Left Behind: When America Surrendered WW2

Escape into Enemy Hands

Flown out of Corregidor Island in a daring, last-minute escape in April 1942, Army nurse Rosemary Hogan found herself heading for the safety of Australia.
The war on Bataan was a distant memory now.
But disaster struck when the plane was forced down on a southern Philippines island – and the Japanese army was fast approaching.
 
You’ll find images and maps about Rosemary Hogan’s story at:
- Instagram: @leftbehindpodcast   -- www.instagram.com/leftbehindpodcast 
- Left Behind Facebook: www.facebook.com/people/Left-Behind-Podcast/100092698653154/ 
- Left Behind Website (includes sources): https://leftbehindpodcast.com/Hogan

Pearl Harbor: An Eyewitness Remembers

Imagine you’re a ten-year-old living in Honolulu, Hawaii, just a few blocks from Waikiki.
Now imagine you wake up on a beautiful December morning to the sounds of planes overhead and explosions not so very far away.
You’re too young to understand: Why these planes are attacking. Why your mother and grandmother are so frightened. Why you won’t see your father again for more than 3 years.
And you definitely don’t understand that you’ve just witnessed America's entry into the Second World War.
 
Learn more about the people trying to keep Pacific POWs’ memories alive.
Philippine Scout Heritage Society -- https://www.philippinescouts.org/
American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Memorial Society -- https://www.adbcmemorialsociety.org/
 
You’ll find images and maps about my family’s Pearl Harbor experience:
- Instagram: @leftbehindpodcast   -- www.instagram.com/leftbehindpodcast 
- Left Behind Facebook: www.facebook.com/people/Left-Behind-Podcast/100092698653154/ 
- Left Behind Website (includes sources): https://leftbehindpodcast.com/PearlHarbor

One Warrior’s Bed-Bound Surrender

Seriously wounded on the front lines two days earlier, Lt. Jim Daly was bed-bound and immobile in a full-body cast when Bataan fell.
And then Japanese forces took control of the field hospital.
 
You’ll find images and maps about Lt Jim Daly’s story at:
- Instagram: @leftbehindpodcast   -- www.instagram.com/leftbehindpodcast 
- Left Behind Facebook: www.facebook.com/people/Left-Behind-Podcast/100092698653154/ 
- Left Behind Website (includes sources): https://leftbehindpodcast.com/Daly

POW Portraits: The Stories We Choose to Share

A behind the scenes look at the process I use to identify POWs to highlight in “Left Behind,” and once chosen, how I find their amazing stories.

Defending The Rock: US Marines on Corregidor’s Front Lines

Lt. Col. Curtis Beecher’s 1st Battalion was the first line of defense against Japanese landing parties on Corregidor Island.
A distinguished WW1 hero and career Marine, Beecher rallied his men to create beach defenses. But when Japanese forces conquered the island anyway, Beecher began 3.5 years as a POW – including surviving the Oryoku Maru disaster.
 
You’ll find images and maps about Curtis Beecher’s story at:
- Instagram: @leftbehindpodcast   -- www.instagram.com/leftbehindpodcast 
- Left Behind Facebook: www.facebook.com/people/Left-Behind-Podcast/100092698653154/ 
- Left Behind Website (includes sources): https://leftbehindpodcast.com/Beecher

Legacy of Valor: A Family’s Stand on Corregidor

In the early days of World War II, Vicente and Marcos Mocorro -- father and son – together defended Corregidor Island from Japanese attacks, while enduring the enemy’s debilitating bombing runs on an island under siege.
But, when the inevitable happened and they were captured by enemy forces, they were separated. One became a guerilla fighter, continuing the fighting against his country’s invaders.
Years after the war, they were again reunited in the most unlikely of places.
 
You’ll find images and maps about the Mocorro's story at:
- Instagram: @leftbehindpodcast   -- www.instagram.com/leftbehindpodcast 
- Left Behind Facebook: www.facebook.com/people/Left-Behind-Podcast/100092698653154/ 
- Left Behind Website (includes sources): https://leftbehindpodcast.com/Mocorro

Relentless Hope: A Story of Love, Faith, and Survival

Chet and Grace Britt were still newlyweds when the US Army evacuated her from The Philippines Islands in spring 1941.
While she joined the home front war efforts, she had no idea the horrendous things Chet experienced once Bataan fell.  
For Chet, however, Grace's love and his faith pulled him through some of the darkest moments the American POWs faced while prisoners of the Japanese.
 
You’ll find images and maps about Grace and Chet Britt’s story at:
- Instagram: @leftbehindpodcast   -- www.instagram.com/leftbehindpodcast 
- Left Behind Facebook: www.facebook.com/people/Left-Behind-Podcast/100092698653154/ 
- Left Behind Website (includes sources): https://leftbehindpodcast.com/Britt
 
David Britt’s biography “Relentless Hope: A True Story of War and Survival” is available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Relentless-Hope-True-Story-Survival/dp/109838539X/

From Passion to Podcast: The Origin of Left Behind

I’ve been working toward creating the Left Behind podcast for nearly 20 years.
Seems strange, but it’s true. And it’s part of my answer to the question ALL the time: “How did you get into researching POWs in The Philippines?” Well, it literally started when I was 24 and bored one night…
Every hero needs an origin story – and here’s the one for Left Behind
 
You’ll find images and maps about Left Behind’s origins on the Left Behind website: https://leftbehindpodcast.com/origin

An Unbroken Bond: How POWs United to Endure Camp O’Donnell

2 young American prisoners of war – Norm Thenell and Dick Watt – lived through the Bataan Death March, only to enter a literal hell on earth – Camp O’Donnell.
Daily life at O’Donnell was marked by disease, malnutrition, and uncertainty and became yet another of Japan’s WW2 atrocities.
Watt and Thenell were lucky, though – they formed an unbreakable group, which was, perhaps, the only reason they endured the horrors of this Japanese internment camp in the Philippines.
But could they survive the rest of the war?
 
You’ll find images and maps about Dick Watt and Norm Thenell’s story at:
- Instagram: @leftbehindpodcast   -- www.instagram.com/leftbehindpodcast 
- Left Behind Facebook: www.facebook.com/people/Left-Behind-Podcast/100092698653154/ 
- Left Behind Website (includes sources): https://leftbehindpodcast.com/watt

WW2’s Forgotten Atrocity: The Pantingan River Massacre

On April 12, 1942, Japanese forces dishonored themselves – by massacring more than 350 unarmed, bound Filipino officers and non-coms, who had surrendered the day before.
It became known as the Pantingan River Massacre.
Relying on survivor testimony and later interviews with Japanese soldiers who participated in the “dishonorable deed,” this episode uncovers the details of this largely unknown war crime, which occurred during the Bataan Death March.
 
You’ll find images and maps (not graphic or including massacre images) about the Pantingan River Massacre at:
- Instagram: @leftbehindpodcast   -- www.instagram.com/leftbehindpodcast 
- Left Behind Facebook: www.facebook.com/people/Left-Behind-Podcast/100092698653154/ 
- Left Behind Website (includes sources): https://leftbehindpodcast.com/massacre