Conduct Under Fire: Four American Doctors and Their Fight for Life as Prisoners of the Japanese, 1941–1945
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《新英格兰医药杂志》
This is the story of four U.S. Navy medical officers who were captured by the Japanese in the Philippines early in World War II. The author is the son of Murray Glusman, one of the prisoners. A magazine assignment provided the opportunity for the son to travel to the Philippines, accompanied by his father, in 2001. This trip, in turn, led the father to end his reluctance to talk about the war and to respond to his son's questions. In the Philippines they visited locales where Dr. Glusman served and where he was first imprisoned. Thus inspired, the author got in touch with his father's medical colleagues and others who were involved in the war, including some Japanese, to research this book. Along the way he became acquainted with a large body of information on a variety of aspects of World War II, as well as on diseases and the practice of medicine and surgery in the U.S. Navy and in Japanese prison camps. Early in the book, we learn of the diverse family and professional backgrounds of these four officers and the circumstances that brought them to the Far East before the war. Their experiences in the battles for Bataan and Corregidor set the stage for their years in captivity.
(Figure)
The Bataan Death March, April 1942.
AP/Wide World Photos.
Prisoners were subjected to overcrowding, inadequate food and sanitary facilities, temperature extremes, hard labor, and the lack of clothing, shoes, and headgear, as well as to cruelty and persistent public humiliation. Survival often depended on the ability to steal, smuggle, and hide items. In such an environment, a few men stole from, or informed on, their fellow prisoners. The constant struggle was too much for some men. Amid all of this hardship, medical officers had to protect the food and the safety of their patients. Shortages of everything, including medicines, instruments, and items such as gauze, complicated the work of the doctors as they coped with diseases, injuries, and wounds. The situation also led to improvisation and experimentation.
The American air campaign against Japan accelerated in 1945, and there are graphic descriptions in the book of the firebombing of Tokyo and Kobe and of the efforts to cope with casualties. Kobe was the site of the camp where three of the Navy medical officers were then held. When the war ended, the American doctors feared that many prisoners would die before adequate food and medical care reached the camps. Murray Glusman played an important role in bringing those facts to the attention of the American authorities. But liberation did not end all the suffering. Later, on a hospital ship, other Navy doctors wondered why so many of the former prisoners had edema, but none of them asked Glusman or his colleagues about the health of their comrades. Recently liberated men were allowed to stand for hours in chow lines.
The last part of the book deals with the return of three of the doctors to their homes and loved ones and their subsequent careers. Many veterans of World War II, including those who endured captivity, had what later became known as post-traumatic stress disorder. But the lack of any reliable body of information on the condition before 1950 and the absence of a common language meant that psychoanalysts who treated these men had mixed results. More than half a century passed before Murray Glusman was able to discuss his experiences. Researching and writing about his father's war have also changed John Glusman.
A number of Americans do not like to remember the battles that they lost and the mistakes that were made. Such sentiments have influenced military, diplomatic, and legislative decisions that adversely affected the prisoners of war and those who survived the defeats. The author has produced a moving, informative, and well-documented account of aspects of World War II that are often overlooked in commemorations. I highly recommend this book.
Harold D. Langley, Ph.D.
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC 20560
hdlgrog@aol.com(By John A. Glusman. 588 p)
(Figure)
The Bataan Death March, April 1942.
AP/Wide World Photos.
Prisoners were subjected to overcrowding, inadequate food and sanitary facilities, temperature extremes, hard labor, and the lack of clothing, shoes, and headgear, as well as to cruelty and persistent public humiliation. Survival often depended on the ability to steal, smuggle, and hide items. In such an environment, a few men stole from, or informed on, their fellow prisoners. The constant struggle was too much for some men. Amid all of this hardship, medical officers had to protect the food and the safety of their patients. Shortages of everything, including medicines, instruments, and items such as gauze, complicated the work of the doctors as they coped with diseases, injuries, and wounds. The situation also led to improvisation and experimentation.
The American air campaign against Japan accelerated in 1945, and there are graphic descriptions in the book of the firebombing of Tokyo and Kobe and of the efforts to cope with casualties. Kobe was the site of the camp where three of the Navy medical officers were then held. When the war ended, the American doctors feared that many prisoners would die before adequate food and medical care reached the camps. Murray Glusman played an important role in bringing those facts to the attention of the American authorities. But liberation did not end all the suffering. Later, on a hospital ship, other Navy doctors wondered why so many of the former prisoners had edema, but none of them asked Glusman or his colleagues about the health of their comrades. Recently liberated men were allowed to stand for hours in chow lines.
The last part of the book deals with the return of three of the doctors to their homes and loved ones and their subsequent careers. Many veterans of World War II, including those who endured captivity, had what later became known as post-traumatic stress disorder. But the lack of any reliable body of information on the condition before 1950 and the absence of a common language meant that psychoanalysts who treated these men had mixed results. More than half a century passed before Murray Glusman was able to discuss his experiences. Researching and writing about his father's war have also changed John Glusman.
A number of Americans do not like to remember the battles that they lost and the mistakes that were made. Such sentiments have influenced military, diplomatic, and legislative decisions that adversely affected the prisoners of war and those who survived the defeats. The author has produced a moving, informative, and well-documented account of aspects of World War II that are often overlooked in commemorations. I highly recommend this book.
Harold D. Langley, Ph.D.
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC 20560
hdlgrog@aol.com(By John A. Glusman. 588 p)