Victory in defeat [electronic resource] : the Wake Island defenders in captivity, 1941-1945 / Gregory J.W. Urwin.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

"Issue in doubt" : the siege of Wake Island -- "The emperor has ... presented you with your lives" : the shock of capture -- "Very odd people indeed" : the first twenty-four hours in captivity -- "The Japanese continue to treat us with respect" : a deceptively gentle transition to POW life -- "A real hell ship" : from Wake Island to Yokohama on the Nitta Maru -- "Never had I felt so desolate or so weary" : from murder at sea to despair on land -- "The most painful days we spent in prison camp" : hitting bottom at Woosung -- "The Japanese Army ... will improve your conditions" : turning the corner at Woosung -- "Without Red Cross help ... we would never have pulled through" : the impact of outside aid -- "I thought they handled themselves reasonably well" : Japanese-POW relations at Woosung -- "You God damn Americans don't understand anything" : strains, outrages, and departures -- "This camp is the best one that the Japs have" : a new commandant and a new camp -- A hellacious damn deal till we finished" : pushed to the edge on Mount Fuji -- "Optimism ... is running high" : hope revives at Kiangwan -- "The pleasure of raising our flag over the enemy's homeland" : to Japan and liberation -- "98 US PW, 5-10-43" : the Wake Island diaspora, 1942-1945 -- "We had a bond there that's still going" : why so many came home.

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest, 2015. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest affiliated libraries.