Prisoner of the Rising Sun: The Lost Diary of Brig. Gen. Lewis Beebe (review)

Emerging like a ghost, the publication of Brigadier General Lewis Beebe's prison diary has given us a remarkable book. He served in the Philippine Campaign of 1941–42, as General MacArthur's chief logistician and then as General Wainwright's Chief of Staff until the surrender of Corregidor. For our benefit, Beebe was a prolific diarist between 1941 and 1944. Confiscated by the Japanese, his diary miraculously survived—it was found in a Japanese warehouse in Korea—and was returned to its owner. Beebe died in 1951 and never was able to publish his diary. Sixty years later the diary has appeared as a book through the efforts of Beebe's son.

Often, publishing diaries results in uneven efforts, lacking context and relevance. This work avoids those pitfalls and addresses two principal themes: the day-to-day thoughts of an American general officer serving in the first Philippine campaign; and his subsequent experience spending three years as a prisoner of the Japanese. Not only was Beebe an insightful participant and observer, but the diary is strengthened with an introduction by renowned historian Stanley Falk, placing the Pacific War prisoner experience in context. The use of explanatory endnotes, maps, and photographs provides the reader with a fuller understanding of the events and personnel referred to in the diary.

The diary starts on 8 December 1941—Beebe's fiftieth birthday—and ends in September 1944 when Beebe moved from a Japanese prison camp in Formosa to one in Manchuria. The diary's first half covers the five months from Pearl Harbor to the surrender of U.S. forces in the Philippines. Beebe, intimately involved in command decisions during the campaign, served as a member of the delegation surrendering to Japanese General Homma. He readily acknowledged that food and ammunition shortages limited U.S. forces to a defensive strategy and his logistical forecasts accurately predicted when the military effectiveness of American and Filipino soldiers on half, then third rations, would fail, ultimately dooming the command.

The second half details the difficult period of imprisonment. As a general officer, Beebe did not suffer the extreme deprivation imposed on the lower ranks. Nonetheless, the years in prison camp were grim. Repetitious diary entries comment on what became the prisoners' overriding concerns—food, health, and body weight. Beebe cannily observed that fellow incarcerated senior officers responded differently to the challenges and world-turned-upside-down environment they lived in—some remained leaders and kept their dignity, others became selfish and venal, and there were those who aged quickly, adrift in despair.

For a different perspective of the senior prisoner experience in the Pacific War, readers should review the diary of a fellow officer held with Beebe, Brig. Gen. William Brougher's South to Bataan, North to Mukden. The belated publication of Beebe's excellent work makes me wonder about other worthwhile manuscripts that unfortunately remain hidden.