April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
POW's harrowing ordeal retold in new book
The parishioner of St. James Church in Chatham spent two years as a prisoner of war in Japanese death camps in the Philippines during World War II. Starved, beaten, stripped of his clothes and at times kept in a cage, he was not alone: "I've never seen God, but I felt He was there."
Mr. Mackowski's story is told in a recently published book, "POW 83," written by fellow St. James parishioner, John Wallace.
Survivor
When Mr. Wallace moved to Chatham in 1992, he noticed a car in St. James' parking lot each week that had the license plate "Former Prisoner of War 83." Intrigued by the plate, he eventually found that it belonged to Mr. Mackowski, an usher.Mr. Wallace invited him to talk about his faith to the religious education class that Mr. Wallace taught. "It was clear that faith helped him survive," Mr. Wallace said.
Mr. Wallace then convinced Mr. Mackowski that his story needed to be told. "He was persistent," Mr. Mackowski said. "I didn't want to relive it. But he said, 'Your children and grandchildren need to know.'"
For more than 50 years, Mr. Mackowski had kept silent about his ordeal. In fact, he had been told by the Army not to talk about his captivity. As a result, it was difficult to relay the stories to Mr. Wallace.
"The detail part was hard," Mr. Mackowski said. "It hurts. It brings back memories. I had sleepless nights where I would hear the voices and see the faces."
Drafted
Mr. Mackowski, who grew up in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn, received a notice from the draft board in February 1941 asking him to report for duty on March 25. At that time, many men were getting married in order to avoid the draft since husbands were exempt. Mr. Mackowski and his fiance, Opaline Walendziak, decided to wait to get married. The draft, they reasoned, was only supposed to be for a year.But that September, the 803rd Engineers, including PFC Mackowski, were sent to the Philippines. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December, the Japanese began their attacks on the Philippines.
After months of heavy fighting, Gen. Wainwright surrendered to the Japanese and Mr. Mackowski's two-year ordeal as a POW began.
Life as prisoner
For the first three days, the prisoners were given no food or water. There were no sanitary facilities, and prisoners suffered from dysentery, malaria, malnutrition and other diseases.Mr. Mackowski knew he could not trust his captors, but he discovered he could also not trust fellow POWs. During the early part of his captivity, other Americans stole everything he possessed, except a ring given to him by his sister.
Mr. Mackowski tried to look out for others. As the POWs were being marched to a camp, he became thirsty. However, his canteen had been stolen, so he had no water. A first sergeant noticed his plight and offered him water. Mr. Mackowski was one of the first to arrive at the camp, where he found a water spigot.
"Many of the POWs were lined up, sticking their canteens and water bottles through the fence, calling to John to fill their containers," Mr. Wallace wrote. "John saw the first sergeant who had given him a drink of water during the march. He yelled to him, 'Hey, Sarge. Come on up to the front and I'll fill up your canteen first.'
"'Hey, what are you doing?' one POW said. 'We were here before him,' another said. 'Where were you guys when I was dying of thirst on the march?' John replied. 'He was the only one who would give me a drink from his canteen and he comes first. If you don't let him in front, no one gets anything.'"
Ordeal
One soldier was caught stealing from a sick POW. Rather than turning him over to the Japanese, the prisoners decided to mete out punishment. All of the men from the barracks lined up in two rows and forced the man to walk between them as they hit him.Mr. Wallace wrote: "When he came to where John was standing he was almost in tears and John did not hit him. The man standing next to John seemed to be very angry and asked, 'Why the hell didn't you take a shot at that low-life bastard?'
"'None of us here are innocent of stealing. I think he's been punished enough. He has to live with what he did,' John answered."
Worsening conditions
In order to save his fellow POWs from severe punishment, Mr. Mackowski took the punishment for something another prisoner had done. For that, he was stripped of his clothes and placed in a wooden cage. He was beaten, forced to stand at attention for hours at a time and endured other tortures for 22 days.While some of the Japanese guards refused to feed him and dumped his small portion of water, others were kinder. One guard shared his water with Mr. Mackowski and allowed him to sit. Another advised him to look beaten and weak when the officers came so that they wouldn't order additional beatings.
Of his time in the cage, Mr. Mackowski said, "Of all of the things I went through, I consider it a miracle that I survived 22 days. I only remember nine days. I must have been half dead."
Vision
Shortly after he was released from the cage, Mr. Mackowski had a vision while praying the Rosary."He happened to look up at the sky and noticed that it was starting to get dark," the book relates. "He kept staring at the sky, almost as if he were in a trance. Then to his surprise, he saw something. In the dark blue sky there was a bright light beginning to appear. He was now looking at the face of a thin man with a short beard who very much resembled the face of Jesus. The face was surrounded by a very bright white light, in sharp contrast to the dark blue, darkening sky."
Then Mr. Mackowski heard a voice say: "You will return."
Faith as support
Mr. Mackowski does not blame God for his suffering."I'm not a perfect Christian," he said.
(01-13-00) [[In-content Ad]]
Comments:
You must login to comment.