Former POW details inspiring survival story

FORT CARSON, Colo. -- Fort Carson, in conjunction with the Iron Horse Strong Program, wrapped up a week of recognition and remembrance of prisoners of war Feb. 12, 2015 by inviting Harry Corre to speak Feb. 12 at McMahon Auditorium.

Corre is a World War II veteran, former POW and Bataan Death March survivor.

Once he hit the stage he wasted little time with pleasantries, taking listeners back to 1942 and the Pacific islands of Bataan and Corregidor. The 91-year old vividly described the islands, his Japanese captors and the horrific suffering endured by American and Filipino Soldiers at the time.

The event was the highlight of a week at Fort Carson that featured free screenings of the movie "Unbroken," for which Corre served as a technical adviser, and a breakfast for retirees where he shared his experiences and listened to those of his fellow veterans.

As an Army corporal stationed on Corregidor, he was sent to Bataan 3 miles away in early 1942 to direct operations in the Philippine Constabulary. At first, Corre trained Filipino civilians in combat tactics. Later he fought along the front lines as the Japanese attacked the island.

Severely outnumbered, Corre and his fellow Soldiers battled for three weeks before a food and ammunition shortage forced them to surrender.

He was taken prisoner along with 12,000 U.S. Service members and 60,000 Filipino soldiers and forced to march in the now infamous Bataan Death March.

He marched for more than two days without food or water.

"I saw men shot, bayoneted, even had their heads chopped off, just for falling down," he said.

"They were either exhausted, wounded or severely dehydrated. From what I saw, I knew I simply had to get out of there."

He remembered the third night of the march, a clear sky turned cloudy, then let loose with a torrential rainstorm.

That was the break he needed.

"I remember it rained so heavy you could hardly see, so I used that as cover to dive off the road and into the jungle," he said. And I just kept running. I was afraid to stop."

He spent three nights in the jungle, finally making his way to a beach on the other side of the island.

"I grabbed anything I could find that I thought might float and then started swimming," he said.

With his makeshift floating device, Corre swam 3 miles against the current, in shark-infested waters back to Corregidor, where he was picked up by U.S. Marines.

He eventually rejoined his unit on Corregidor, but his freedom was short-lived. A month later, U.S. forces surrendered to the Japanese at Corregidor and Corre was once again a prisoner.

He was shipped to the Philippines, where he contracted diphtheria.

"I could still walk, however," he said. "Men were beaten daily and dying from malnutrition, starvation, battle wounds and diseases like dysentery, dengue fever and beriberi."

He spent two years there working burial detail in a place where men died at a rate of 150 per day. His reprieve came when the Japanese soldiers decided to send some prisoners to work in coal mines on the Japanese mainland.

It was a small reprieve though. His suffering didn't end. While working 14-hour days in the mines, he survived two cave-ins and contracted jaundice.

Then came the day he heard a loud explosion and saw an enormous cloud rise from across the bay. He later learned the explosion and mushroom cloud was a result of an atomic bomb that dropped on the city of Nagasaki.

Within a few days his Japanese guards had left and U.S. fighter planes buzzed his camp. Bombers later dropped food and supplies. After more than two months he was shipped to an Army facility in San Francisco and he eventually made it home to Boston, where he was honorably discharged.

As Corre wrapped his memoir, a captivated crowd of more than 300 sat in stunned silence. After speaking for more than 80 minutes, he cut the silence by asking if anyone had any questions.

How did he manage to survive, what motivated him to keep going and where did he find strength when others couldn't? Those were just a few of the most immense queries he fielded.

He attributed his perseverance to growing up during the great depression.

"Though I respect religion and religious people, I've never been a religious person," he said. "But, I started working, delivering newspapers when I was 6 years old. My mother worked 15 hours a day, six days a week. Back then, when you wanted or needed something, the only way you could get it was through buying and selling. We didn't have much. People waited in line for hours just to get a bowl of soup and that was their food for the day.

"When I think back to the days when I joined the Army, most of us Soldiers were scroungers. When you wanted something you went out and got it. And you found out that there were many number of ways to accomplish your task."

Speaking to today's Soldiers and Families who may feel as though life has handed them a raw deal, he finished by saying, "you will be surprised by what the human body can endure."