Special Topics

Description: Mr. Bergbower served with the 28th Bombardment Squadron, 19th Bombardment Group, V Bomber Command, in the US Army Air Corps until the surrender of the Philippines. He endured years of subjugation as a prisoner of war and slave laborer in the following camps: Malaybalay, Davao Penal Colony, Toyihomo, Shinjuku in Japan.

Description: Mr. Calderone fought with the 31st Infantry Regiment in the Philippines until the surrender of Corregidor. He was held as a Prisoner of War until the end of the war at the following camps: O'Donnell, Cabanatuan, Clark Field, Bilibid and Nagoya #6, Nomach, Japan. He survived a "hell ship" voyage on the Nota Maru and endured years of subjugation as slave labor.

Description: Dale Minger was born on January 15, 1920, on a farm near Wadena, Iowa. At age twenty-one, he entered the United States Army on an offer to go to the Philippines, where he arrived in July 1941 and was stationed on Corregidor in the antiaircraft unit Battery D, 60th Coast Artillery. Taken prisoner and imprisoned for seven months after the fall of the Philippines, he was taken to Manila, where he endured starvation, blindness and malaria. He was witness to cruelty, ranging from...

Description: Mr. Reamer served in the US Army in the 60th Coast Artillery Regiment, F Battery, an antiaircraft unit tied into the harbor defenses of Manila and Subic Bays, until the surrender of Corregidor.  Held as a prisoner of war, he spent a long period of time in solitary confinement in Osaka Sakai Prison.

Description: Mr. Vater served in the US Army Corps of Engineers, 803rd Engineer Battalion (Aviation), Company A, until the surrender of Corregidor.  He was held as a prisoner of war until the end of the war in the following camps: Billibid, Cabanatuan Number 3 and Hoten. He survived a "hell ship" voyage on the Tottori Maru from the Philippines. to Formosa, Pusan, Korea, and, finally, ending in Mukden, Manchuria. Throughout, he endured years of subjugation as slave labor.

Description: LTC Dyas was born in Brooklyn, NY, and later raised in Queens, NY.  He entered the US Army in 1941, trained at Fort Ethan Allen, VT, and later joined the Airborne and trained at Fort Bragg, NC.  He served with the 82nd Airborne Division, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, First Battalion, A Company.  He jumped with the 82nd in the invasion of Sicily and fought until captured near Catelgerone.  He spent 23 months as a POW in Stalags IIB, IIIB and IIIA. After WWII, he used the GI Bill to...

Description: Mr. Joel served as an infantryman in the ETO during World War II. He was captured during the Battle of the Bulge and spent the remainder of the war in a POW camp.

Description: Mr. King flew missions in a B-24 until his plane was shot down over Austria during World War II. He spent the remainder of the war in several POW camps.

Description: Mr. Pope served as an artilleryman in the ETO during World War II. Captured during the Battle of the Bulge, he survived life as a POW until escaping in April 1945.

Description: Mr. Salerno served as a rifleman in the 106th Infantry Division in the European Theater during WWII. He was captured during the Battle of the Bulge and was imprisoned for the remainder of the war in Stalag IV-B and at a worksite near Gleina, Germany. During the Korean War, he served as a public affairs officer for the US Army Transportation Corps in Korea and Japan. In his postwar career, he worked as a Veterans Administration administrator.