Kenneth L. Waller Bataan Prisoner of War Collection
Special Collections Department
Robert E. Kennedy Library
1 Grand Avenue
California Polytechnic State University
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Phone: (805) 756-2305
Fax: (805) 756-5770
URL: http://lib.calpoly.edu/specialcollections/
Email: archives@calpoly.edu
© 2010
Trustees of the California State University. All rights reserved.
Kenneth L. Waller Bataan Prisoner of War Collection, circa 1941-1980
Special Collections Department
Robert E. Kennedy Library
1 Grand Avenue
California Polytechnic State University
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Contact Information
- Special Collections Department
- Robert E. Kennedy Library
- 1 Grand Avenue
- California Polytechnic State University
- San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
- Phone: 805/756-2305
- Fax: 805/756-5770
- Email: archives@calpoly.edu
- URL: http://lib.calpoly.edu/specialcollections/index.html
- Processed by:
- Teresa Van Doren
- Date Completed:
- 2010
- Encoded by:
- Byte Managers, 2010 and Marisa Ramirez, 2010
© 2010 Trustees of the California State University. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Kenneth L. Waller Bataan Prisoner of War Collection,
Date (inclusive): circa 1941-1980
Date (bulk): 1980
Collection number: MS 170
Creator:
Waller, Kenneth L., 1920-1993
McKennon, Sandy J., 1958-
Extent:
1 box
Language:
English
Repository:
Special Collections, Robert E. Kennedy Library
California Polytechnic State University
San Luis Obispo, California, 93407
Abstract: Kenneth L. Waller Bataan Prisoner of War Collection contains materials recording Waller's years as a prisoner of war (POW)
in the Pacific Theater, from September 1941 to August 1945. The materials include photographs, an excerpt from a book, an
annotated map, and a transcript of an oral history compiled by Waller and Sandy McKennon in 1980. The oral history chronicles
the Japanese occupation of the Philippines and their treatment of prisoner of wars through Waller's account of enlisting in
the army, being stationed in hospitals in Corregidor and Bataan in the Philippines, encountering prisoners from the "Bataan
Death March," being relocated to a coal mining camp in Omine, Japan, viewing the drop of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, and
release in 1945.
Provenance
Private gift, 2010.
Restrictions on Access
Collection is open to qualified researchers by appointment only. For more information on access policies and to obtain a copy
of the Researcher Registration form, please visit the Special Collections Access page.
Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
In order to reproduce, publish, broadcast, exhibit, and/or quote from this material, researchers must submit a written request
and obtain formal permission from Special Collections, Cal Poly, as the owner of the physical collection.
Photocopying of material is permitted at staff discretion and provided on a fee basis. Photocopies are not to be used for
any purpose other than for private study, scholarship, or research. Special Collections staff reserves the right to limit
photocopying and deny access or reproduction in cases when, in the opinion of staff, the original materials would be harmed.
Preferred Citation
Kenneth L. Waller Bataan Prisoner of War Collection, Special Collections, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis
Obispo.
Abbreviations Used:
c.: circa
POW: prisoner of war
Biography
Kenneth Leroy Waller was born January 13, 1920 in Chickasha, Oklahoma. His parents Gussie and Elver Waller moved the family
from Oklahoma to central California when Kenneth Waller was three years old; brother Donald was born seven years later. Waller
graduated from high school in Fresno, California in 1938, and went to work for the U.S. Geologic Survey in Coalinga, California.
On September 9, 1941 anticipating U.S. entry into the war, Kenneth Waller joined the medical department of the Army, requesting
duty in the Philippines. He sailed on the U.S.S. Cleveland from San Francisco, landed in the Philippines October 23, 1941,
and was stationed at Fort Mills Medical Detachment in Corregidor, Philippines. Waller worked as a corpsman in the hospital
in Corregidor as a night orderly until he volunteered to go to Bataan to replace nurses who would be evacuated due to the
possibility of an Allied surrender.
The Allies surrendered Bataan to the Japanese Army April 9, 1942, a few days after Waller arrived in Bataan. For a month the
Army soldiers were left alone to live and care for the wounded with very little food and no medicine. After a month the Japanese
Army moved the prisoners to a former Philippine Army training camp in Cabanatuan, Philippines, near the "Bataan Death March"
prison camp, Camp O'Donnell. Waller continued his work as an orderly in the "Zero Ward," known for the terminal nature of
its patients, tending to prisoners with malaria, beriberi, and diphtheria.
After a month Waller and 200 medical personnel prisoners were shipped to Bilabao Prison in Manila, and then transferred to
a sugar boat sailing to Formosa to be loaded with sugar. Those who survived the trip landed in Moji on the island of Kyushu,
Japan. Waller, a doctor, and two other American soldiers were moved to Fukuoka "#8 prison camp" (also known as Fukuoka #5)
in Omine, Japan, where they joined nearly 500 English, Dutch and Australian prisoners working in the coal mine. On August
9, 1945 the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan; Waller and the other prisoners could see the flash and the
mushroom cloud from their camp. Japan surrendered in September of 1945, and Waller and the surviving prisoner of wars were
released from the camp and allowed to find their way home.
