{"id":2768,"date":"2016-12-15T11:06:34","date_gmt":"2016-12-15T17:06:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/publicaffairs-sme.com\/pressrelease\/?p=2768"},"modified":"2016-12-20T10:22:26","modified_gmt":"2016-12-20T16:22:26","slug":"fort-bliss-exchange-shopper-recognized-for-detailing-fathers-harrowing-pow-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/publicaffairs-sme.com\/pressrelease\/?p=2768","title":{"rendered":"Exchange Shopper Recognized for Detailing Father\u2019s Harrowing POW Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"linda-anderson\"FORT BLISS \u2013<\/strong> El Paso resident Linda Anderson has made it her mission to ensure nobody forgets the suffering\u2014and strength\u2014of the men who endured the Bataan Death March in April 1942.<\/p>\n

Her father, Pvt. Clarence Neighbors, was one of the 75,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war who made the excruciating\u2014and for many, deadly\u201465-mile march to Japanese POW camps in the Philippines during World War II.<\/p>\n

So when the Army & Air Force Exchange Service announced its worldwide Who\u2019s My Superhero and Why essay contest, she jumped at the chance to enter. Anderson, wife of retired Staff Sgt. Dave Anderson, who served for 22 years in Army, saw another opportunity to commemorate the sacrifice of her father and his fellow U.S. Soldiers<\/a>\u20141,000 of whom never made it home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe horrors they saw\u2014babies getting bayonetted, friends being killed, the beatings they got, being stripped naked and having to stand in 20-below weather\u2014we should never forget that,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cThat\u2019s just the tip of the iceberg as far as things that happened to them.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Nov. 16, managers from the Fort Bliss Exchange presented Anderson with a $1,000 Exchange gift card<\/a> at the Fort Bliss Exchange. Anderson\u2019s essay tracked her father\u2019s journey from being shot down in a B-17 over the Philippines in April 1942 to being liberated from the lead mines in Kamioka, Japan, at the war\u2019s end in August 1945. The 6-foot-3-inch Neighbors weighed 89 pounds upon his release.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll too often, history remembers the broader event but forgets the individual stories of the people who endured untold suffering to protect not just Americans, but the entire world,\u201d said Michael Brennan, general manager of the Fort Bliss Exchange. \u201cThe words Mrs. Anderson wrote about her father\u2019s experience leap from the page in vivid, horrifying detail, reminding us that the true cost of freedom is often steep.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Anderson had known her father was in the Death March since she was 16, he never said much about his time as a POW. Anderson knew he could speak some Japanese and that his prisoner number was 164. She also remembers the personality quirks she attributed to his time in the camps, such as checking refrigerators and cabinets for food whenever he would visit the homes of friends and family.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my father ate, it was almost like he was in a trance,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cHe didn\u2019t want to talk; he just ate. And the look on his face once he finished it\u2014he was very satisfied. Many of the survivors have little idiosyncrasies like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2010, Anderson attended the Bataan Memorial Death March at White Sands Missile Range, where she discovered a community of survivors, descendants and armchair historians who would help her piece together a more complete picture of\u00a0 the nearly four years her father spent in captivity.<\/p>\n

After the March, Neighbors was put on the hell ship Tottori Maru and taken to Korea, where he was transferred to an old Mitsubishi factory in Manchuria, China. There, he and the other men were forced to make tank and airplane parts. Her father was one of 150 men transferred to Kamioka after they were caught sabotaging the factory.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing was made to order,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cThey would run the machines for a little while and they would put something in there that would destroy them. They would even bury tools in concrete. Even though they were in prison, our guys never gave up. They were the greatest generation\u2014unbelievable men.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Anderson\u2019s father passed away in 1983 because of ongoing complications from tropical diseases and frostbite he contracted in the camps, Anderson has continued to champion the Death Marchers\u2019 story, attending several reunions for survivors and descendants held annually in various locations across the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just about my dad\u2014they\u2019re all my fathers now,\u201d Anderson said of the survivors. \u201cI think the biggest impression that a young child or teenager could have is to meet them and know really what happened. It\u2019s really important. I don\u2019t want anyone to ever forget.\u201d<\/p>\n

— 30 —<\/p>\n

The Army & Air Force Exchange Service goes where Soldiers, Airmen and their families go to improve the quality of their lives through goods and services provided. Exchange earnings provide dividends to support military morale, welfare and recreation programs. The Exchange is part of the Department of Defense and is directed by a Board of Directors, responsible to the Secretaries of the Army and Air Force through the Chiefs of Staff.\u00a0 To find out more about the Exchange history and mission or to view recent press releases please visit our Web site at http:\/\/www.aafes.com\/about-exchange\/public-affairs\/press-releases.htm<\/a> or follow us on Twitter at https:\/\/twitter.com\/ExchangePAO<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Media Notes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

For more information or to schedule an interview with an Exchange representative please contact Conner Hammett, 214-312-2714 or hammettc@aafes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t

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