Check out our Most Anticipated Books for 2025

The Santo Tomas POW camp: Background information when reading Valiant Women

Summary |  Excerpt |  Reviews |  Beyond the Book |  Read-Alikes |  Genres & Themes |  Author Bio

Valiant Women by Lena  S. Andrews

Valiant Women

The Extraordinary American Servicewomen Who Helped Win World War II

by Lena S. Andrews
  • BookBrowse Review:
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • First Published:
  • Aug 1, 2023, 368 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Aug 2024, 368 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About This Book

The Santo Tomas POW camp

This article relates to Valiant Women

Print Review

Army Nurses Rescued from Santo Tomas 1945 In Valiant Women, author Lena S. Andrews features the true stories of women serving in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II. Among the women profiled is Navy nurse Dorothy Still, who was working in the Philippines when World War II broke out. She was taken prisoner by the Japanese and sent to Santo Tomas internment camp, where she remained for three years.

Santo Tomas was the largest Japanese prison camp in the Philippines holding enemy civilians, located at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila. More than 3000 civilians, mostly Americans, were imprisoned there in tight quarters. Among them were 400 children.

In the early days, Filipino citizens were allowed to bring supplies to give to prisoners, but eventually that permission was revoked, and when administration of the camp was put under the authority of the Japanese military rather than civilians the situation rapidly declined. According to Albert E. Holland, who kept a diary of his time in the camp, the Japanese budgeted 1700 calories per inmate per day, but by November of 1944, there was only enough food to give them 400. Jean Hick, another survivor, recalled their desperation. They would eat anything to ward off starvation: banana roots, unpalatable weeds, and even hibiscus leaves, until they realized they were "slightly poisonous." One woman traded a $700 ring for ten pounds of rice to feed herself and her two children.

Keeping up morale in the camp was difficult; the inmates got outside news, and hearing that prisoners in Europe received a daily kit of food made their own malnourishment even harder to accept. They were only allowed to send a single postcard a month to their families, and letters from home were delayed as much as 18 months, when they came at all. Starvation, poor morale, and a high death rate led to conflict within the camp. Late in the war, Holland records Japanese officials handing out jail sentences to those who stole food or tried to get double portions.

Dorothy Still was one of 77 military nurses imprisoned by the Japanese at Santo Tomas and Los Banos internment camps. Known as the "Angels of Bataan and Corregidor," they set up a hospital at Santo Tomas to keep their fellow POWs alive, controlling epidemics caused by unsanitary conditions via public health campaigns.

Amazingly, all 77 nurses survived their imprisonment, though one estimated that she would have been dead if liberation had been four or five days later. She weighed 95 pounds at the time she was rescued. Dorothy and her compatriots illustrate the bravery and commitment shown by so many women during World War II.

The "Angels of Bataan and Corregidor," U.S. army nurses held in the Santo Tomas internment camp, arrive at Hickam Field in Hawaii on February 20, 1945. Photo courtesy of the United States Army Center of Military History

Filed under People, Eras & Events

Article by Kathleen Basi

This "beyond the book article" relates to Valiant Women. It originally ran in September 2023 and has been updated for the August 2024 paperback edition. Go to magazine.

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: Absolution
    Absolution
    by Jeff VanderMeer
    Ten years ago, the literary landscape was changed forever when Jeff VanderMeer became the "King of ...
  • Book Jacket: The Message
    The Message
    by Ta-Nehisi Coates
    It does not surprise me that Ta-Nehisi Coates' The Message is one of the most important books I've ...
  • Book Jacket
    The House of Doors
    by Tan Twan Eng
    Every July, I take on the overly ambitious goal of reading all of the novels chosen as longlist ...
  • Book Jacket: The Puzzle Box
    The Puzzle Box
    by Danielle Trussoni
    During the tumultuous last days of the Tokugawa shogunate, a 17-year-old emperor known as Meiji ...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Pony Confidential
    by Christina Lynch

    In this whimsical mystery, a grumpy pony must clear his beloved human's name from a murder accusation.

Who Said...

When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign...

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

X M T S

and be entered to win..

Your guide toexceptional          books

BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.