Post by EXO on Mar 16, 2008 0:54:16 GMT 8
By Tanya Sierra
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 19, 2008
OBITUARY - AL McGREW, 85 - WWII PRISONER TORTURED BY JAPANESE
Al McGrew, 85; WWII prisoner tortured by Japanese It took more than 30 years for Al McGrew to return to the rocky island of Corregidor, where the Japanese captured him, tortured him and forced him to work for three years during World War II. When Mr. McGrew did return, he finally came to terms with his brutal captivity. Mr. McGrew made more than 10 trips to the Philippines beginning in 1981. He became an informal historian of the battle of Corregidor, giving tours and eventually writing a memoir. “He was probably one of the toughest little guys I've ever known in my whole life,” said friend and fellow prisoner of war Martin Christie, 86, of the San Fernando Valley. Mr. McGrew died Jan. 27 of cancer. He was 85.
Mr. McGrew shrank from 130 pounds to 80 pounds before escaping.* His humor kept him grounded, family and friends say. “My dad never talked about the war when I was growing up,” said Vicki Maheu. “He didn't join the POW group until 15 years ago.” Growing up poor in Columbus, Ohio, Mr. McGrew and his best friend, Spencer Bever, joined the Army as a way to see the world. He thought of drilling for oil in Arabia or South America, he said in a 1991 interview. “With no basic training we were shipped to Corregidor,” he said in that story. “They needed manpower, even untrained men.” After being beaten, strung up over a fire and enslaved, Mr. McGrew escaped the camp in the summer of 1945.*
“We always felt like we were lucky,” said Christie, who served in the Marines. “So many good men that we felt were better than we were died.” In 1948, Mr. McGrew met and married Marjean Herres in Ohio. They had two children and eventually moved to San Diego. He retired from Control Data Corp. after 27 years when the manufacturing division left San Diego. In addition to golf, tennis and traveling to Corregidor, Mr. McGrew talked about his experience as a POW to history classes at University of California San Diego, high schools and other organizations. “He enjoyed being a tour guide there and an amateur historian and being contacted by people all over the world looking for information on Corregidor,” Maheu said.
A memoir of his experiences was published recently in San Francisco, Maheu said.
In addition to his daughter, who lives in San Diego, Mr. McGrew is survived by his wife, Marjean, of Serra Mesa, and his son, Steve McGrew, of San Diego.
Family members will leave some of Mr. McGrew's ashes at Rosecrans and the rest will be spread in Corregidor.
(*Al didn't escape from the Japanese camp. Along with other prisoners, they would leave the Suwa POW Camp at night, "Hogan's Heroes" style, through a gap in a fence. They would steal vegetables from nearby market gardens, and then return before morning roll call. - Ed)
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 19, 2008
OBITUARY - AL McGREW, 85 - WWII PRISONER TORTURED BY JAPANESE
Al McGrew, 85; WWII prisoner tortured by Japanese It took more than 30 years for Al McGrew to return to the rocky island of Corregidor, where the Japanese captured him, tortured him and forced him to work for three years during World War II. When Mr. McGrew did return, he finally came to terms with his brutal captivity. Mr. McGrew made more than 10 trips to the Philippines beginning in 1981. He became an informal historian of the battle of Corregidor, giving tours and eventually writing a memoir. “He was probably one of the toughest little guys I've ever known in my whole life,” said friend and fellow prisoner of war Martin Christie, 86, of the San Fernando Valley. Mr. McGrew died Jan. 27 of cancer. He was 85.
Mr. McGrew shrank from 130 pounds to 80 pounds before escaping.* His humor kept him grounded, family and friends say. “My dad never talked about the war when I was growing up,” said Vicki Maheu. “He didn't join the POW group until 15 years ago.” Growing up poor in Columbus, Ohio, Mr. McGrew and his best friend, Spencer Bever, joined the Army as a way to see the world. He thought of drilling for oil in Arabia or South America, he said in a 1991 interview. “With no basic training we were shipped to Corregidor,” he said in that story. “They needed manpower, even untrained men.” After being beaten, strung up over a fire and enslaved, Mr. McGrew escaped the camp in the summer of 1945.*
“We always felt like we were lucky,” said Christie, who served in the Marines. “So many good men that we felt were better than we were died.” In 1948, Mr. McGrew met and married Marjean Herres in Ohio. They had two children and eventually moved to San Diego. He retired from Control Data Corp. after 27 years when the manufacturing division left San Diego. In addition to golf, tennis and traveling to Corregidor, Mr. McGrew talked about his experience as a POW to history classes at University of California San Diego, high schools and other organizations. “He enjoyed being a tour guide there and an amateur historian and being contacted by people all over the world looking for information on Corregidor,” Maheu said.
A memoir of his experiences was published recently in San Francisco, Maheu said.
In addition to his daughter, who lives in San Diego, Mr. McGrew is survived by his wife, Marjean, of Serra Mesa, and his son, Steve McGrew, of San Diego.
Family members will leave some of Mr. McGrew's ashes at Rosecrans and the rest will be spread in Corregidor.
(*Al didn't escape from the Japanese camp. Along with other prisoners, they would leave the Suwa POW Camp at night, "Hogan's Heroes" style, through a gap in a fence. They would steal vegetables from nearby market gardens, and then return before morning roll call. - Ed)