBER
288 pp., 16 b/w photos, 1 map, 6" x 9"
Hardcover: $33.95 o ISBN: 978-1-61251-114-6
History of WWII
eBook Available

Naval Institute Press 2012.

The video is Roger Mansell's last talk, an inspiring lecture about the vital importance of sharing research which he had planned to give at the FEPOW Conference in England, but he was too ill to travel. It was filmed at home in Palo Alto by John Hicks.



 More reviews:

"Roger Mansell's Captured is a beautifully written, richly researched account of the fall of Guam and a searing reminder of the horrific ordeal suffered by American prisoners of war at the hands of the Japanese."
John A. Glusman, author of Conduct Under Fire: Four American Doctors and Their Fight for Life as Prisoners of the Japanese, 1941 - 1945

>Read the complete review
Jeff Kingston, Japan Times

"The strength of the work is that the author interviewed many ex-POWs and recorded their stories first-hand. For every particular event of interest, for every unit involved, military or civilian, he seems to have at least one firsthand account. Often Mansell quotes directly from his interviews or from the diaries the POWs kept while in captivity. This provides a lot of interesting information and detail which make the book a gripping read. But in addition to collecting oral history from the survivors, Mansell has backed this up with thoroughly researched archival material which is well used and documented in the endnotes."
Peter McQuarrie, Pacific Affairs

"[A] very good piece of historical writing. The interviews allow the reader to learn much more about the POWs as individuals, and their graphic descriptions of the atrocities they witnessed are a testament to the depths of Japanese depravity in the POW camps. . . . It is a tragedy that Mansell did not live long enough to experience the feeling of having his book in print. His family should take pride in the product he managed to create, and the legacy of helping POW survivors that he has left behind.
Paul Springer, Humantities and Social Sciences Online, h-net.org

"After so many years, it’s surprising that World War II still has some untold stories. In fact, a couple of the “forgotten men of Guam” have published memoirs, but those are long out of print. In Captured, Roger Mansell brings their stories together with useful background and the results of what was apparently a great deal of personal research. The result is an interesting account of some of the first prisoners of the Pacific war and their tribulations...a valuable collection of reminiscences... Captured conveys the atmosphere of the camps and the men's perceptions clearly enough to make it very enjoyable and rewarding reading."
The Asian Review of Books

"
A labor of love for Roger Mansell that extended ten years, edited after his death by historian Linda Goetz (known for her writings on the POW experience in the Pacific War), this book stands as a harrowing tale of the POW experience of the men of Guam. The genesis of this stark tale is the author’s interviews of POWs and the realization that no book-length treatment had ever dealt with the men of Guam, whose experience had been largely forgotten between the events of Pearl Harbor and Wake Island and in the later horrors of the Bataan Death March. This book fills that void and serves as a lasting tribute to the memory of the brave men in harm’s way who paid the price for our nation’s unpreparedness and survived a cruel and barbaric captivity at the hand of sadistic Japanese. There are a few remarkable qualities to this work that make it immensely worthwhile for any reader who has an interest in uncovering the truth about Japanese treatment of prisoners of war (which makes for deeply unpleasant reading) or understanding the grim fate of Guam during World War II. One of these qualities is that Roger Mansell (a man who had never written a book) managed to skillfully express the words of the POWs whose memories he recorded over long years of meticulous research, allowing the prisoners of war, through their memories, their diaries, and other primary data, to speak for themselves against the silence of oblivion.... CONTINUE READING
Nathan Albright in Naval History Book Reviews

I could not stop reading it. His attention to detail was amazing. Reading the book was like sitting down with a great story-teller that transported me to that time and those places. My only complaint is that it wasn't another 500 pages! It is absolutely the best book I've read about the Far Eastern POW experience. . . I will treasure this book forever.
Jim Hansford



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