historic thanksgiving 41467

1945: Mrs. William T. Parker had plenty of help stuffing her turkey, as her son, William Jr., right, and his buddy, James. H. Roach, Jr. who were prisoners of the Japanese lend a hand in preparations for their first Thanksgiving home in five years. Cpl. Parker, 28 and Cpl. Roach will try to wipe out the bitter memories of the tragic Philippines campaign, the Bataan death march, days of agonized toiling in Japanese construction gangs, days of weariness and despair in mills and mines of the enemy homeland. After being captured, Parker worked on the docks and steal mills in Osaka while Roach was kept in the Philippines at first, falling victim to pneumonia, malaria, beri-beri and “just about every disease that came along.” His weight, now 185, dropped to 105 lbs. Both Parker and Roach were in Japan when the Japanese surrendered. The Japanese “turned us loose in the Kyushu hills for 30 days. We took over the town of Iizuka, the police station and all supplies, including a brewery. Boy, what a night! Later on I (Parker) went down to see Roach and he had two chickens and a rabbit under his bed.”