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MWSA Review
The Colonel’s Way: The Secret Diaries of a POW: Philippines 1941-1945 by Heather P. Shreve honors the author’s grandfather, Colonel Arthur Lee Shreve, Jr., a U.S. Army pilot. Author Shreve shares with the reading public her grandfather’s innermost thoughts and feelings as he is held a prisoner of war by the Japanese. We read how he places the well-being of his fellow prisoners above his own. In desperate times, the colonel provides them with food to eat, as well as food for the soul in encouragement and demonstrations of his own bravery under duress.
Colonel Shreve leaves a legacy for his family in his own writings, and Author Shreve knits together a timeline complete with visual evidence of her grandfather’s time as a POW. History buffs will appreciate Heather Shreve’s efforts and Colonel Shreve’s incredible tenacious bravery.
Review by Nancy Panko
Author's Synopsis
A Commemorative Special Edition for America-250, Honoring a US Army officer with a military career that bridges five decades -- a titanic story of survival from a compassionate leader who had unsurpassed integrity.
When COL Arthur Lee Shreve, Jr. (U.S. Army pilot, WWI) becomes a POW of the Japanese, his life turns into an unforgettable tale of grit, American ingenuity, and raw bravery. After the fall of the Philippines, he survives the Bataan Death March, cares for his men, and leverages a secret intelligence operation for humanitarian purposes. Working with the Filipino Resistance, he smuggles in his own checkbook to buy food for his men—unthinkable acts of courage under the direst circumstances, risking execution, saving lives, and forging a legacy of leadership and purpose that defines a true hero: The Colonel’s Way.
These are his diaries, unabridged, transcribed by the War Department and his brother, COL L. G. Shreve from the originals written in Filipino composition schoolbooks and hidden from the Japanese while a POW. Not only an unmatched account of the Fall of Bataan and the teamwork that followed among his brothers, but submittable evidence in the 1946-48 International War Crimes Trials.
Format(s) for review: Paper Only
Review genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography
Pages/Word count: 308 / 60,000