One Soldier's Personal Story of Survival, Redemption in WW II

The incredible WWII saga of Joe Johnson Jr. (1926–2017), who left home at age 12, enlisted in the U.S. Army at 14, and survived three years in Japanese POW camps, is recounted in this rousing account from bestseller Brotherton (Blaze of Light). Stationed in Manila, Joe fell in love with a teenage prostitute named Perpetua, who soon became pregnant. Shortly after he snuck her out of the brothel and paid for her room and board at a local convent, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and invaded the Philippines. Joe witnessed the deaths of most of his unit during the battles of Bataan and Corregidor before being captured. He endured constant starvation, regular beatings, and multiple nights in an eiso, a wooden cage the size of a small coffin, before being sent with more than 1,600 other POWs on a ship to Japan.