Raider
By: Jim Plotzke
Theme One: War is Hell
(new paragraph) Throughout the war around Galen, cruelty and death were the only constants. The Japanese soldiers believed in death before defeat, and would regularly participate in ¨banzai¨ charges, suicidal advances to try and overrun the enemy. Waves of humans would run at full speed, directly into a waiting wall of lead. Because the Japanese believed in never surrendering, they considered American P.O.W.s to be no better than swine, and treated them as such. After American forces were captured in the Battle of Bataan, they were forced to march 85 miles over six days with little food or water. Japanese would play ¨games¨ with each other. They would tell a P.O.W. to stand with his arms outstretched; the goal of the game was to cut both of his arms off one at a time before he fell to the ground. Others were used for bayonet and target practice, with the Japanese laughing as the dying soldier writhed in the dirt. In war, nothing is sacred.
Theme Two: The Indomitable Human Spirit
Even then the prisoners didn't stop. They stole what little supplies the Japanese wouldn't notice and began to stockpile the ammunition and scrounged weapons for a breakout. On the night that the Raiders, Kittleson being one of them, stormed the camp in a P.O.W. raid, the american prisoners were 3 hours from attempting their own excape without the aid of troops. Upon finding themselves free, the skeleton men charged through the gate to freedom, some hopping there due to missing limbs. They couldn't be stopped.