Kentucky's Fighting 192nd Light g.H.Q. Tank Battalion: A Saga of Kentucky's Part in the Defense of The Philippines

Newport, KY: [Author], 1981. Harrowing personal account of this unit formed of National Guard Companies from Janesville, WI; Maywood, IL; Port Clinton, OH; and Harrodsburg, KY; the author, promoted to Captain, was Battalion Surgeon and head of the medical detachment when they were deployed to the Philippines in late November of 1941. Poweleit describes the unit's training and his daily activities, including his study of the Japanese language & Filipino flora & fauna; then early air attacks by the Japanese and their land invasion, military actions and maneuvers, trouble with illness & malnutrition, then assignment to a hospital for a few weeks, treating the badly wounded and infected, until April 9 when the colonel in charge surrendered the hospital to the Japanese. After this, he recounts his and others' memories as POWs, including forced marches and atrocities, then confinement in Camp O'Donnell, where his knowledge of Japanese proved helpful. By early 1943, he was moved to Cabanatuan, then Bongabon, continuing his medical work and recounting more atrocities, though the situation at Bongabon was considerably better. He was returned to Cabanatuan, then put on a 'hell ship' carrying POWs to Taiwan, sometimes under attack by Allied forces. Reaching Taiwan in November of 1944, he spent the rest of the war there. He further describes other atrocities in the Philippines, the aftermath of the war, and memorials to the fallen. Hardcover, as pictured; no jacket, as issued. INSCRIBED by the author on the free endsheet: "To Sky Beaver Written to commemorate the men of KYs 192nd Tank Battallion Sincerely Alvin C. Poweleit". We assume 'Sky Beaver' refers to a member of the 127th Airborne Engineer Battalion, but cannot be sure. Book shows light wear, corners a bit bumped, tiny spot on front cover. Text clean apart from a few minor pencil corrections of typos; xi, blank, 228 pages; b/w photos, illustrations, maps, company rosters. . Inscribed by the Author. First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/No Jacket. Illus. by Jack Gold. Octavo.