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OH 1464

About the Interviewee

IntervieweeBIGELOW, Frank H. (b. 1921)
Military ServiceU.S. Navy WWII Veteran
Notable infosurvivor of the siege of Corregidor

About this oral history

Interview ID #OH 1464
Date(s) of interview
DescriptionSurvivor of the siege of Corregidor. His experiences as a prisoner-of-war of the Japanese during World War II. Boyhood in North Dakota; various jobs during the Great Depression; enlistment in the Navy, 1939; volunteering for duty in the Philippines and assignment to the submarine tender USS Canopus, 1940; pre-war military life in the Philippines; the Japanese bombing of Cavite Navy Yard and the destruction of the Canopus, December, 1941; retreat to Bataan, January, 1942; retreat to Corregidor; the fall of Corregidor; confinement in the 92nd Garage area; forced march down Dewey Boulevard in Manila; confinement at Cabanatuan, 1942-43; hell ship to Japan, July, 1943; coal mining for Mitsui Heavy Industries, Omuta, Kyushu; amputation of his leg by fellow prisoners after a mining accident, January, 1945; liberation; his description of the destruction in Nagasaki due to the atomic bomb.
Interviewer(s)William J. Alexander
Physical Description93 pp. plus documents (8 pp.)
Terms of UseOpen