"Mike Hyer has infused light into a dark history; The Saints of DAPECOL is a brilliantly told war story that will inspire and touch your heart." Dee Benson, columnist, Deseret News, author Slave Soldiers.
"A thorough account of a small group of LDS servicemen who sailed to the Philippines in the Fall of 1941, . . . the intimate story of the heroic struggle of brave men." Professor David L. Clark, co-author, "The Fate of the Davao Penal Colony #502 "Branch" of the LDS Church, 1944," BYU Studies 2011.
They were ordinary "Mormon Boys" who found themselves in the most wretched of circumstances, World War II prisoners of the Imperial Japanese Army in the infamous Davao Penal Colony (DAPECOL) in the Philippines, and who found strength to survive in ways unique to their faith. This is their inspiring story, largely based on their first-person accounts. It is also the story of those who did not survive and their families on the "homefront." They too have a story to tell and, although different, it also inspires.
These Latter-day Saint soldiers were in caught up in a courageous, but ultimately futile, defense of the Philippines at the beginning of WWII and then became POWs of the Japanese. The book chronicles how they survived the infamous Bataan Death March, the brutality of the POW camps, and the horrific voyages in the holds of Japanese transport ships, known as "hell ships." It is the story of how the survivors, despite the physical and mental horrors of their POW experience, went on to live full and productive lives after the war, including some who later returned to Japan as missionaries for their church to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This is also a hearbreaking account of those Mormon Boys who did not survive but perished in a tragic incident of friendly fire and how the gospel of Jesus Christ provided comfort and assurance to their families. It is a story of a family's effort to overcome hatred and learn to forgive.