After the war, Waller returned to the United States, where he was recommended for the Congressional Medal of Honor and was
awarded the Silver Star. He later married Mary Alice Smith, had three daughters, and worked in the oil fields of Taft, California.
In 1979 Waller and his wife Mary traveled to the Philippines to visit the places where he was imprisoned during the war. Kenneth
Waller died March 9, 1993 in Kern, California.
Sources
California Death Index, 1940-1997, ancestry.com
World War II Prisoners of War, 1941-1946, ancestry.com
U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946, ancestry.com
Sandy J. McKennon
Kenneth L. Waller
Scope and Content Note
Kenneth L. Waller Bataan Prisoner of War Collection contains photographs, a transcript of an oral history by Sandy J. McKennon,
audio recordings of the interview, an index of the interview, an annotated map, and an excerpt from a book, that describe
Private Kenneth L. Waller's years at a prisoner of war in the Philippines and Japan from 1941 to 1945.
The provenance, or original organization, of the papers has been preserved for the most part in the organization of the collection.
Kenneth L. Waller Bataan Prisoner of War Collection is housed in one box and is divided into three series:
Series 1: Oral History of Kenneth L. Waller, 1962, 1980
Series 2: Background Subject File, 1946
Series 3: Photographs, circa 1941
The National Endowment for the Humanities has generously funded the arrangement and description of this collection, along
with matching funds from California Polytechnic State University.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
Bataan (Philippines: Province)--History
Bataan, Battle of, Philippines, 1942--Personal narratives, American
History, 20th Century--Philippines
Omine Fukuoka 5 (Prisoner of war camp)
Prisoners of war--Japan
Prisoners of war--Philippines--Bataan (Province)
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945--Atrocities--Philippines--Cabanatuan
World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Philippines
World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Philippines--Cabanatuan
World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Philippines--Corregidor Island
World War, 1939-1945--Concentration camps--Philippines--Cabanatuan
World War, 1939-1945--Japan
World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
World War, 1939-1945--Philippines
World War, 1939-1945--Philippines--Bataan
World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, Japanese
World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, Philippines
Genre and Forms of Materials
Photographs
Oral History
Audio Cassettes
Index
Maps
Related Materials
Related Collections
Special Collections, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo:
Smith Family Papers on World War II, 1936-2005 (MS 065)
Manzanar Collection, 1942-1994 (MS 026)
Messinger Pacific Theater World War II Collection, August-October 1945 (MS 064)
Special Collections, U.C. Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara:
World War II-Philippines, New Guinea, Okinawa Photograph Collection (Bernath MSS 38)
Special Collections, Claremont College, Claremont:
William B. Simpson World War II Material Relating to the Philippine Islands Collection (h1992.6)
1. Oral History of Kenneth L. Waller,
1962,
1980
Scope and Content Note
Contains two subseries: A. Oral History Transcript, and B. Audio Recordings.
A. Oral History Transcript
Scope and Content Note
Contains the typed oral history transcription with index, and a photocopy of an annotated map of the Bataan Peninsula, 1962,
1980. 2 folders.
Box 1, Folder 1
McKennon, Sandy J. "Prisoner of War From Bataan: An Oral History Interview of Kenneth L. Waller." Typescript,
1980
Box 1, Folder 2
"Scene of the Death March" [annotated map]. Stanley L. Falk.
Bataan: The March of Death. New York: W.W. Norton & Company,
1962
Physical Description: p.16.
B. Audio Recordings
Scope and Content Note
Contains audio recordings of the oral history of Kenneth L. Waller, conducted by Sandy J. McKennon, 1980. 1 folder.
Box 1, Folder 3
Kenneth L. Waller Oral History, Audio Cassettes,
1980
2. Book Excerpt,
1946
Scope and Content Note
Contains one subseries: A.
'The Last Phase' at Omine Book Excerpt.
A.
'The Last Phase' at Omine Book Excerpt
Scope and Content Note
Contains a typed cover page, and a photocopy of the foreword, acknowledgment, and sketches from the book
'The Last Phase' at Omine
, 1946. 1 folder.
Box 1, Folder 4
Tyson, Geoffrey.
'The Last Phase' at Omine. Toz: Launceston,
1946
3. Photographs,
circa 1941
Scope and Content Note
Contains one subseries: A. Photographs of Kenneth L. Waller.
A. Photographs of Kenneth L. Waller
Scope and Content Note
Contains two photographs of Kenneth L. Waller, circa 1941. 1 folder.
Box 1, Folder 5
Civilian and Army Photographs,
circa 1941
