Stories of Tenacity and Courage:
Craig B. Smith talks about POWs
Saturday, April 5
7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
E.P. Foster Library, Topping Room
In this presentation, Craig B. Smith discusses his latest book,
Counting the Days: POWs, Internees and Stragglers from WW II in the Pacific.
He tells the stories of six prisoners of war imprisoned by both sides during the conflict the Japanese called the “Pacific War.” As in all wars, the prisoners were civilians as well as military personnel. Two of the prisoners were captured on the second day of the war and spent the entire war in prison camps: Garth Dunn, a young Marine captured on Guam who faced a death rate in a Japanese prison camp that was ten to twenty times greater than that of combat; and Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki, who suffered the ignominy of being Japanese POW number 1.
Craig B. Smith is the former president of a global engineering, architecture, and construction firm that has been involved in many major public works projects, including the renovation of the Pentagon before and after 9/11. The subject of POWs became very personal for him when a dozen of his co-workers were taken captive by Iraqi forces during the invasion of Kuwait and transported to Iraq where they were held hostage.
He is the author of eight books, including How the Great Pyramid Was Built and Extreme Waves.