Joseph Emile Dupont Jr. oral history interview, 2001-2002.

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Joseph Emile Dupont Jr. oral history interview, 2001-2002.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/467956846

Session I concerns Dupont's early life; his inspiration for joining the Marine Corps; boot camp in San Diego; and his passage through Hawaii, Guam, Midway Island, and Manila. He talks at length about being stationed in Shanghai in 1941. The interview ends with the Japanese attack on Manila, where he was in a hospital, on December 9, 1941. Session II deals with the period between December 1941 and May 1942, during which time Dupont served on Corregidor in the Philippines. He describes details of life there while under siege by the Japanese, the fighting on Bataan and Corregidor, and his eventually being forced to surrender. In Sessions III & IV, Dupont describes conditions in several prison camps in the Philippines, including Bilibid Prison in Manila, the hospital at Bilibid Prison, and prison camps in Cabanatuan and Palawan Island. He recounts details of hard labor including building an airfield in the jungle on Palawan Island, lack of food and clothing, poor shelter, diseases, maltreatment by guards, and encounters with wild animals. He describes the Battle of Manila, his subsequent liberation from Bilibid Prison, readjusting to life after his freedom, and his homecoming to Louisiana. He also discusses the "hell ships," Japanese ships carrying American prisoners of war that were sunk unknowingly by American submarines, and the massacre of American POWs on Palawan Island on December 14, 1944. Session V concerns the postwar rehabilitation of Dupont and his close friends, all of whom had war-related disabilities. He describes his homecoming, meeting and marrying his wife, creating a life as a visually impaired veteran, and his work for the Department of Veterans Affairs. In Session VI, Dupont tells of his childhood in Plaquemine in the 1920s and 1930s, the Mississippi River flood of 1927, his family background, life along the river, the Depression, his schooling, activities of teenagers, and joining the Marines.

6 sound cassettes (9 hours);Abstract (8 leaves);Transcript (364 leaves)

Louisiana State University, LSU Libraries

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SNAC Resource ID: 7570022

Louisiana State University, LSU Libraries

Related Entities

There are 8 Entities related to this resource.

Cabanatuan (Philippines : Concentration camp)

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Abraham, Jennifer,

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Palawan Barracks (Concentration camp)

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Dupont, Joseph Emile, 1922-2005,

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Joseph Emile Dupont Jr. was born on February 2, 1922, in Plaquemine, La. He graduated from Plaquemine High School in 1940 and joined the U.S. Marine Corps. Dupont served in the Pacific Theater during World War II, fighting at the Battle of Corregidor where he was taken prisoner by the Japanese in May 1942. He was held captive at Cabanatuan, Palawan Island, and Manila in the Philippines until January 1945. After returning to the United States, he married Angela Hannon on September 5, 1946. They m...

Bilibid Prison (Manila, Philippines)

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Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge, La.). T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History

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The T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History was established in August 1991 to document the history of Louisiana State University. A department of LSU Libraries Special Collections, the Center conducts, collects, preserves, and makes available to scholars oral history interviews on Louisiana's social, political, cultural, and economic history. From the description of T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History records, 1990-1998. (Louisiana State University). WorldCat record id: 22696...

Louisiana. Dept. of Veterans' Affairs

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United States. Marine Corps

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The U.S. Marine Corps was established on November 10, 1775. From the description of Papers, 1933-1945. (Naval War College). WorldCat record id: 754107146 The history of the Marine Corps Navajo Code Talkers dates from 1942-1945. In 1942, a white man by the name of Phillip Johnston, who had lived on a Navajo reservation for many years of his life, conceived an idea that he thought might help the war. He believed that the Navajo language, a verbal, rarely-written language, coul...