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Courage, Above and Beyond
I still think of the indignity of being beaten for no reason other
than that I was an American. I remember. I cannot forget.\
Harry Corre.
Harry Corre was a witness, a
participant and a victim of the savagery of war few men can attest.
The Japanese captured him, not once, but twice. He fled the Bataan
Death March; he escaped in shark infested waters; he nearly died from
disease; he was among the first American prisoners to be shipped into Japan;
he was beaten, tortured and made to work as a slave in a condemned section
of a Japanese mine; he survived two cave-ins and was buried alive, and
finally he witnessed the bombing of Nagasaki.
Harry was eighteen years old when he enlisted in the U.S. Army in May of
1941. He was given the choice of serving in Europe or the Philippines. I
was going to be smart, said Harry. I wanted to stay as far away as
possible from the fighting in Europe, so I chose the Philippines
(Even though the U.S. had not yet entered the war, Harry knew that it was
only a matter of time until the Americans were involved.)
Within hours of the attack on Pearl
Harbor, Corre and the other troops on the Philippine Islands saw Japanese
reconnaissance planes in and around Luzon Island. Corre was sent to
Bataan to help turn hundreds of civilians into soldiers. After he was
on Bataan three weeks and under constant attack, 12,000 Americans and 60,000
Filipinos were ordered to surrender to the numerically superior Japanese.
Corre was a part of the Bataan Death March and suffered for two days with no
food or water. Corre witnessed hundreds of men shot, bayoneted for
falling from exhaustion, dehydration and battle wounds. Corre knew he
had to escape and on a dark night, dove off the side of the road into the
jungle. For three days, Corre fled and made his way to the shore on
the other side of the Island. Corre found some driftwood and a tree
log and made his way through shark-infested waters. After what I
had seen on the march, I was more scared of the Japs than what was ahead of
me. Corre made his way to Corregidor and one month later again,
was surrendered to the Japanese.
After a couple of weeks on Corregidor, Corre
was shipped to Manila and from there to a Japanese prison camp where he
contacted Diphtheria. He was shipped to Zero Ware, the
last stop for most prisoners - the men were dying at the rate of 171 a day.
Since Corre could walk, he was placed on burial detail. The men were
beaten daily with clubs, rifles, bamboo poles and anything the Japanese
soldiers could locate.
Within a year, Corre was shipped to Kyushu,
Japan in a group of men forced to work in Japanese coal mines. Corre
and the others were known as the first 500. He was compelled to work
in a condemned section of the mine, often 10 - 14 hours a day. While
working there, Corre came down with yellow jaundice, and constantly suffered
from a running fever and wounds that would not heal. One day, while
working with a pick, the sharp end bounced off a rock and went through his
foot. Fortunately for Corre, the pick went between the bones in his
foot. Since the bone was not broken, he was forced to continue
working. When his shift was over, he and the other men were forced to
march for two miles back to camp. The last meal of the day was a cup
of rice and if lucky, watered down soup. We were starving and very weak,
yet the Japs forced us daily as slaves to work in the mines to further the
Japanese war effort.
While working in
the mine, Corre was caught in two cave-ins. He suffered numerous cuts
and bruises on his head and body the first time, and the second time, he was
trapped for more than six hours under coal, rocks and timber. He was
buried so deep it took more than two hours to dig him out.
On the morning of August 9,
1945 Corre was working topside due to his injuries from the cave-in.
Suddenly, from across the bay, Corre saw a flash and then heard a tremendous
roar from an explosion. Looking across the bay to Nagasaki, I saw a
tremendous cloud rising. It was like some time later, he said, I learned I
had seen the mushroom cloud associated with an atomic bomb.
A few days later, Corre woke and
found that all the guards had fled the prison. Marine fighter planes
buzzed his camp and food was dropped into the site by American bombers. In a
matter of weeks, Harry, and thousands of other Americans were on their way
to their homeland, and freedom...
____________
His
ordeal never ended. I am
still frightened to go into a room that is not lit up and I constantly wake
up thinking I am in a cave in. I still think of the 150 - 170 men I buried,
day after day. I still remember starving men with hollow eyes and skin
stretched over bones and legs and feet blown up like balloons with
beriberi. I still remember the men who were shot and bayoneted because they
were sick or wounded. I still think of the indignity of being beaten for no
reason other than I was an American. I still remember trying to swim
against the current in shark-infested waters. I remember. I cannot
forget.
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IN HIS OWN WORDS:
In 1945, upon my return to the USA, I was 22 years old and had
been a POW 3 ½ years under the worst conditions imaginable. Having survived
the Japanese I realized I could survive anything. After various jobs and
ongoing education, I moved to California and went to work in the Aerospace
Industry and became an Engineer working on spacecraft, missiles and laser
design, participating in launch activities at Cape Canaveral, Florida and
later became assistant Project Manager on the Star Wars Project at White
Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. Upon retiring from TRW after 26 years;
finding myself bored with retirement I joined Lear Jet Aeronautics as a
Quality Engineer working on military and commercial aircraft design and
manufacturing processes.
In 1999, I became acquainted with another POW and started going to
the VA in West L.A., joining with other POWs to apply for VA benefits. The
following year I was asked to take over the office of the POW Service
Officer. For the past four years I have been the POW National Service
Officer for Greater Los Angeles VA Hospital Center which includes three
hospitals and at the request of The Los Angeles VA Regional Office, I am the
POW NSO at The Loma Linda VA Hospital, in Riverside County.
Ed. Note: In
a recent report to the VA Secretary, Anthony Principi, by the POW Advisory
Board, Harry and his wife Marilyn were commended for the outstanding work
they have performed for veterans as National Service Officers, and stated
that they should be held up as examples for any NSO to emulate. (See
Secretary Prencipi says Thanks to NSOs)
Harry Corre lives in Los Angeles with his wife (above photo)
He has three children and six grandchildren. I have known and often worked
with Harry. I have known few men who have the strong moral and physical
courage as Harry Corre, and one who still serves his Country, and his fellow
Veterans so admirably.
Roy Livingstone
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