Pow 253: One Man’s Quest for Life during World War II

He fought at Wake Island-and survived the brutality of the POW camps Dare K. Kibble was one of a small number of sailors on Wake Island in 1941, volunteering for refueling duty on what seemed to be a paradise in the South Pacific. He wasn’t a marine or a civilian contractor, nor was he trained for combat-he was a machinist’s mate from the USS Tangier. He manned a Browning .30-caliber machine gun in the final beach defense of Wake Island, and was taken prisoner on December 23, 1941. He survived four years as a POW-in China at the Woosung and Kiangwan camps, and in Japan at the Kawasaki and Niigata camps on Honshu.

This story is an honest, unfiltered look through the eyes of a survivor who found a way to deal with life as a POW. He also shows us a glimpse of what life was like in small town Boise, Idaho and San Francisco in the early 1940s, and how his WW II experiences changed his view of the world and society.