Title: Saints at War in the Philippines: Latter-Day Saints in WWII Prison Camps
Author: Michael H. Hyer
Publisher: RSC BYU Deseret Book
Genre: History / Biography
Year Published: 2021
Number of Pages: 271
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN-13 Hardcover: 9781950304134
Price: $25.99
Reviewed by Richard Ji for the Association for Mormon Letters
Saints at War in the Philippines: Latter-Day Saints in WWII Prison Camps, written by Michael H. Hyer is a riveting account of Latter-Day Saints who had been kept as Prisoners of War in the Pacific during WWII. Hyer’s uncle, First Lieutenant George Robin (Bobby) Brown, was one of those men and his story is reflected throughout the book. The rear of the dust jacket features a statement that reads, “a small bright ray of light in a very dark place.” That quote seems to summarize the essence of the book well. The American, Filipino, Korean, British, Dutch, and other soldiers who surrendered to the Japanese endured through depraved conditions and treatment throughout their captivity. Many of them did not survive. The hope and faith that the American Latter-Day Saint servicemen who are featured in Saints at War in the Philippines demonstrated was remarkable and inspiring.
Saints at War is well annotated, Hyer has drawn from numerous primary and secondary sources. He pieced together events, names, and places as best as possible considering the fragmented nature of available information on the subject. The book educates on a lesser-known part of WWII – that being the campaign in the Philippines. It does include more well-known events such as the horrible Bataan march. By taking the reader through the experiences of the soldiers, one gets a broader history of what happened in the Philippines during WWII. The book has 30 short, fast reading chapters with notes at the end of each one. They follow the order of events chronologically and weave in the experiences of the LDS soldiers. There are some maps, a preface, an introduction, an epilogue, and afterward, acknowledgments, bibliography, and index surrounding these chapters.
While Hyer is not a scholar employed in academia, his work is well researched and provides an objective view. One cannot argue that the man-caused atrocities inflicted upon these soldiers by many of their captors and, at times, each other are not excusable in the world that most of us live in today. Hyer however, was able to share the dynamics that may have led to the viciousness shown by the Japanese soldiers and their conscripts. The book tells the story matter-of-factly and does not hold back on inconvenient facts that may detract from ideals we may want to hold about these heroes. Some of these facts included an unfulfilled patriarchal blessing that promised a safe return of one LDS soldier, the lack of support and proper equipment leading to the surrender of the American troops, the deaths of POWs caused by friendly fire, and the barbarism conducted by POWs themselves. Saints at War in the Philippines seems to take an objective but perhaps an empathetic view. This empathetic tone applies to the POWs, the Japanese soldiers and civilians, the families of the servicemen, the US government, and the US military. While some of the disturbing facts could have been presented in a condemning way, I felt like Hyer took lengths to give all parties the benefit of the doubt by providing facts that presented more than simply the victims’ perspectives. I found this approach to be refreshing and perspective expanding.
While I found myself an engrossed reader throughout the book, what would have made the book even more interesting, were more anecdotes and stories to make the profiled LDS servicemen come to life more. Perhaps this was due to a lack of information, but greater backstories of who these men were before the war, more descriptions from family and friends to help the reader understand their personalities and characters, and perhaps more chapters on the lives of the survivors after the war, would have made this work more complete in my mind. Clearly, the focus of the book was on the time of imprisonment, but I think many readers would benefit from details to help us relate more to these men and how their ordeal shaped or perhaps misshaped their faith and lives. Also, if they existed and their records were available, it would also be interesting to read of non-American LDS servicemen who endured through their imprisonment along with the Americans. This would make this work more complete.
Saints at War in the Philippines: Latter-Day Saints in WWII Prison Camps by Michael H. Hyer is an outstanding work. I learned so much about this part of the war and highly recommend this book to all those who are interested in World War II history.