Customer Reviews

The Secret Camera: A Marine's Story: Four Years as a POW

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Most of us remember December 7th, 1941 as Pearl Harbor Day. To Terence Kirk, it is more memorable as the day that he (and 202 other China Marines) were captured by the Japanese. They were to remain prisoners for 1,355 days, the entire length of time the U.S. was at war with Japan.

American Marines in Japanese prisoner of war camps were 17.5 times more likely to die from the treatment in those camps than they were to die in combat. Mr. Kirk survived. and as of the time of writing this book there were 31 survivors of the 202 China Marines.

Unique to Mr. Kirk, so far as is known he was the only one to have built a camera while in the POW camp and taken pictures. This is his story and some of the pictures.

Mr. Kirk ends this book: 'If not for the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki , we would have met certain death.' I think he's right.

This book is a realistic view of living in a Japanese prison camp during WWII. It also is a man's very creative way to document what happened during his four years as a POW.
I served with this man at Camp Pendleton,after the war, and he was an exceptional person. He was a living lesson to all of us that man can survive man's inhumanity to man.

Terence Kirk could be a poster boy for the Marines. From his swearing in to his retirement he acted with initative and self-confidence, qualities of not only the Marines but that of young Americans of his generation. He was part of the "China Marines", a small contingent of U.S. Marines assigned to help the Chinese against Japanese aggression in the late 1930s. When they were overrun by the Japanese army and taken captive Kirk and his fellow Americans endured almost unbearable hardships as POWs. Their captivity was a little less horrible than the men held in the Philippines but nonetheless almost beyond human endurance. Still, and maybe because they were hardened Marines, Kirk and his buddies kept some organization. Even when transferred to Japan they schemed to harass the Japanese with minor sabotage. Kirk, along with help from others in the camp as well as a friendly Japanese guard, devised a way to photograph the physical condition of the POWS. He felt it would be the best way to tell the story of the cruelty they endured. Kirk's writing helped the reader feel the terror as he completed the plan under threat of death. His description of the end of the war, his camp's rescue with food and supplies and his eventual trek to freedom was one of the best like this I've read. I was once again struck by "Yankee Ingenuity" when the first couple of supply drops to the POWs by U.S. planes failed to work. The guys back at the air bases figured out a better way to get supplies to the POWs until ground help could get to them. A can't put down book and one that will make you proud to be an American. Thanks, Sgt Kirk, and to all your buddies.

It was an interesting first hand account of how prisoner's were handled during WWII. The camera was actually a small part of the story. I would recommend reading this book.

Just a brief update: According to an Associated Press story dated May 12, 2006, the author died on Wednesday, May 10, 2006 at the age of 89, apparently after a heart attack. In light of the present controversy surrounding the treatment of prisoners in Iraq, Cuba and elsewhere by the U.S., understanding some of the history of how wartime prisoners have been treated in the past is of particular relevance today. From Fukuoko to Abu Graib...

As someone with a deep interest in photography, cameras and World War II, I must say I was most disappointed.

With a title like "The Secret Camera" I expected more about his photographic adventures.

Yet, in a book with close to 250 pages, the camera does not make an appearance until 2/3 of the book had elapsed.

Even then, the photography 'story' seemed incidental.

Of course I sympathize with the author for his ordeal. And, it has strengthened my anti-Japanese resolve. (Until the Japs say sorry for the atrocities of WW2, I refuse to visit that country. Learn their language or eat their food.)

What let me down was the title - The Secret Camera. For me, it cheapened the whole book. I mean, if it had been titled "My exploits as a Japanese prisoner", the book would have been much better, I feel.

For me, I bought the book because I thought it would be largely about his attempts to build the camera, process the film etc. To find out that something promised in the title fills less than 10% of the book is very disappointing.

That said, I think it was brave of the writer to fly in the face of what he had signed and publish the book/pictures.