WWII POW, Korean War veteran shares his story 140712-A-ZU930-002

Retired U.S. Army Sgt. Frankie Ramirez pauses as he describes fighting in the Battle of Corregidor during WWII. Ramirez, 92, fought with a regiment of the Philippine Scouts at Fort Frank, a small rocky island that served as one of four defense forts at the entrance to Manila Bay. When allied forces were finally forced to surrender after the fall of Bataan on April 9, 1942, Ramirez became one of 70,000 prisoners of war at Camp O'Donnell, which the Japanese had converted into a prison camp to hold survivors of infamous Bataan Death March. Because he was a native Filipino, he was released after three months. He promptly joined a guerilla group and kept fighting the Japanese until the war ended. After WWII, he went on to serve for another 16 years, fighting in the Korean War before finally being stationed at Fort Hood in 1961. Today he lives a quiet life with his wife Christa in Killeen, Texas. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Ken Scar, 7th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment)

Date

2014-07-12

Photographer / author

Sgt. Ken Scar

Archive

Wikimedia Commons

Type

photograph

Original size

3,641 × 2,428 pixels

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