Oral History Interview with Glenn McDole, October 10, 1996
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Oral History Interview with Glenn McDole, October 10, 1996 (Text)
The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Glen McDole. McDole was born in Orleans, Nebraska 6 February 1921 and after graduating from high school, enlisted in the Marine Corps in the fall of 1940. Following basic training, he went to Cavite Navy Yard where he performed security guard duties as a member of the 1st Separate Marine Battalion. The battalion was moved to Corregidor Island after the Japanese began attacking the Philippines. There, he was in close contact with General MacArthur. He witnessed MacArthur’s evacuation with General Wainwright assuming command. McDole describes his close proximity to Wainwright and the eventual surrender of Corregidor. He describes his ordeal as a prisoner of war over the next few years, including building a large, concrete Japanese runway in the village of Puerto Princesa on the Philippine island of Palawan. During this time he endured an emergency appendectomy with no anesthesia and no infection-fighting drugs. He also describes the events of 14 December 1944 when the Japanese killed 139 of the 150 remaining prisoners on Palawan, by burning many of them alive. He managed to escape and find refuge among friendly villagers, and eventually was evacuated from the Philippines with two other POWs. In 1946, as a civilian, the War Department sent him to the Yokohama (Japan) War Crimes Trials to give depositions in the trials of 33 Japanese who had been apprehended on Palawan Island at the end of the war. The Palawan Massacre is the basis for the book Last Man Out: Glenn McDole, USMC, Survivor of the Palawan Massacre in World War II by Bob Wilbanks. A memorial has been erected on the site and McDole, in his eighties, was able to attend the dedication.
Oral History Interview with Glenn McDole, October 10, 1996, [transcript] ark:/67531/metapth1603562
Oral History Interview with Glenn McDole, October 10, 1996, audio recording, October 10, 1996; Fredericksburg, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1607529/: accessed June 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting National Museum of the Pacific War/Admiral Nimitz Foundation.