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W.
H.
Brooks
POW (WWII)

Brooks was captured in the fall of the Philippines He was on the Bataan “Death March” and held at Japanese POW camp O’Donnell on the Bataan Peninsula from where he escaped. He was captured a year later and sent to a labour camp in Rabaul, New England. It was reported that he was the only white man in the camp amongst 8,000 prisoners of whom 6,000 were Indian troops from Singapore and the remainder Chinese from Shanghai. He was released on September 7, 1945.

Awards Received

  • Prisoner of War Medal

    Service:

    United States Army Air Forces

    Rank:

    Staff Sergeant

    Division:

    Prisoner of War (Japan)

    Action Date:

    September 7, 1945 – May 1945
    NARA Database: Records of World War II Prisoners of War, created, 1942 – 41245

    Staff Sergeant W. H. Brooks (ASN: 19048351), United States Army Air Forces, was captured by Japanese Forces after his plane was shot down on September 7, 1945 and was held as a Prisoner of War until the end of hostilities in August 1945.