Iron Gates of Santo Tomas the: Imprisonment in Manila, 1942-1945

Van Sickle describes a twilight world in her memoir of her WW II experiences in the Japanese internment camp of Santo Tomas in the Philippines. Internees were not prisoners of war, but civilians who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Van Sickle and her husband were caught in Manila when the war broke out. Her narrative is an unvarnished depiction of everyday life shaped less by heroism and villainy than by pettiness. The interned Westerners felt powerless, after many had been accustomed to feeling dominant over Asians. The aimlessness that resulted was devastating to goal-oriented businessmen and professionals. Internal tensions and frictions worsened the sense of deprivation that came from shortages, inefficiency and Japanese indifference. And yet the Santo Tomas internees managed to forge a community that sustained its members until liberation. Major ad/promo. (Dec.)