Author Gordon Sawyer tells the incredible story of an American sailor, Richard Kidder, who found himself with a front row seat in the Philippines as World War II exploded in the Pacific. Damaged by bombs, his ship limped across Manila Bay to become a repair station for the beleaguered GIs on Bataan. When Bataan fell, he escaped to the fortress island of Corregidor. There he and his fellow sailors became riflemen who faced the Japanese invasion force. After General Wainwright surrendered all forces in the Philippines, Kidder became a prisoner of war in the infamous Cabanatuan #3 in the Philippines. He was among the first American prisoners to be stuffed in the deep hold of a Hell Ship, and transported to Japan, where he was made a slave laborer in Osaka, then Tsuraga, before the atomic bombs were dropped and Japan surrendered.